To me, there's something missing in the plot about the accident with the Cadillac that kills his mother. Something is missing about that incident that is integral to the story, especially of why James would want to kill himself (and failing that), or why he needed to leave town (for those 3 years).
Hey Anne,
simply put... you're correct.
In our original cut we went into a long explanation involving flashbacks etc. to explain James' guilt over being the driver of the car the night his mother was killed. But that version ended up running close to 3 hours, so, cut, cut ,cut!
I had hoped the flashback scenes where we see James being forced to drive home that night because his father was drunk would help explain the complexity of his guilt and anger. He feels responsible for her death and yet blames his father, hence his subconscious unwillingness to save him. Only by letting go of it all can he move forward and assume the responsibility he has been given and save others in the process. It is not an even trade for James but hopefully a fair one.
I hope this helps and I'm sorry if it was unclear.
Best,
Marcus Dean Fuller
Thank you so much for the explanation. That sure helps.
I'm one of those film buffs who'll sit in a longer film without whining about the length; but we are a rare breed. Filmmakers have to go with the 'most viewers' attitude on things like film run time.
Keep fighting the good fight and thank you for supporting the film!
P.S. My next one, 'WATERVILLE' is a thriller and I promise I'll keep the script shorter so we won't have to cut anything!
Cheers,
MDF
Oh...I thought the car was somehow his Kryptonite, which was why he destroyed it in the end and was able to go back to his father. But I was expecting to see his wounds healed if everything was working again.
shareI think the car was the physical symbol of his kryptonite, which was his inability to forgive his father. Letting go of the car represented letting go of his anger, and the car was sacrificed in a perfect, perfect way.
I didn't expect to love this film as much as I did, and it could have been SO corny, but instead it was beautiful. Excellent work all the way around (although even an extra tiny bit of dialog making the accident a bit clearer would have been good... it was still a little bit puzzling why he was unwilling to heal his father. I actually guessed wrong on that and I'm usually pretty good at pulling obscure concepts).
--------
Dear scifi writers: "decimated" means to reduce by 1/10th. But nice try on using a big word!
We see so many films that we start anticipating the next event, and often it happens, and when it does we are disappointed at the predictability of the film.
This film could have taken so many different directions. It could have been a Jacob's Ladder type film. We've come to expect that when someone survives a seemingly fatal event. I wasn't expecting this film to go the way it did, and I am not sure I fully understood it. I did like the Starman/Powder style resurrection of the deer, and I did predict that when I saw the tarp in the rear of that truck. The problem with that was that no one shoots deer when it's warm enough out for a skinny dip at the lake. The deer would not be in antlers and he would not have been left in the back of that truck in the heat after being shot. Hunters realize that right away. Still, it didn't detract from the point being made.
I did not understand why James didn't heal after being attacked even though he just brought a deer back from death. I know he was taken close to his father, but earlier his cuts healed in seconds.
I thought the audience had a clear picture that James had abilities to heal, but it became a question of "does he really?" when people began to revert, as if James' power was keeping them around, not that they were actually healed.
I also found the Dr brother to be a shallow character, not considering that MS patients don't just remiss then revert, and how easy he dismissed the infidelity of his girlfriend.
Father seemed to be old in the picture where James was still in the womb, and yet he didn't appear to be old enough to be James' father while in the hospital. I realize grey hair indicates age, but the guy wasn't old enough in his face, and James' fiancee looked old enough to be dating James' father.
The accident in the Cadillac was inferred, and I got that, but James was old enough to know how to drive, and had no business blaming a man who was too drunk to drive, so I thought perhaps there was an altercation between James and his father in the car that caused the accident. I also wonder how the car was repaired to it's original condition with no sign of being wrecked.
The movie had a lot of promise, and there were some metaphors that seemed apparent (like stepping off the shallow water into the deep just as James had stepped off the 200ft cliff. I did not understand his reason for wanting to die since I didn't get the timing of the jump vs the timing of the accident. Perhaps he wanted to die because he felt guilty for the death of his mother, but then his guilt later seems to come from the fact that his healing power came after she passed, which would infer that he jumped after she died. Then factor that he's angry at his father (is it anger or guilt?). But given that he was engaged to a beautiful woman and was in med school (haven't met many med schoolers who can swing a relationship, camping, depression and engagement, he had plenty of live for and his healing gift didn't make any sense in the context of what he was meant to do with it. It seems he didn't save his father at the end, and though I heard the heart monitor beep, I don't think they keep dead people hooked up to them.
Enjoyed the movie though, the kid was a treat though I thought the nerdy aspect was overdone, and we never meet his parents at all. I thought there were too many irons in the fire for James:
1. Brother
2. Fiancee
3. Kid
4. Father
5. Janitor dude
6. Jail
7. Fall
8. Healing power
9. Greedy for money/lack of moral fiber
10. Gardening
11. The lake
12. The car
13. The accident
14. The suicide attempt
15. Medical school
16. 17 year old who died (Janitor's son?)
17. Bartender cancer/college girl
18. Kid's grandmother
19. Old naked dude (have no idea about this guy)
20. Cop with grudge/relationship
I could go on but you get the idea. This show would have made a good HBO series but James couldn't start so fast with the healing. You could use an entire season just getting to the "he returns" part, developing characters along the way.