Punisher (2020)
from “About Men”
“This idea was in my head, spurred by watching the video for Mariah Carey’s “Always Be My Baby.” The beginning has that motif of her on a tire swing, singing while clutching the rope; but the innocence of the tire swing is challenged by the close-ups with the rope. The music video came to me then. I saw myself in a wedding dress, swinging like Mariah, dreaming of my man. I saw my friend Erik Adrian Santiago, shirtless and tattooed as the man, as the Punisher. I didn’t know his relation to me yet, I just saw myself scrubbing floors in a night gown, sowing jeans with a spool of thread, and waiting for him at the window like a maiden. I only knew I would turn into the Punisher at the end, because that’s where the song goes. But when the day of shooting arrived, everything went out the window the moment I woke up. I saw my two 25 pound dumbbells in my bedroom and I suddenly put them in my car, I didn’t know why. I told Erik he’d be working out the entire video and I pointed at the weights.
Later, it became a video about how objects of desire are constructed, controlled, fantasized; how a desire for someone can be very close to them having complete control over you; and how the darker underbellies of fantasies are sometimes waiting in the wings.”
Later, it became a video about how objects of desire are constructed, controlled, fantasized; how a desire for someone can be very close to them having complete control over you; and how the darker underbellies of fantasies are sometimes waiting in the wings.”
Punisher
Direction: Joey Pollari
Cinematography: Mark Stablein
Production Design: Alisyn Ghivizzani
Costume Design: Spencer John Olson
Starring: Joey Pollari & Erik Adrian Santiago
Direction: Joey Pollari
Cinematography: Mark Stablein
Production Design: Alisyn Ghivizzani
Costume Design: Spencer John Olson
Starring: Joey Pollari & Erik Adrian Santiago