Don’t Miss You Won’t Miss Me
Saturday September 05, 2009 | Contributor: Jennifer Wright

Don’t you just wish you had been born into the Schnabel family? Every single member of the clan seems uniquely creative and brilliant. The patriarch is JULIAN SCHNABEL, Academy Award-nominated director of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, interior designer of the Gramercy Park Hotel and, according to his own press, “the closest thing to Picasso you’ll ever see in your *** life.” His son Vito is making a name for himself as an art dealer, and his daughter Lola is a talented painter. However, The Society’s screening of You Won’t Miss Me was my introduction to the work of his other daughter, actress Stella Schnabel.



The film, which was critically acclaimed at the Sundance Film Festival, isn’t as much a plot-driven piece as it is a portrait of a young woman named Shelly Brown (Stella Schnabel) who has been recently released from a psychiatric hospital. The film, shot in a variety of styles from verité to staged bits, follows her adventures around New York City as she interacts with an eclectic mix of characters in an effort to determine where she truly belongs. Scenes vary from very funny—Shelly attempts to convince a hotel bellboy that she should be allowed to smoke in the lobby—to downright heartbreaking. I was moved by the way Shelly’s frequent attempts to reach her mother always rolled to an answering machine.



The director, Ry Russo-Young, answered questions following the screening. In creating the film, the character of Shelly was developed through her interaction with Schnabel. Whole scenes were based on thoughts expressed during lengthy conversations. It may be an unconventional way of developing a screenplay, but it may explain Schnabel’s believability in the role. Russo-Young’s greatest challenge came in the editing room. She wanted the audience to empathize with Shelly and understand her instability—pay particular attention to the scene in which she vacations with a female friend in Atlantic City.



The film drew an astonishing assortment of creative types, all of whom seemed to enjoy the Zacapa rum cocktails, aptly named “Black and Blue” given the emotional and occasional physical violence of the movie, which went quite well with the ubiquitous popcorn.



I caught sight of Stephen Mitchell, the director currently working on the Kings of Leon documentary. Perhaps it will be another feature shown by the Society although co-founders of the club, Amanda Blakley and Ashleigh Dempster (pictured below), would not tip their hand on upcoming plans.



The evening was a pleasure, even for us mere mortals who do not bear the Schnabel name, and a great example of the kind of event sponsored by The Society. (And—so you won’t miss me—this is a picture of me, below).