By day, Long Island local Claudia Bonavita is a retired special education teacher and current college professor. By night, she is an award winning stand up comic making audiences laugh at venues like Levittown’s Governors Club and the Broadway Comedy Club. Now, as of February 7th, she adds film producer to her list of careers and talents. Having received an invite to the red carpet premiere of her new documentary By Day, By Night: Working to Make People Laugh, We came to witness the premiere of our island’s new filmmakers and interview them, discussing the ideas and inspiration behind the project.
The film, directed by Five Towns College grad and videographer John Silecchia, centers on five local comedians, Interviewing them about their work in the light of day and following their budding stand up careers at night. Some of these comedians’ lines of work, which include seemingly humorless careers like that of a Christian missionary, court officer, or Adult Protective Services caseworker, don’t seem like the kinds of fields to be hiding any remarkable comedic talent, but that only makes the transformations of these comics all the more of a highlight of the movie.
The comedic stylings of Bernie Collins, Donna Moran, Ellen Orchid, Lou Prats, and Mitch Shapiro are all showcased well in the third act, though the somewhat underwhelming editing of the film does not quite weave them together naturally. While the interviews are interesting and illuminating and the performances filmed serviceably, with little connective tissue tying the cast together, the documentary feels more like a collection of chopped and assembled vignettes than a full feature film. The film likely could have benefitted from scenes of these comics together backstage or following them through the day to add some cohesion to the otherwise disconnected scenes.
It is easier to forgive this film’s many technical shortcomings in sound and video knowing the movie was filmed entirely independently on a microbudget (funded entirely by Bonavita herself.) By Day By Night is a remarkable monument to the tenacity and determination both in front and behind the camera. The editing and camerawork, while plain and unpolished, tell its own story of an inexperienced crew of filmmakers there to have fun bringing a vision to life and figuring things out as they go along. Some editing decisions though were downright baffling. In the first interview with court officer/comedian Lou Prats, the comic’s tie is heavily blurred, drawing the viewer’s attention not to his words and insights, but to the unsightly blurry blob on the center of the screen. This was most likely to cover up any copyrighted designs on the tie, but all it does is make one wonder why they did not just ask him to change his tie or simply take it off.
That said, It is often all too easy to pick apart a film without considering just how difficult and costly making a movie can be, and while the finished movie is still rough around the edges, this often lends the picture a homey feeling of authenticity, and the tenacity of the talent on and off screen and the message the film itself sends makes By Day, By Night a likable and inspiring watch.
“The message is really two fold,” Bonavita said. “It’s never too late to do something you really love and that by day you might be stuck in a job that you have to do to pay the bills, but at night you can follow your passion and do something that you’re passionate about.” When asked what he hopes audiences will take away from the film, Sillechia replied “Just do it. Just do what you love.” and that love shows in every frame of the feature, making By Day, By Night a warm and inspiring, if undeniably rough and imperfect film.
