david hoyle: on the viennese couch

This is a short film made by Nathan Evans of the artist, painter and political activist David Hoyle having an informal yet intimate discussion with several guests about life themes -- including abuse, obsession, self-validation and how our history informs the inter-personal relationship we have ourselves and the outer world. This is first-class television. The interviewer enters into a truthful, non-judgmental dialogue with his guests -- willingly shifting his own viewpoint or opinion according to a received idea where he discovers mutuality. Sharing, in other words.  The interview format is now exclusively the exploitation of commercial product together with the promotion of the celebrity -- unrelated in any way to the purpose of a conversational exchange.

There are some real key moments here. The interviewee who openly admits that his mother was an homeless alcoholic of several years that lived in a telephone box -- quite an admission of honesty and a rejection of sentimentality that is stoic and inspirational. The woman who uncovers the tactics of certain therapists, stating: "I think that when somebody begins to chip away at your psychological strength, it's very easy to fall into a place of blaming yourself." Very true. And the young man who avoids "other people" yet discards his shoes, making himself entirely comfy on the couch in his apparently sociopathic, stockinged feet.

If only television was like this.