The title may sound familiar, as it is borrowed from a novel written by John Fante, published in 1938, and has coincidentally been released as a feature film showing in movie theatres across the country.
My series of photographs was completed two years ago in 2004, and is separate from the movie, but inspired by the book. The approach towards the photographic project is indeed cinematic and somewhat like tableau photography, but based on true humans and the timelessness of loss and failure. It depicts the darker side to the universal and internal ethical struggle faced during our life pursuit of happiness.
In the photos there are invisible boundaries that address masculinity and its weaknesses. The weaker is the male who seeks power by alienation and external death. He is exploited with his opposite, the female and her femininity. It is her femininity that serves as a reminder of his failure.