Simmons, best-known for her photographs of miniature rooms populated by dolls and of oversized objects—such as a house, birthday cake, and pistol—balanced on female legs, both human and fake, brings these characters to life in a three-act mini-musical. The film is inspired by three distinct periods of Simmons’s photographic work: vintage hand puppets, ventriloquist dummies and walking objects enact tales of ambition, disappointment, love, loss, and regret. Working with composer Michael Rohaytn (“Personal Velocity”) and cameraman Ed Lachman (“The Virgin Suicides” and “Far From Heaven”), Simmons’s puppets come to life in miniature domestic scenes that echo real life.
Length 44 minutes
Meryl Streep | Adam Guettel | Tony Nation | John Tully | Lisa Adams | Garland Hunter | David Sasse | Nathan Morgan | Anthony Inneo | Julie Fiorenza | Greg Sinacori | Marcus Willis | James A. Pierce III | Mayuko Shoka | Alia Crutcher | Michael Rohatyn | Margaret Dorn | Kyle Gordon | Grace Dunham | Nathan Resika | Cathy Simmons | Jenna Hally Rubenstein | Justin Dawson | Nick Curtin | Carol Dowty | Ben Goldman | Laurie Simmons | Susan Simmons