Produced by Darlings of the Cassette Age in December 2014, The Halt Surrender Routine is the first in a series of films that contrast the inner dialogue of the protagonist with an environment from which they seem oddly removed. In a featureless modern office, the main character reflects upon cause and effect, making powerful but elliptical statements hinting at intentions that might be about his own life and situation, but which could equally be about other, or indeed our own lives. Formally shot and edited in black and white, the film explores the ways in which environment can be both distanced from or critical to our inner lives.
He knew all acts of definition were as least as much about denial – the shedding of half worn suits, the hands unshaken, the unreturned glances, the drawer scurf and paper tides rushing against the shore of meaning – as they were about certainty, assertion or self-hypnosis. But still, what could he do now?