Underground Goddess - A slice of life and a chat with Maria Galindo

This movie is like a good high followed by a good beating. that is the culmination of 15 minutes of sitting in front of a blank page trying to describe this movie or give this

article a POP for its opening line, I've decided instead that the previous statement is far more fitting.

From its opening scenes to its closing sequence A slice of life in Barcelona is a phenomenal indie film with a complicated web of connections and hatred spread out over a journey that at the end of the day is about unrelenting love and the struggle to find where we all belong. Even the seemingly well off and happy are exposed for all

their gritty humanity and I applaud the film for not flinching in its delivery. Maria Galindo held nothing back in telling us this story, the characters are intense and the story plays off the insecurities and hatred that can be fostered by a less than ideal lifestyle often forced upon the less fortunate and fortunate alike, but that isn't all that makes

this a worthy watch, its the heart at the core of it, the love that was clearly put into the making of the film and the development of the characters. there is a serious effort

put in to try and make this as grounded but insane as possible, it evokes John Waters, David Lynch, and others in its approach and while in lesser hands this would be a

serious detriment to the film, But with maria behind this it seems we just may be safe. she really understands what it means to make a film as opposed to a movie.

I was originally going to do an in-depth review but after watching and rewatching the film I've decided that would be a disservice, to let any of the plot slip takes away from

the initial draw and continual hook of it all, each scene leading you so carefully into the next moving from one location to another situation and back full circle to keep you

paying attention. I won't take that away from the viewer, all id like to say is that a slice of life is just that, a slice of life for a group of people who rather they are aware or not are entwined in multiple ways each effecting the other through butterfly effect like ripples in the story.

the Music is a huge bonus here as the soundtrack excels at pumping up each situation and boats an alt indie punk soundtrack that doesn't let up until its all over, the

cinematography is stunning sometimes and usual fare others but some stand out choices are made for sure leaving the movie at times feeling like a drugged haze or an

intimate personal moment but more importantly is the acting, each character feels like a living breathing person even the more over the top characters are never

TOO crazy or out there. I especially liked the relationship aspects of the character and the development between a certain couple over the course of the film.

a lot of indie films suffer from imitation syndrome or are flat out just a mess but A slice of life in Barcelona looks and feels like a very solid attempt at telling a story with

the medium and budget limitations forced on smaller filmmakers, it feels like a bad dream in the best way possible and it honestly looks solid as hell.

If your a fan of alt media, if you enjoy underground cinema, or if you simply like a good story then I say check it out, A slice of life in Barcelona is a very interesting and thought

provoking film that I don't see a lot of anymore, it reminds me of movies like Rollercoaster, and that's fantastic, more like this, please!

I spoke with Maria Galindo, the writer, and director of the film to get some insights on the process and the characters themselves, she had a lot of great info to share and was

way more then wonderful about letting me chat with her, from what I know there aren't many interviews (if any!) with this elusive punk rock prom queen but I was

lucky enough to get a few moments!

Lily: Why Barcelona as a setting?

Maria: Well, this movie was never a plan. I was already living in Barcelona for two years when one morning I woke up totally hungover on my sofa with the sun shining on my face.

I told myself, shit... I've lived here for two fuckin years and have not done anything, but go to concerts and party.

I have to do something with myself. I'm going to make a movie! And why not here in beautiful Barcelona?!  And from then on I began to write my script and put it all together. My life was all about music before I really got into filmmaking.

Lily: regardless of the happy beginnings, each couple's story ends in tragedy of sorts. What brought this about.

Maria: Life can be tragic. Even when you adopt a pet you know you are just preparing yourself for a tragedy one day.

But also life is what you make of it and doesn't need to be tragic all the time. 

Life is hard and for some, they can never get out of the hole they are in.

Being if they put themselves in that hole or were born inside it.

Lily: The names of the characters are rarely used, is there a reason for this or was it just something that happened.

Maria: I never noticed. Haha. 

Lily: Paula and Anna are a unique couple, is there a real-life inspiration behind them?

Maria: It was just fantasies in my head tied in with some reality.

Lily: Ramsey comes off as brutish, sexist, homophobic, and racist, but in the end, we can hear in his dialogue he really truly loved his sister. 

What makes him treat her the way he does despite his love for her? Is it her sexuality or something more?

Maria: That guy has some fuckin issues. He is a drunk and a druggie that is clearly bipolar and pissed off at the world. 

Ramsy and Paula had a hard life growing up with an abusive father and an irresponsible mother that abandon them.

Yes, he is against his sister's sexual choice and mocks her, but also it is his only way to express how uncomfortable it makes him feel

that it is his sister and he doesn't accept it and is beyond immature and hateful.  

Ramsey is always acting like he has something to prove like most homophobes. 

He is clearly unhappy in life and with himself. He is hateful and unremorseful, but all that eventually will break any person down.

I mean unless you're like Trump or Hitler that are inhuman... 

Working with Tony Corvillo to create this character was interesting. Remember this is a European film with an American twist!

Meaning it is an American story. Spanish people are 95% super chill. Europans are not loud and vulgar like the ugly Americans can be.

They call it that for a reason. I'm not saying all Americans are like that but it's far from that number provided above in my opinion.

So that was the challenge and the dark comedy of me being a crazy American director directing soft Europeans to act like an ugly American. 

Lily:Robert's character is very complex. His mama's boy attitude towards life leaves him leaning on others.  

What do you think his biggest downfall was?

Maria: Robert is that one loser guy that is always clinging on to someone to use and to feel like he's the man.

His ego is disgusting and he will do anything to get out of his mother's house and feel independent.

But really he is only a coward that never grew up.

But a guy like this will never believe this about himself and thinks he can do anything he wants. 

He is selfish and the type of idiot you can beat to a bloody pulp and then see him a few days later right back at the bar trying 

to pick up any girl that will talk to him to make him feel like he is in control again. 

Oscar Gomez the actor that portrays Robert is nothing like that performance.

He is the sweetest soft-spoken chill guy that is covered in tattoos.

Half the cast in this film are professionals and the other half are hand-picked from the streets, bars, and metros trains of Barcelona.

I met Oscar in a skateboard bar after work one night. I was with a friend sitting at the bar and yelled at him "Hey I like your socks!"

He was wearing some tube socks with stripes like from the 80's. 

We then hit it off and became friends. The original character of Robert was supposed to be an unattractive guy that is heavyweight and sloppy.

But the guy I tried to get didn't act well and wasn't into it so in the end, I didn't care that Oscar was a good looking guy

anymore I just cared that he fit the part, show up, and could act and sell the film. So I had to convince him that he could do this film even though he had never been

in front of a camera or acted in anything. I told him he was a natural and he had a good look for it, so we began to rehearsed

and rehearsed and he did a great job! He also never let me down and showed up always because that was the hardest part

to have the non-actors show up and finish on a no-budget movie.  Someone who is not an actor doesn't really have the desire to be an actor and make a massive film, especially with no money.

Unlike the actors that saw potential in my script and wanted to work with an American director, so it was difficult and from the start I wanted the film to be all-natural non-actors instead of pro actors. 

I was shocked to see how many professionals wanted the parts and how many non-actors told me to fuck off. 

So his performance really blew our minds and it worked out. 

Lily: the setting never shy's away from the grittier side of things,  what places inspire you the most?

Maria:The real streets of Barcelona at night or early in the morning can be fascinating. 

That is when you see all the trash scattered in the streets and gigantic trash trucks drive down

these tiny streets to pick it all up and get it ready for the next day.

If there is a truck and you need to walk by it is a very tight fit and is really gross...

There is the day crowd and then the night crowd.

I think it is amazing how it is like clockwork of a massive transition.

Yes, it is like this all over the world. I've studied this in NYC, Berlin, London, and Japan too, but we are talking about Barcelona.

All the workers that work at restaurants, stores, and bars at night to the Pakistanis that come out at night and sell food and beer.

This business of crappy sandwiches and Samosas (this is a fired potato empanada cake) that the Pakistanis sell out of a box and  beer for 1 euro. Surprisingly everyone at night buys and eats this.

Then at dawn the workers, drunks, druggies, and the regular whores that walk the Rambla or Raval go back into their homes or crawl back into their cracks to

pass out and sleep all day. The streets are washed down and the functional morning crowd comes in as all the businesses start to open up.

The streets are washed down every night which I think is tons of water waste.

But now it is all clean again as if it never happened. It's like this every night 7 days a week.

For years I would see the same gang of African prostitutes chase men on the Rambla and hang out in the metro trains.

Then a few years later many Russian women starting coming in.

It is really sad and it is worse that the police are all for it and get a piece of it too.

There is literally a police station right in the middle of the Rambla where many of them hang out nearby or even sometimes right in front

trying to pick up men. They all know each other. You can see this every evening.

The prostitutes come out about 10 pm and are all over the Rambla and that is when the Pakastianis start selling alcohol in the streets.

I would leave my house at about 12am sometimes and go out to the bar for a drink and then go to the club by 2:30 am.

The bars close at 3 am and the club closed at 6 am so this was the time and routine of a night out.

Before going home sometimes I use to sit in the streets at 5 am / 6 am and watch this transition in Catalunya and Universitar.

The crazy thing is there are even after hours bars that open at 6 am. All you will find there are beyond drugged-out miserable people

that will not go home. Still, it is fascinating at times to try and understand one's routine.

It was amazing to roam the streets at 3 am and see tons of donuts and trash scattered everywhere in some streets.

A drunk young guy passed out in piss and a Pakistani man walks by and steps over him to try and sell me beer

that he took out from a ground hold/sewer. I'm like nah, I'm ok man and walk away fascinated.

This is just the main center of the city, not the beach. The beach is a whole other story of transition.

But this is not all of what Barcelona has to offer. Barcelona is beautiful and has so much culture.

But in many movies, all they ever show is the Beautiful side of Barcelona to the point of overdoing it.

I just now explained a dark piece of it that many get sucked into or that many don't even know exist.

As I said there are two crowds the day working class and the Barcelona jungle in the night.

Lily: The film has a mix of English and Spanish in it largely relying on the latter. Is this for a realistic feel or was that just a happy accident?

Maria: Originally the film was supposed to be in English. There were so many actors that auditioned for the parts.

They would say "Yes! I speak English!" but no they did not speak it well at all.

It was incredible how bad many actors wanted the parts but did not understand that if you say you can speak English then you can read and memorize a

huge dialogue, not just a few sentences.

In the end, I was exhausted and also I realized I was signaling out many talented actors because the ad stated English speaking actors only as I advertised

even though every day and night I was looking for natural talent to be handpicked.

So, In the end, I changed it up because it was going to be impossible to have such a huge cast in Spain with no money expecting these Spaniards to speak English.

Barcelona is a very international city so I tried to mix in languages to make it realistic of what I used to be around all the time.

But in the end that was a pain in the ass to subtitle two languages. Live and learn. 

Lily: What are some films that inspire you and your work

Maria: Amores Pedros, Pulp Fiction, Requiem of a Dream, Romper Stomper, and Suburbia.

Lily:What is your favorite song to work to?

Maria: Depends on what mood I'm in, but when I want to get motivated to destroy and accomplish I'd say, Slayer, Angel of Death!

Lily: Who is your biggest influence to your work.

Maria:I really admire John Waters and Stanley Kubrick.

Lily: What's next for Mayhem?

Maria: Well, I was really focused on making my next feature film in New York called Rats Eat New York City.

It's a horror/dark comedy feature.

This would be the biggest production I have ever made and the most challenging to film it with real rats.

But now because of COVID-19, my plans like so many of us have gone down the toilet.

So now I am just focusing on releasing my film Mr. Anderson's Possessed Car about a Texas Jesus Freak that

buys a haunted car off of Craigslist. It is a full feature film that is already made, but I have decided to chop it up and 

release it as a sitcom on the Mayhem FIlm Kreations youtube channel. 

Also, I guess now I would like to focus on making my "Rats Eat New York City" script into a novel!

This should keep it going and maybe it be much better this way to gain more interest and future investors to make this huge project. 

I really love that script! This is one film I am determined to make!

Lily: Tell me about "Rats Eat New York City"

Maria: Rats Eat New York City is about the rat infestation in New York. 

When I lived there I would see so many rats everywhere. You can't even sit in the park and have a conversation without rats running everywhere

and being crazy getting it on in the bushes.

How is it that above the subway in Manhattan there are wealthy businesses, restaurants, Gucci, luxury cars, and wealth?

And below there literally is slim and paint falling from the vibration of the train from the ceilings of the subway station.

There are babies and children down there that have to use this transport!! This is public transportation for the people of New York City.

Trash and rats everywhere!! Let's remember that the Bubonic Plunge was pretty fucking horrific!

That is the worse man! A tiny flea. You can't see it or fight it. They jump on you and attack you for your blood.

Rats are super intelligent even more intelligent and human-like with their thumbs than a dog.

But they also carry many diseases and parasites. My movie has a very strong message to the Mayor of NYC,

the Governor, and our dirty rat of a president Big Baby Trump!

And I know all the New Yorkers would agree with me when I say they really need to clean up NYC!!

New York deserves much better, but really this can affect the whole world just like COVID-19 is doing right now!

It is not the people's fault! It is the way the city handles it and how long this rat infestation has been ignored.

We are not in India we are in America and at that one of the most expensive cities in the world New York.

That just doesn't make any sense!

Now they are putting out sterilization bait around the city trying to get it under control, but I think

it is clear that something drastic needs to be done to see massive results and it should be taken

a lot more seriously before it gets out of hand. 

Rats Eat New York City is a massive dark comedy with realistic terror having reality and naturality of situations that can really happen.

I want to make it as real as I can even by training about 20 rats from babies to adults to jump and follow commands.

This is possible and I do have big plans to break barriers with this film and others that I will make to show how that even with some money behind me

I still will be extremely DIY and real! I am not a fan of CGI.

Lily: I've yet to see it so, I can't go too into detail, but explain "Mr. Andersons Possessed Car" and your involvement :)

Maria: Stephen Thomas AKA Mr. Anderson came to my casting for my first short film I shot in San Antonio, Texas called Witch Hour.

As soon as I laid eyes on him I was in love with his natural character. The way he looks in the movie is the way he came in for the audition.

So he is a pure natural, a real Jesus Freak, and actor.  

I gave him a small part in the film Witch Hour and then thought up a story on a Texas Jesus Freak that gets a job at his church

as a grocery delivery driver. He then buys a cheap car off Craigslist from a dirty greaser. What he doesn't

know is that someone blew their brains out committing suicide in the car and it is haunted. Anderson goes through a series of 

strange accidents going through hell to try and get rid of the car, but is too cheap to just give it away so he tries to sell it instead.

Mr. Anderson's Possessed Car is the most DIY movie I ever made! It is even more DIY then A Slice of Life in Barcelona because I did every single thing on it. Even the complete score with a church organ. It was shot in 8 days and was edited and scored in 4 months.

A Slice of Life in Barcelona took 1 year to cast, 1 year to shoot, and one year to edit and score and put it all together with zero experience.

For A Slice of Life of Life in Barcelona, I was extremely picky and started shooting once I had half the cast or I never would of started. 

And the hardest part was to get the location and all my actors in the same place at the same time and same day.

Everyone in Barcelona is always leaving on vacation or is very busy and we had to work through many schedules.

If I had the money and the power at the time I would of had the whole film shot within two months rather than 1 year.

Having the experience of doing everything technical on A Slice of Life in Barcelona made all my films after extremely easy. 

Learning that fewer locations and a smaller cast can be completed much faster. Duh...

But you see I was on a mission to prove that I could make a movie alone with no prior experience or money in

another country and I wasn't willing to change my script. Well, it was hard and I completed it and I am still surprised that it turned out the way it did

and for being my first film ever A Slice of Life in Barcelona (originally titled Life's A Bitch!) even got a distribution deal with a company outta L.A. 

So, all I have to say is stick with it and don't listen to other people's opinions. Have it clear in your head

and execute it. If you fail once then do it again and learn from your mistakes and find some way to make it work. Chunk it and write something

that is easier or move on. Accomplish each step and move forward no matter what.

Lily: Thank you so so much for your time!

Maria: Thanks for this interview, Lily! You all can check out my first feature film "A Slice of Life in Barcelona" on Tubi TV, Amazon Espana, Youtube, and Google Play.

Also, please make sure to subscribe to the Mayhem FIlm Kreations Youtube Channel and help us get monetized!! Like a few videos if you dig them! 

There you can check out my first short film Witch Hour and Nurse Shirley Foster!

Along with rare interviews, music videos, and more Mayhem movies/sitcoms coming up soon! Rock on and keep it real!!!