Gangster Exchange (2009) Review & Interview with Writer/Director Dean Bajramovic

Gangster Exchange is officially on my list of super cool action movies.  I got to see it at the Mississauga Independent Film Festival  2009 and was totally blown away.  This movie is original, has a great look, an amazing sound, and is packed with punches (literally), and is accompanied by a killer soundtrack.  I was watching and just relishing in the quality of the production and story telling.  I sat there and felt vindicated by this film thinking "I’ve been right this whole time…Canadian directors can make kick ass movies about something other than snow and crying."  I don’t care I said it!  I’m so glad Dean Bajramovic (the writer/director of Gangster Exchange) made this movie because it’s a very important example for Canadian filmmakers short on money but long on talent and creativity.  This film proves that talent and perseverance can win the battle with mediocrity even if that battle seems impossible.  The audience reaction to the film was self-evident in the long applause after the film along with the excitement and constant praise of the audience during the
Q&A.  

Gangster Exchange is a film about "Guns, thugs, and toilets made of drugs" as the tag line promises.  Essentially what you have is an east meets west of the old world in the "new world" context within the sub terrain world of organised crime.  The film starts out with the difficulty in getting heroin out of Japan and into America undetected…solution….chemically alter it and voila a heroin toilet.  The problem seems to be solved but then the movie would be over and that wouldn’t be very good.  So what happens?  What always happens when people who deal in the dark shadows and fringes of the law get greedy: the shit hits the fan.  Murphy’s Law ensues turning this seemingly cut and dry story about Okuza and Bosnian mobsters into an insanely action packed "on the run" movie that affectionately slips in and out of a buddy comedy.  How is this possible you might ask?  The writing and directing genius of Dean Bajramovic and his killer cast.  The odd couple find themselves in loads of trouble looking for a chemist to process the dope so they can sell it.  After dodging some bullets and getting hit by one or two the Okuza gangster and Bosnian enforcer turned odd couple finds a sexy chemist named Kenny who works her magic; the toilet is no more and the heroin is in tact.  I will tell you no more as it would spoil the rest…and I’ve left out enough details for you to sit in amazement when you finally get around to watching this bad boy.  

If I had to describe this movie experience in metaphoric terms I’d have to say it’s a real thrill ride from beginning to end.  It’s got a great look to it courtesy Kevin C.W. Wong
(Cinematographer) and a wicked soundtrack scored by Whitney Baker.  I hope we see a lot more from Dean in the years to come as I am eagerly looking forward to all his future projects.  I’ve told you a bit about the film but below you can get a feel for the man himself.  I got to interview Dean at MIFF and he is extremely funny, articulate, and a really down to earth guy.  

AnnieG: Hi I’m AnnieG and I’m here with…

Dean: Dean Bajramovic the Writer/Director of Gangster Exchange.

AnnieG: Tell me a bit about your film, uhm, just a quick synopsis.

Dean: The tagline is "Guns, thugs, and toilets made of drugs". It’s about a couple of Yakuza dudes that come over from Tokyo with a toilet made of heroin and their smuggling it to New York City where they meet up with the Bosnian mob and of course everything goes haywire. This crazy little cyber punk yakuza gangster and a giant muscle-mountain Bosnian thug enforcer type; they team up and steal the toilet go on the run from all their gangs. There’s snipers, there’s shootouts, there’s guns, there’s thugs, and there’s toilets made of drugs. And that’s the movie.

AnnieG: Excellent. How did this story come to you?

Dean: Uh well, it’s actually a documentary that I’d done originally about my own life as a yakuza gangster. No, I’m kidding. (laughs)

AnnieG: (laughing)

Dean: No, I’m joking. How did it come to me? Well they say you should write what you know so I lived in Japan for a couple of years so that’s where the Japanese angle comes from. My family’s Bosnian so that’s where the Bosnian angle comes from. I read an article actually about how the Columbian gangs were smuggling cocaine in different kinds of ceramic. They were encasing it in to ceramic and they were putting it into bathtubs and sinks and stuff like that and I just thought a toilet would be kind of funny. It’s kind of that Cheech and Chong vehicle where they smuggle you know the van, they drive the van across the border made of weed and I thought a guy carrying a toilet around would be hilarious. So that’s kind of where it came from.

AnnieG: How is it you found out about MIFF and what is it that brought you to this festival?

Dean: Right. I met Matt and Jeff at TIFF. The Toronto Film Festival which s this other insignificant festival compared to the power of MIFF really but uhh (chuckles). No, I’m kidding TIFF was great as well. We met at TIFF, I was not in TIFF I don’t they were either but anyway we were Toronto based guys, Toronto area based guys, and we just started talking at one of the parties and we just sort of talked and I heard about their festival and wanted to apply and they were kind enough to have our film here.

AnnieG: What’s the experience been like at this festival? Give everybody a rundown of what it’s been like at MIFF.

Dean: Okay. The blogging has been sub par. But other than that.

AnnieG: (laughing out loud)

Dean: (laughing) Other than that it’s been great. If there’s one Achilles heal of the festival its weak blogging but it’s been. (laughs). No (laughs) everything’s been great, everyone’s really friendly, I really enjoyed myself, there’s been some great movies. I was at a couple of workshops that were really useful as well. I’ve got one film done but still lots to learn always. What else can I say? Everyone’s been super friendly, super nice, and I’ve had a good time here so far. There’s been some good movies and I’ve just been sitting around and watching movies all day which is my idea of heaven really so there you go.

AnnieG: Let us know, you got into the festival and this is your first feature am I correct?

Dean: Yes this is my first feature.

AnnieG: So tell people who think this festival’s inaccessible, tell them what you feel about it. Is it accessible to indie filmmakers?

Dean: Oh definitely. This festival is 100% accessible to indie filmmakers. I mean I understand where people are coming from where a lot of the larger festivals are very difficult to get into; a festival like Sundance or TIFF or Cannes or something like that there’s a very difficult procedure of getting into those festivals even ones that are labelled as independent festivals have gotten to a size where getting in is a complicated procedure. But, that’s certainly not the case for MIFF and apart from a couple of the organizers who are pricks I don’t (laughs) yeah, no, (laughs as a Campagna brother informs him films are starting). No, I’m kidding Jeff just walked in. This festival is one that is very accessible and they seem to be great at promoting local Canadian talent which is spectacular.

AnnieG: Lastly, what does a festival like this mean
for you?

Dean: Well, a festival like this is great because we do have to get our movies out there and a film like ours is not going to have a theatrical release. I mean we’re not going to be competing with Transformers or The Proposal or whatever. So it’s great for us to be able to reach an audience and be able to get people to participate in the movie and want to see the movie; to give them a forum to come and see it and to get out there. I mean this is one of the ways we can really get our film out to the audience and hope that it finds an audience. I think festivals like this are really, really important to filmmakers like myself.

For more information about Gangster Exchange check out the films website @ http://www.gangsterexchange.com/  The website is full of info about the cast and creators of this screen gem. 

© all photographs provided by AnnieG and all related media is the property of Gothic Raygun Pictures and their respective associates/copyright holders. This is a transcribed interview conducted by AnnieG at the 2009 Mississauga Independent Film Festival. This work may not be transmitted via the Internet, or reproduced in any other way, without written consent from AnnieGMovies.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 5th, 2009 at 11:30 pm and is filed under Action, Crime, Interviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.