Opening 21 Jan 2016
Directed by:
Dito Montiel
Writing credits:
Douglas Soesbe
Principal actors:
Robin Williams, Roberto Aguire, Kathy Baker, Giles Matthey, Eleonore Hendricks
After 26 years, Nolan Mack (Williams) has settled into the comfort of habit. He goes to work at the same job in the same bank. His marriage has also “settled,” and he and wife Joy (Baker) have no need for much conversation and they sleep in separate beds. One night Mack drives down an unfamiliar street and picks up a young boy in need of help. It turns out that this boy, Leo (Aguire), is a boy toy or male prostitute, working for a pimp. Man and boy become dependent upon each other until Mack is deep into a secret life of homosexuality and prostitution, which he must hide from his associates. This can’t last forever, and 60-year-old Nolan Mack must make a decision. He must decide who he really is, because “it means nothing talking about knowing yourself, if you don’t know the life you really want.”
The film is much like the German film The Dark Side of the Moon, which opened one week prior to this one. Both picture the theme of split personalities and the cost of deciding which one is real. Robin Williams is very good, of course, although it is difficult to watch him playing with such force, while being aware that Williams committed suicide August 2014, after a successful acting career of almost 40 years. This was practically his last film. It played at Tribeca and the Filmfest Hamburg, both festivals in 2015. (Becky Tan)
