My experience, with both my parents, is that grief has a lot of down, sad things, but I was also really emotionally raw, in the first year after each of them passed. Flowers smelled more intensely, my relationships were hotter, and I was more willing to risk. I was going for it a lot more. I was 'unsober' and I wasn't playing by my rules.
Mike MillsHumans are vulnerable, messy little animals and that's normal. And all I want to do is make a space for that in my films.
Mike MillsOver and over again, I'm trying to express or communicate these big and small struggles to the world, and really to myself.
Mike MillsI'm into people's emotional lives and relationships and the complications of living. That's my turf.
Mike MillsThere's great sadness and life doesn't work out like you would want, on a lot of levels, but there's no need to feel all alone. This happens to everybody, so there's no self-pity. This is the ride that humans are on, and all of it is essential for our natural part of it.
Mike MillsI would hate to think I'm promoting sadness as an aesthetic. But I grew up in not just a family but a town and a culture where sadness is something you're taught to feel shame about. You end up chronically desiring what can be a very sentimental idea of love and connection. A lot of my work has been about trying to make a space for sadness.
Mike Mills