Bright Blue Gorilla is a married musical duo who made a movie in Europe.
Their fifth feature film, “Go with Le Flo,” will have its Michigan premiere at the Myrtle Beach International Film Festival (MBIFF) on Thursday, Sept. 12, in Niles at Wonderland and on Thursday, Sept. 19, in South Haven at the Michigan Theater from 3 to 5 p.m.
“Go with Le Flo” has been selected by nine film festivals so far and won Best Foreign Film at MBIFF in South Carolina earlier this year.
Michael Glover and Robyn Rosenkrantz live in Los Angeles and just returned from Cannes, where “Go with LeFlo” was in the Marche’ Du Film and Robyn found herself six feet from director Steven Spielberg.
The couple will not be in Niles for the premiere because they will be in New Mexico visiting Glover’s 92-year-old father.
Despite their resume of a romantic comedy shot in Berlin in German and French with English subtitles and a cast and crew from 20 countries, Glover was born in Battle Creek, which he left for New Mexico at age 4.
“I have vague memories of Michigan — mostly snow,” he said recently in a phone interview.
Bright Blue Gorilla played in Michigan during two U.S. tours of Borders bookstores.
How do you find true love? “Go with Le Flo!” Florian is half-German, half-French and owns “Le Flo,” a French delicatessen in Berlin that specializes in salami — ironic considering they’re vegetarians.
When Florian meets Camille, the daughter of a famous French director, it’s love at first sight.
Florian wants to ask Camille to marry him, but doesn’t know she’s already engaged to a movie star.
Meanwhile, Florian’s best friend Jenny, who’s German and owns a bakery down the street, loves Florian, but doesn’t know how to tell him.
“Go with Le Flo” explores true love, with plenty of twists and turns (some on a Vespa) and lots of salami.
Bright Blue Gorilla, inspired by “Gorillas in the Mist” — slogan, “Remain Calm … Share Your Bananas,” is both a band and a production company.
Producer Robyn and director Michael do it all: direct, write, produce, edit, shoot and compose music.
In 1990, they quit their L.A. jobs, sold everything but their guitars and bought one-way tickets to Europe. They’ve been traveling ever since, making movies (“Sister Sarah’s Sky,” “The Mind of Henry Lime,” “Karate Film Café” and “Lose with English”) and music (11 CDs, two with Virgin Records) and teaching “how to” workshops at festivals and film and music schools.
Their cross-over break came in 2004 acting with Matthew Broderick and Alec Baldwin in “The Last Shot.”
Glover, who’s been married to Rosenkrantz, an actual “Valley Girl,” almost 22 years, said principal photography for their next project on the fashion world will be shot in New York.
Glover learned to edit at MTV while working on “The Osbournes.” a reality show which ran from 2002 to 2005 about heavy metal’s Ozzy and his family, Sharon, Jack and Kelly.
Like the Osbournes, with “sweetness underneath” their addictions and dysfunction, Glover remains drawn to stories with “something beautiful under the surface.”
“We didn’t go to film school or start with shorts,” Glover said. “We learned as we went along and the movies keep getting better and better. I’m not interested in ‘edgy,’ but in nice stories with romance, the way the world could be if people were a little more thoughtful.”
Audiences reward them with responses like “charming,” “sweet” and a “breath of fresh air.”
“The industry says it can’t sell anything unless it’s gritty, edgy and shocking,” Glover said. “That’s their mantra, so it’s what they sell — and buy, a self-created prophecy. The do-it-yourself model is a very good one for us. Sex and violence sells in two seconds in the Third World.”
Film “is a natural for us,” according to Robyn. “Cinema incorporates all the other art forms — dance, painting, music, lighting, everything. It’s the only one. It can be high art.”
“For almost 25 years, we’ve been touring and living in Europe. We’ve met amazing artists all over the world. Let’s work with them,” Rosenkrantz said. They have always lived a sort of Bohemian existence, unconcerned about driving a Lexus or having a beach house. “We’ve always kept things easy,” she said.
Those jobs they shed, he had drummed in a punk band and administered a free clinic, while she had been a massage therapist, worked in an office for the Women’s Yellow Pages, a directory to female-owned businesses, and knew Who drummer Keith Moon’s daughter, Mandy.
“The bottom line is how to live a creative life,” Rosenkrantz said. “Follow your heart and don’t hold back. The universe will support you. There is a lot of magic out there.”