Plot: Daniel is a young man suffering from low self-esteem
who is incapable of defending himself from the abuses of employers and society
in general. He is medicated with antidepressants to make his monotonous life
more bearable however far from helping, the medication worsens his condition
with hallucinations and psychotic thoughts of vengeance that lead him into a
state of total confusion.
Starring: Hector Kotsifakis, Peter Theis, Shakti Urrutia
My Review and Thoughts:
I love independent film. I love independent film directors.
I love film that showcase what film making is all about, to grab a story
through acting and direction, cinematography and most of all a visual mind trip
into all the aspects of the film industry by taking the viewer and placing them
inside the concept of a true visual experience.
David Micham did that with this film. Through the direction
and most of all through the acting. This film was haunting at times and
disturbing at times.
Absolutely freaking brilliant.
This is a powerful filmed film of visuals, of acting, of
script. I cannot speak enough about this film. I highly recommend it to any
movie buff or anyone that likes good cinema, Hell I mean brilliant cinema.
This is a brilliant film to showcase such a stark disturbing
feel of one person depressed, losing it and slowly and visually going insane.
This film gave me a headache and made me question what was illusion or delusion
or reality.
The acting by Hector Kotsifakis as your lead character
Daniel Is truly an award worthy performance. He is truly gifted with an acting
talent that shines and owns the camera. David Micham directed Hector's
character to a flawless degree. He developed and structured it flawlessly for
the viewer to follow and to grasp the slow downward spiral and confusion and
conclusion of Daniel's character.
I want to jump for joy. I want to shout out loud. I want to
spread the word about this film. I am truly and utterly floored that I have not
heard anything about it until now.
I go into films wanting to not just be entertained but I
look forward to the next great film that's going to blow me away, going to
alter my mind, going to feel me with so many emotions and this film gave me
that and so much more than just entertainment. It gave me brilliant acting,
brilliant story, brilliant direction, brilliant dirty and gritty
atmosphere.
Most of all this film gave me substance. It gave me a
structured view of one person’s mind or one person's delusion or one person’s
concept of what he sees happening and what the outer world sees happening. Is
it real? Is it reality? Is it all a dream?
Daniel is picked on. His job, his lifestyle, his purpose,
all seems to be clouded with other people's viewpoints and laughing at him. He
seems to be walked on all the time. He is depressed. He is given a drug called
Lubiomil. This drug has many adverse reactions from tremors, blurred vision,
sweating, anxiety, aggression, memory loss, nightmares, delirium, confusion,
hallucination's, psychotic episodes, mood swings just to name a few. Now if he
takes himself off of the drug it causes vomiting, diarrhea, insomnia,
headaches, agitation, underlining worsening of his depression, depressive
moods, so Daniel states that he's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.
What is Interesting about this film is its shot in a
different type of setting or structure, you Flash Forward and to the past and
to the present or at least what Daniel is seeing or thinking or remembering
because of his lack of memory.
You the reviewer are left scratching your head trying to
figure out the jigsaw puzzle of the story or at least the way Daniel is
remembering it.
One movie that comes to mind for me when I watch this film
is Taxi Driver, Martin Scorsese's masterpiece film. This is structured like
that. Its concept, its atmosphere, its conclusions, but Adverse Effects is also
is a powerful original gritty crime thriller mystery.
This is a movie that I hope gets seen and gets pushed into
the public atmosphere so that it can be spread and watched and seen for its
glory. I really enjoyed this movie and I speak highly of it and can't wait to
see if other people see it and it gets the buzz it deserves.
Hector is brilliant, he deserves an award for his part as
Daniel. I even believe Micham's direction deserves an award. He has crafted a
film that is worthy to be a big Hollywood hit for its thick atmosphere and its
wonderful reality bending concept of what is real and what is not real.
The final showdown at the end leaves the viewer satisfied in
all its wonder which I never seen it coming, never even knew where the movie
was twisting and turning bringing one twist after another creating a
sub-atmosphere and sub-plots throughout the film making it a complete spectacle
of amazing story telling.