American actor Michael Strassner showed a highly personal film at KVIFF. The bitter comedy The Baltimorons begins with a scene where the main character, portrayed by Strassner himself, attempts suicide but fails as the belt he is hanging himself cannot support his extra pounds and breaks. “This really happened, that’s how I stopped drinking,” Strassner confided, adding that he has been sober for seven years, which earned him an applause from the audience.
Indeed, director Jay Duplass wanted to make a film based on a true story, and so he asked Strassner whether the film he could be about him. The filming took place in Baltimore, the actor’s hometown, and his friends and relatives also appear on screen. Moreover, Strassner was partly involved in writing the script. “Baltimore is usually portrayed as an ugly city, for example in the series The Wire and the likes. It does look like it there, but I wanted to show the other, prettier face of the city. There are people who love Christmas in there too,” Strassner assured the audience.
The humorous odyssey of the newly sober Cliff with a broken tooth and the lonely Didi through the streets of Baltimore takes place on Christmas Eve, but it is not a typical Christmas movie. “I personally love Christmas. But this story is primarily about two lonely people who meet on a holiday when people tend to come together,” described the actor, who, despite all the similarities to the character he portrays, is different from him in one essential aspect. “Unlike him, I love ham. Especially in this country.”
