Wish You Were Here
Closed CaptioningJames O'Brien
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Plot Summary
From writer/director James O'Brien (Hyperfutura) comes the great American indie road movie. Dean (Louie Sabatasso) exits a Venice Beach rehab at dawn and does the hardest thing in the world for him; phone his estranged type-A brother Neal (Gary Kohn) to ask for help. Neal is on his way to Nebraska to promote a rock show. He can't take his screw-up brother to work, but he can't leave him to overdose in some downtown shooting gallery. The only answer is a road trip, clear across the country. Along the way they meet Phoenix (Arroyn Ambrose), a beautiful but complicated girl on the run, and a series of escalating adventures take them farther down the road than they could ever have gone on their own.
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Rotten Tomatoes Movie Reviews
TOMATOMETER
72%- Reviews Counted: 60
- Fresh: 43
- Rotten: 17
- Average Rating: 6.4/10
Top Critics' Reviews
Rotten: The time you spend trying to piece together a mystery that is presented as a teasing puzzle inevitably diverts you from deeper identification with characters who are not particularly sympathetic to begin with.
Fresh: If you do decide to travel abroad, this film offers some tips on how to stay safe and sane - that is, if you can extract them from the teasingly elliptical, flashback-addled, nerve-racking narrative.
Fresh: Even a drug-sniffing police dog gives a vivid performance.
Fresh: The mysteries unravel at a steady pace and the dialogue and acting feel naturalistic, adding up to a taut and progressively tangled portrait of familial relations.
Customer Reviews
Great Film!
This is my first review, and I must say that I LOVED this movie. Interesting story, well-acted (especially the main character played by Louie Sabatasso), and unique. This definitely is a movie that I will watch again.
Incredible
Be still my beating heart, for Louie Sabatasso certainly knows how to pull on the right heart strings...from the opening scene to the rolling credits, i was in awe of the raw and emotionally charged presence as to which Mr. Sabatasso brings to the film. Gritty and unfailing look into the life of a recovering alcoholic post-rehab, this film unveils a reality many will experience through someone in their lives yet few people will really understand. It is unflinching and unapologetic, for Mr. Sabatasso courageously dives into his character, exposing sincere vulnerability and the fear that accompanies it when one is suffering from this atrocious disease.
Appropriately coined, "the Jack Kerouac of the indie film variety," Mr. Sabatasso shows an audience a peeled back version, intricately emotional and intense, of the drug addict/alcoholic character..but when most movies stop at the surface, his portrayal demonstrates layers upon layers of the complicated addict mind that most films miss out on. It's the story of a troubled man traveling across the country with his brother, all while quietly seeking something that could fill the empty void drugs and alcohol inevitably leave. As an audience we ache for the love and sense of family that has been strained due to Mr. Sabatasso's character, and he truly does an incredible job expressing this longing to rebuild a relationship with his brother, who clearly has been hurt to a point of cold despondence because of Dean's (Mr. Sabatasso) alcoholic past. The brothers find an unexpected solace in a surprise tagalong on their road trip, a woman who becomes the glue needed to piece back a once broken sibling relationship.
if you suffer from drug addiction/alcoholism, if you know someone who does, or if you enjoy a film that takes a no holds bar look at the REAL experiences of an alcoholic and those he affects, you must see this film. WELL DONE!!!
Beautiful film
This movie was so deeply moving and thought provoking. The on screen chemistry of the three characters was excellent. I especially loved the part of Dean, played by Louie Sabatasso. The depth in his role was very powerful. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a movie that is more than fluff and wants to see some real life situations acted out in a very real way. This is a MUST SEE!!!
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