Avan Jogia’s ‘Door Mouse’ channels punk rock, comic book culture

Canadian Avan Jogia (Zombieland: Double Tap, Victorious() made his feature film debut as a director with the extremely stylish, punk rock-inspired, neonoir-inspired movie Door Mouse, Hayley Law (starring)Riverdale, The New Romantics).

Jogia said, “I love film noir and I think it’s a great way to talk about real issues.” Yahoo Canada. “A lot of it’s about power structures and how people are keeping the disenfranchised down. That’s a noir standard.”

Door Mouse The voiceover is by Mouse (Law).

“I never dream, but that night I did,” she says. “If I were a superstitious person, it would have been taken as a sign, a marker for dread, and forbidden omens.”

“I still remember feeling scared when I awoke in the morning. A feeling that’s supposed to fade as you leave your sleep and return to your bed, your job, your coffee. … Some emotions stay with you until death.”

The ominous statement becomes the first time we meet Mouse, a woman in her 20s who is a frequent coffee drinker, a smoker and an inspiration to riot grrls. She is a comic creator and a member of a burlesque group. Jogia confirmed that Mouse shares many similarities with the animated character Daria, from the 1990s/2000s.

In separate incidents, Mouse’s coworkers, Doe eyes (Nhi Do), and Riz, go missing. They are not being found by the local police, which seems to be particularly disinterested. Mouse and her friend Ugly, played by Keith Powers, decide to do something about it. They discover a dark and corrupt world full of wealthy and powerful people.

“The fantasy world that i’m building revolves around things that don’t exist in a fantasy”

Jogia’s film is notable for the way that the director, writer and actor draw from the neonoir genre as well as the punk rock style with comic book graphics to raise ethical questions about power systems.

“[It was] Born out of real tragedy. Jogia explained that when I was growing-up, there were real people missing. The police didn’t do anything about it. “It ended in tragedy.” “But I don’t wish to make that film, because no one wins in those movies.”

“What if a heroine stepped up from the neighbourhood and defended people and got the bad guy?”

Jogia refers it to as the “secret flip” as a filmmaker. To raise questions, we need to use a stylized and heightened version our world.

“We make it an exciting and vibrant world to be in, but also be able to deliver this real life messaging because unfortunately, it’s not that fantasy,” Jogia explained. “The biggest tragedy of the film is that the fantasy universe that I’m creating is based on things that aren’t fantasy.”

“I hope people will be able to see it, and where they were not listening to a specific type of movie that really hits you in the face by their messaging, maybe this film can help them.”

The right mouse

Jogia created the character Mouse. She is sarcastic and misanthropic and doesn’t know what her purpose in life. As she delve deeper into the kidnapping of her friends, she turns to her comics for creative outlets.

“I wanted to gender flip a noir,” Jogia said. “Usually it’s a hardboiled male character that smokes cigarettes and drinks whiskey. It doesn’t have any time for the woman he loves, and I was like what if it were the opposite?”

Jogia was kind enough to praise Law, who is also from Vancouver, for his ability to balance the comedy with the drama.

“We are forgetting that we need to set up and explore first.”

The film was directed by him, although he does perform in the role of director. Door Mouse Jogia said that he was less “austere” as well as more “structured” than what he wanted to be. But that was largely due to the tight 18-day shoot.

Jogia shared that “Some of my favorite moments are those moments in the film that we discovered while on set.” My main takeaway was that budgets are shrinking, day shoots are getting more expensive, and that it’s important to explore the set first.

“Back in the day … you would come to set, you’d all sit in the space, ideas would be thrust across, we would have rehearsed already, to a certain degree. It would be great to make a film like this. Because of the time constraints, I had to be more organized. But again, my favourite moments are the shots that weren’t on my shot list, that we just improvised in the moment because something cool showed up. At that moment is when it’s like jazz, it’s the flowy-est moments.”

Jogia said that he believes that the transition from actor/director can be very effective and that it was relatively simple to do.

“As the actor, for better or for worse, you’re the centre point,” he explained. You must be present on set. I have seen makeup. I know how to make good makeup artists. Directors don’t understand this.

“I know how long someone should spend in the chair. Camera stuff is something I’ve known all my life. If you pay attention, I can tell you about call times, AD stuff, and all the technical stuff you learn as an actor. Whereas most directors come from camera, and then they’re all of a sudden on a set and there’s like 15 million departments that they’ve never interacted with before.”

While Door Mouse Jogia’s witty one-liners and attractive style are what lead the show. We look forward to seeing more of the former Nickelodeon star’s work.

Door Mouse will be available in selected theatres and on demand platforms starting January 13.