In The Missing Person , the villain (played by Frank Wood) gives a monologue about breakfast cereal that is more terrifying than any violent threat. In Glass Chin , the protagonist’s girlfriend debates the ethics of a stolen dog for twenty minutes. Buschel finds the drama in the digression.
He has stated in interviews that he writes for actors like Michael Shannon and John Hawkes (who appears in The Missing Person ) because they understand that silence is a form of dialogue. Hawkes once said of working with Buschel: "He doesn’t direct your face. He directs your soul. He wants you to think about what happened to this character ten years ago, not what happens in the next scene." A fair question for the uninitiated: If this guy is so good, why isn't he famous? noah buschel
Buschel has often cited the photography of William Eggleston and the cinema of Robert Altman (specifically McCabe & Mrs. Miller ) as major influences. Like Altman, Buschel layers sound design—overlapping dialogue, distant traffic, the hum of a refrigerator—to create a sense of realism that feels almost suffocating. In The Missing Person , the villain (played
Furthermore, Buschel is notoriously resistant to "coverage." He shoots long takes. He hates close-ups for the sake of close-ups. This makes his films difficult to cut into trailers. How do you sell a movie about a man staring out a train window for two minutes? You don't. You rely on festivals and word-of-mouth. He has stated in interviews that he writes
Keywords: Noah Buschel, independent film, The Missing Person, Michael Shannon, Glass Chin, Sparrows Dance, American cinema, slow cinema.