Details

Introduction

Joey Lakomy is a famous director whose extensive filmography balances experimentation with popular appeal. He is most famous for his works in the argyle drama genre, a form of multilinear narrative film which he is said to have originated. However, he has worked in a variety of other genres. He takes heavy inspiration from late 20th century film, music, and pop culture. Unlike many directors, he's known for being pretty chill and generally easy to work with.

Backstory

Early Years

Joey came of age in a world that was still being rebuilt, but the days of his youth were really the first period of hope after the Collapse and Turbulence. Things were still a mess, but they were on the up swing. At that time, the movie industry was doing very poorly, so Joey mainly grew up watching movies from decades before he was born. He was especially interested in 20th-century film of the A-timeline. As a teenager, he began writing scripts inspired by his favorite films of that bygone age, dreaming his writing would someday make it to the screen.

Even at such a young age, Joey wanted his work to be more than a rehash of past styles. He wanted it to reflect a deeper human condition and to explore the threads connecting the past and present. His teenage scripts were obviously not profound enough to do either of those things, but he kept on trying and refining his craft.

Career pt. 1

Joey did not go to film school. Instead, he majored in creative writing, participated in the art world, and tried to find his way to the local film scene. There wasn’t much, not even in a huge metropolis like Chicago. Still, there were a handful of local directors making zero-budget arthouse films. At the age of 21, Joey befriended one of these people and showed him a screenplay he’d written. The guy loved Joey’s writing and offered to direct the screenplay.

Pre-production went smoothly, and it looked like Joey was on his way to having his first screenwriting credit. But right before filming was scheduled to begin, disaster struck when the director suddenly died in a freak accident. They couldn’t just call off the entire movie at the last minute; everything was already prepared, the cast and crew were ready, and the sets were built. They struggled to find another director, but directors were in short supply in those days, owing to the disastrous state of the film world. So, finally, Joey was asked to step in and direct. And direct he did. It was hard and he had no idea what he was doing, but he managed it somehow.

The film, All the Dead Soda Shops, was released in late 2121. It got more attention than expected, possibly due to the sensational story of the young nobody stepping in to direct after the intended director’s untimely death. To Joey’s eternal guilt, these tragic circumstances fueled interest in him as an artist, and turned out to be very good for his career.

Owing to the connections and modest attention he now had, Joey was able to get another screenplay made. It was called Monument. At first he didn’t intend to direct this one either, but he couldn’t find anyone else who was right for the job and didn’t want to make drastic changes to the script. So he did it again, and it was released in 2125. With its intricately intertwined plot lines, strong characters, and unique retro-inspired aesthetic, Monument was a surprise hit. It won multiple awards. Critics called it a sign that “movies were back”.

Over the next few years, Joey would direct three more acclaimed films that pushed boundaries while still appealing to a wide audience. His unique, charmingly antiquated brand of multilinear narrative was dubbed “argyle drama”, by comparison to an argyle sweater. This style became very influential. As other filmmakers came onto the scene and put their own twist on the argyle drama, it became clear that movies really were back, and Joey was one of the people who made it happen.

His career was going great and his family was happy. But this didn't last, as his marriage suddenly fell apart. He got divorced and then immediately began working tirelessly on his next film, The Making of a Spaghetti Western God. When it came out in 2137, it flopped, and critics called it his worst yet. But this didn't dissuade him, because he had many more ideas, he was beginning a new relationship, and he had been inspired by the newly emerging style of so-called cave flicks. Following another unfortunate flop, he released Virtuous Filth in 2144 to immediate success. It remains his most well-regarded film to this day, iconic in pop culture, although he has had other significant works since, specifically the Minimal/Maximal series.

Career pt. 2

Although his films had often flirted with the experimental, they had always stayed more or less accessible to the average viewer. Not so after Virtuous Filth. Joey went in a decidedly experimental direction with his next big project, a series of four films titled Minimal, Maximal, Optimal, and Suboptimal. Alternating between slow cinema and breakneck, overwhelming maximalism, the films were praised for their atmosphere, ambition, and subversiveness. The series was somewhat divisive with audiences, but many people say it’s among Joey’s best work.

Since the final installment of the series, Joey has released two other, less experimental movies in different styles. The argyle drama genre is no longer popular, and Joey seems to have lost interest in crafting the kind of quirky multilinear narratives he initially became known for. But he’s far from losing interest in film as a whole; in fact, he’s stated that the true possibilities of the medium are just opening up to him. He intends for his next project to be completely different from anything he’s ever done. And he fully intends to keep trying new things and making new movies until he physically can’t anymore.

Personality

Joey is an amiable guy who is quick to trust and slow to anger. He knows how to have a good time, but he’s not boisterous or irresponsible. He’s usually pretty mellow and level-headed. These traits make him pleasant to work with. He’s never too hard on actors, and will pretty much always let them improvise or give their opinions on how to improve scenes, provided it doesn’t get them behind schedule.

It’s very easy to impress Joey. He has a fairly high opinion of most people. His tendency to only see the good in others has led to trouble before, in times when he’s trusted someone with responsibilities or information that he shouldn’t have just because he truly believed they could handle them. You’d think he’d know better by now, but he doesn’t. Time and time again, people can prove themselves to be malicious or cruel or generally ill-equipped to handle things, and yet he still believes in trusting them and giving them second chances. People can and do take advantage of his good nature, optimism, and generosity.

He lacks some degree of common sense and has his head in the clouds. But Joey has a lot of love for humanity, for art, and for his work. And of course, he is exceptionally creative and innovative. Many people consider him an “auteur”, but he dislikes this, as he believes it diminishes the contributions of the cast and crew of his films.

Appearance

Joey is an older man with short, curly, dark gray hair that is starting to lighten, and a gray goatee. His eyes are dark brown. He has thick eyebrows and is very hairy. His nose is crooked from having been previously broken. He is primarily of Polish and Italian ancestry. Both his ears are pierced twice. His build is lean and slightly muscular. He can usually be seen wearing button-ups or sweaters, linen pants, socks with sandals, and purple nail polish.

Relationships

Elias

A musicologist from Finland, Elias is Joey’s husband. The two met while Joey was on vacation in Tampere in 2136. Elias moved to Chicago three years later, and they married in 2141. Joey attributes the success of their marriage to the fact that Elias has absolutely no interest in film.

Vera

Vera is a notable cinematographer, and Joey’s ex-wife. They were married from 2126 to 2134. Though their relationship didn’t work out, and the divorce left Joey broken for a time, today they are on good terms.

Rain

Joey and Vera’s child, born in 2127. As of 2160, Rain is 33 years old and working as an engineer. Joey and Rain have a good relationship.

Tetra Halt (link)

Ever since he saw her directorial debut We Dream Concrete, Joey has been a big supporter of Tetra’s work. She’s a fan of his too, and they’re friends. He's still trying to convince her that they should collaborate.

& (link)

& was the lead actor in Virtuous Filth, and their performance was a big reason why it was so acclaimed. Joey considers them a great actor and was disappointed by their early retirement. When & was revealed to be omniscient, Joey was confused and unnerved, but he would still have nothing but kind words to say about them if you asked him.

Trivia

  • Joey is quite prolific; he’s never gone more than six years without releasing a new film. So far he’s made sixteen.
  • He enjoys reading and writing media criticism. He’s even written criticism of his own works.
  • He’s secretly still upset about the failure of The Making of a Spaghetti Western God, which he considers to be highly misunderstood.
  • When he’s not working, writing, or watching movies, Joey likes playing board games and gardening.

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