Hi,
Mister Organ is now out in select theatres in the United States!
It’s being added to more cities from October 13, too — please see drafthousefilms.com/misterorgan for the latest.
That site is being kept up to date by the film’s distributors, so keep an eye on it for your local — and eventually streaming details.
It was a New York Times’ Critic’s Pick — this is what they had to say:
When the New Zealand journalist David Farrier began investigating a peculiar series of events happening in a car park outside an antiques store in a town he likens to the antipodean equivalent of Beverly Hills, he most likely had no idea he’d wind up being haunted for life. Farrier directed and co-stars in an account of those events that can rightly be called a documentary horror film. If its title, “Mister Organ,” initially strikes you as humorous, you won’t be laughing long.
In 2016, Farrier happens on a local interest story in Ponsonby, a suburb of Auckland. On evenings outside the emporium, Bashford Antiques, a bearded fellow with a van is clamping cars parked without permission, and charging extortionate rates to free up the vehicles. As local legislatures move to change the laws allowing this practice, Farrier recognizes the bearded man, Michael Organ (or, as he sometimes signs his name, Michael Organe), as a self-proclaimed royal who, years before, had served time for a yacht-snatching scheme.
Further investigations, including unusual and sometimes impromptu interviews with Organ, reveal him as a man of many moods — one who soon tells Farrier that “somebody” has given him, Organ, the key to Farrier’s house. Further creepiness ensues.
Organ is a terrifying type: the sociopathic con artist who doesn’t so much work on discrete schemes as lead an entire sham existence, with no specific aim besides gaslighting and controlling others. A free-floating malefactor who can expound on any topic for hours, a master of sophistry. In one interview, Organ tells Farrier, with great confidence, “There’s a difference between you not being able to prove something as true and me being able to prove that it’s false.”
Not one psychiatrist or potential diagnostician is interviewed. Explaining Organ might blunt the impact of experiencing the man through Farrier’s eyes — the movie’s unsettling journey ends at an abandoned mental institution.
Mister Organ
Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 36 minutes. In theaters.
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Growing up in New Zealand — with my eyes often glued to a cinema screen — it’s always been a dream to have something I’ve made play at the movies in America.
So even if you’re not in America, let me have my moment of going, “Holy hell yes, Mister Organ is coming to the movies in America!”
I will update this page as new details come out about Mister Organ’s USA journey: webworm.co/p/misterorganamerica.
And I’d love it if you could help spread the word — maybe share this page you’re reading right now, or our latest trailer.
It all helps.
Thanks a tonne.
If you’re not in America — I am working on it. This journey ain’t easy. But I am over the moon I get to live my Hollywood dreams and have it play in US cinemas very soon.
Thanks to Alamo for the support.
Can’t wait to sweat and stress in a theatre with you. And laugh a bit, too.
David.
PS: Happy to take questions in the comments below, and answer with the information I have on hand as we roll this thing out!
PPS: Here are a few reviews off my favourite film website Letterboxd, from when we showed the film in New Zealand. I really hope to see you there at this “completely and insidiously batshit” movie.
PPSS: If you want to share any images from the documentary, these are some stills you can use:
Hilarious how they took the cunt quote out of the American trailer
It maybe not “all cities” in America but that’s a bloody good achievement! Congratulations!!!!!
I was lucky enough to watch it in Hamilton NZ for your Q and A session and wow just wow!! People are in for a ride!