October 22

"October 22" starts with a bloody and stumbling man calling the police about an active shooter. This is a scene that we've become intimately familiar with in the 2000's, but in 1999 that was still unheard of.

O22 is about several random and unrelated people who all happened to be dining in a restaurant when a lone crazed gunman came in and starting shooting people. When random violence strikes, the victims can be from any walk of life. There was a divorcee with a friend, a guy on his way to his second job, a couple on their first date, a waitress who just found out she's pregnant, and several other unsuspecting diners. The crazy that burst in on all of them was a mystery until the very end to also illustrate that crazy has no identifiable face.

OCTOBER 22 is one of those quiet, small films that disappears if you blink. When visiting Canada, I saw it on cable, and was taken aback, to be honest. As the film begins, it looks like a made-for-Lifetime-for-Women-Network movie. Character developments are deliberately paced, making the film appear normal, linear, milquetoast if you will. But an intangible shadow seems to lurk over the movie, becoming more recognizable as the story progresses. The ensemble cast of seemingly unconnected characters moves forward and seemingly closer to each other, though the viewer does not really know why, until the final moments.

The standout storyline -- and standout acting, for that matter -- comes from Amanda Plummer and Ernie Hudson, two actors known for their offbeat performances (Plummer in PULP FICTION, BUTTERFLY KISS; Hudson in GHOSTBUSTERS, THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE). Hudson plays a reclusive, socially-challenged boy trapped in a man's body who has a crush on his neighbor, played by Plummer. She is the neighbor that doesn't turn a blind eye/deaf ear to him when he greets her. He is completely smitten with her; her introverted personality is a calling card to him. But when things go amiss, get too close for comfort... well, you'll have to see the movie to discover the devastating consequences of her unintentional actions, the butterfly ripple-effect personified.

Michael Pare (yes, Michael "STREETS OF FIRE" Pare) also makes a noteworthy appearance as a down-on-his-luck factory worker. His kinship with the bottle (and a short fused temper) land him out of the frying pan and into the fire, over and over again. There is a saying: "Man looks in the abyss... there's nothing staring back at him... at that moment, man finds his character... and that is what keeps him out of the abyss." This Nietsche paraphrase (originally spoken in Stone's WALL STREET), describes Pare's character arc perfectly.

This movie is certainly not an epic, nor a classic -- but it is a solid movie with enough points of interest to make it worth watching. Its closeness, its intimacy, make it cohesive and a curiosity piece. Like JOE'S SO MEAN TO JOSEPHINE, JACK AND JILL, and I'VE HEARD THE MERMAIDS SINGING, it's an obscure Canadian film that will leave an odd impression upon you.

***SPOILERS*** Some dozen peoples lives intersect at one place on October 22 in L.A and the results is an explosion that ends with the death of most of them. Gary, Michael Pare, is at the end of his rope with him losing his job and girlfriend Maggie, Erika Anderson. Thrown out of his apartment and living in his car with it about to be taken away from him for failure to pay off the car-loan to the bank Gary goes to the local pawn shop and pawns away his expensive watch for a handgun. Not being able to face the world anymore Gary decides to put an end to it all by blowing his brains out.

There's are a number of other people in the movie with problems not as serious as Gary's but serious enough to have them go off the deep end. One of them is sweet and kind-hearted Arthur, Ernie Hudson. Arthur is fixated with his next door neighbor Denise, Amanda Plummer, who he's been secretly spying on for years taking thousands of photos of her.

In the film is public relations man Peter,Tate Donovan, and the girl of his dreams Andrea ,Maylin Pultar, and hurt and depressed Carol,Donna Murphy, who's husband Matthew, Joesph Arsenault, left her after a fifteen year marriage for his new secretary. There's also both her's and Matthews friend Steve, Colm Meaney, who tries to patch things up between the two but becomes the object of Carol's affections. Finally there's Bob, Mark Boone Jr, a car mechanic who's son's birthday is today, October 22. All these people come together, as if by fate, at Helen's Restaurant for what turns out to be for them a violent and blood-splattering last supper.The movie "October 22" shows how the pressure of living in a in a major 20th century metropolis, with people for the most part being totally unconscious to each other feelings, can drive someone insane to the point of mass murder.

Longing for her friendship Arthur opens himself up to Denise but his obsessive attention towards her completely turned Denise off. Hurt and enraged at Denise's rejection of, what he feels, his good intentions Authur goes from a kindly and lovable Teddy-Bear type of person into an insane and homicidal maniac. Arming himself to the teeth Arthur drives into town to where Denise works as a waitress, Helen's Restaurant, where all the previously mentioned people in the film just happen to be dining!

It's also outside Helen's that Gary is sitting in an alley way with a gun to his mouth trying to find the courage to pull the trigger. As it turns out it's Arthur who pulls the trigger first. It's that very timely and deadly event that gives Gary a reason for living not just for himself but for the people who are, unknowingly to him at the time, about to be slaughtered.

Shocking disturbing yet in a way heart-lifting movie about one's redemption in the mist of total chaos and destruction and how when under the most trying and brutal of circumstances is what brings the best, as well as worst, out of all of us.

This movie is first and foremost about people. If there is a message to be learned it is you never know how you react under stress until something comes along to test you. People we assume one thing about end up as much different by films end.

A great independent film that shows why indy films are made.

This is exactly why there are indie films... for smaller, dramatic stories that don't fit neatly into one specific genre. But this is an involving, emotional movie full of extraordinarily strong acting from its ensemble cast. It's especially rewarding to see Michael Pare do such a great job, and to see Broadway star Donna Murphy in a motion picture. And I especially loved the score, by UK pop star Midge Ure. I also like seeing Amanda Plummer, Ernie Hudson, and Colm Meaney cast against type, but Tate Donovan delivers the majority of the comic relief in the film, as one might expect from his exemplary sitcom work. Not a theatrical gem, but a classic rental. Too bad there are no extras on the DVD.