Cinematic Superhero

Found this clip on YouTube — It’s an interview with me about The Last New Year that appeared on Super Channel… was way high on caffeine at the time.

Since I’m starting to write about my new script, I figured it would be a good idea to give a quick log line and synopsis…

Bitter Pills Log Line & Synopsis
“A bad prognosis is the only cure”
Comedy Feature Film

Log Line
When an embittered, small town doctor begins telling his healthy patients they are terminally ill, they suddenly begin living life to the fullest. When the doctor’s schemes threaten to ruin him, it takes the compassion of an ailing young patient to keep his secret safe and help him rediscover life’s precious beauty.

Synopsis
Dr. Morris Bernstein is a cantankerous small town doctor with a broken heart. When faced with an abusive patient the day after his wife’s funeral, he spitefully tells the woman she is terminally ill. Eventually setting the record straight, the doctor is surprised to learn his patient has since found a new and profound appreciation for life. Inspired, Bernstein secretly begins misdiagnosing more healthy patients, and soon, the entire town is living life to the fullest. Still grieving his wife’s death, and with the ever increasing risk of his schemes being exposed, the doctor finds solace with the compassionate Serena, a young patient whose real terminal illness reminds him of his late wife. The unlikely pair form a unique bond, guiding each other through the challenges of death and grieving, and ultimately, helping one another rediscover a life of happiness and love.

Saw a couple films at the Vancouver International Film Festival yesterday.

First was the pointlessly disturbing new Lars Von Trier film, Antichrist. Second was an Indonesian thriller called The Forbidden Door.

Both were needlessly violent and attempted to use gore and disturbing ‘taboo’ imagery to illicit a response. Of course, they were horror films, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. But, what mainly I took away from the day was how wasteful these films really are.

I haven’t checked out the budgets, but I know in both cases the investment of energy, resource, time and money are significant (as they are with all feature films). Yet to what end?

Even if you forget about all the hundreds of people who invested themselves into the production, were forced to LIVE the story for months on end, design the graphic images, dissect every detail of the script and then put it all back together again. Beyond the pay check of course, what impact does a project like this have one them?

And even if you forget those people, you’ve still got the audience. The images are disturbing and must embed themselves somewhere within the conscious/subconscious mind of everyone who endures the two hours of blood, and gore, and suffering. I can’t imagine anyone leaving those theaters in a more healthful psychic state than when they went in.

So really, what’s the dealio here? I’m not asking why these films are allowed to be made (I absolutely do believe in freedom of expression), but I don’t understand why the public discourse about the serious dangers of such works are not more widely and fervently expressed. Are these films not hugely destructive and violent acts perpetrated against the general public?

It seems to me they are, and I can not see any therapeutic or cathartic purpose for them to exists. They do not purge the soul, but rather corrupt it.