Donald Cried

There is a palpable sense you get while watching the quirked-out indy dramedy "Donald Cried". It is the distinct impression that this maturation-blunted misfit stoner is based on a guy, or perhaps an amalgamation of them, that Writer, Director and Co-Star Kris Avedisian knows, or knew, pretty damn well.

Avedisian's take on one of life's helplessly pitiful losers is plain and simple just so very sad, sad, sad...stultifyingly sad. Some of what his oblivious and completely without filter character of Donald says and does is laugh-out-loud funny, yes. But you almost feel guilty finding folly in these moments because we see how repressively dismal and desperate this downtrodden dude's existence is, replete with an horrifically repugnant stepfath...stepCREATURE. Physically, Donald left high school some two decades ago. Emotionally and mentally, he never will. He can't, and clearly does not WANT to, break free of the caste system that defined him, and everyone else, in those carefree and couldn't care less rambunctious days of his misanthropic metalhead youth.

Donald's teenage running buddy, Pete (Co-Writer Jesse Wakeman, who I just gotta say here bares a striking resemblance to a grown-up Jerry "Leave It to Beaver" Mathers), is a different animal entirely. After Pete graduated from prep school, he BOLTED out of Warwick, Rhode Island for fun and fortune as a financier in New York City with absolutely no notion of returning. Except, that is, to tend to his recently deceased grandmother's affairs. Which is what reluctantly reunites him with Donald. And, man, is there some SERIOUS latent hostility festering beneath the skin of these two, played out in not all that passive/angrily aggressive fashion during, among other interactions, a pulverizing playground football game and a furious, aim directly for the head, snowball fight. Pete is not a likable fellow. And his deplorable treatment of Donald can't instill anything in you but, once again, circling back to my fundamental premise, saturating sorrow.

This is not to say that I inherently disliked "Donald Cried" at all. Avedisian and Wakeman, who have collaborated before on other small-scale projects, are by and large an engaging tandem, and they succeed in generating a real, if not real ODDBALL, chemistry as the movie progresses. And I especially appreciate the fact that this production was shot on location in the actual town of Warwick, often times amidst steady wind-whipped snowfall, which serves to accentuate the uncompromisingly bleak tone of the narrative.

Considering all that we are introduced to over the course of 24 hours in this story, it hardly comes as a shock to anyone that "Donald Cried". The genuine stunner would be this: the revelation that this man doesn't weep openly and without a wisp of restraint every single day he must awaken to suffer a punishing onslaught of remorseless spirit annihilation. No different than the day preceding. And precisely as will be his fate for all the days forthcoming.

Yeah, I gotcher "comic relief" right HERE, pal.

What this movie is really about is the joy of performing. Wakeman and Avedisian play off each other as beautifully as Peter Falk and Alan Arkin in The In-Laws, Mickey Rourke and Eric Roberts in Pope of Greenwich Village and Thomas Haden Church and Paul Giamatti in Sideways. Two polar opposites are forced together for 24 hours, Avedisian presses Wakeman's buttons and the suspense is when Wakeman is going to blow. Wakeman, much like Arkin, is a great slow burner. And Avedisian pulls off the trick of being one of the biggest losers in the history of film but still remain strangely sympathetic. It's amazing to see that they've done so little else because they seem like seasoned pros at acting for the camera. What's also amazing is that they were able to film in such large quantities of snow with no continuity issues. What in the world would they have done if the temps shot up to 50 degrees and all the snow melted? In any event, somehow the snow adds something. The movie has a real lived in feel and made me laugh out loud at least a dozen times. Maybe it's just me but movies set in cold weather always seem to turn out well. Would make a great double feature with the gentler, but no less idiosyncratic or entertaining, indie flick Cold Weather.

"Donald" (2016 release; 85 min.) brings the story of two guys who were best friends in high school. As the movie opens, we get to know Peter, who is returning to his home town in Rhode Island after 20 years away to deal with the passing of his grandmother. As it happens, Peter realizes he forgot or lost his wallet on the bus ride up from Manhattan, and in a pinch, decides to look up his high school buddy Donald to hopefully get some help. Donald is absolutely delighted to see Peter again after all these years. At this point we are 10 min. into the movie, but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this movie is nothing short of a labor of love for Kris Avedisian, as he writes, directs, stars (as Donald) and produces (on a shoe-string budget, and funded in part through Kickstarter). The 2016 feature-length is based on the 2012 short film of the same name, and also starring Avedisian and Jesse Wakeman (as Peter). The subject matter is on the one hand the uncomfortable feeling Peter has returning to the place where he couldn't wait to escape from 20 years ago after high school, and on the other hand the unresolved emotion toll the high school years have taken on Donald (for whom time seemingly has stood still the last 20 years). I must tell you, I was quite uncomfortable myself watching the first half of the movie and almost decided to cut bait, but then an interesting thing happened: I became emotionally invested in these flawed characters, and I needed to find out how all of this would be resolved. The movie reminds in some ways of last year's outstanding "Krisha", from actor-writer-director-producer Trey Edward Shults. Plus anyone that has the guts to place a song from the so-uncool-they're-cool-again-NOT! Milli Vanilli ("Girl I'm Gonna Miss You" plays over the movie's end credits) gets extra brownie point in my book!

"Donald Cried" showed up this past weekend out of the blue and without any pre-release ads or hype at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati. The Tuesday evening screening where I saw this at was surprisingly well attended, given to low-to-no profile this movie has gotten. I didn't know much of the film and took a flyer on it. Glad I did. This movie is definitely "off center" and probably not for everyone, but as already mentioned I ultimately found myself invested in it. If you've seen "Krisha" and liked that, I'd readily recommend you seek this out as well, be it in the theater, or eventually on VOD (no idea if this will ever make it to DVD/Blu-ray).

Poor Peter. Years after successfully escaping his small-town for the big city, the dapper financier is forced to return to collect his grandmother's ashes. This leads to a very uncomfortable reunion. Peter has obviously moved on, literally and figuratively, but not his old neighbor pal Donald. Nope. Donald is still the same old high school hoser, super keen to rekindle the good old days.

It's a classic premise, that works well on a cringe, comedic level, as Peter, the desperate, reluctant hostage tries valiantly to escape the eager clutches of the oblivious Donald, who seems to be dealing with some disturbing baggage.

"Donald Cries" twists that old formula just enough to explore several deeper issues, and the film grows fuller as the characters reveal themselves.

Writer, director, star Kris Avedisian is quite the talent, and his take on the wide-eyed, gung ho man-child Donald is a character for the ages.

'DONALD CRIED': Four and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

An indie comedy, that I first heard about on Instagram (when they kept liking all of my pictures), directed by debut feature filmmaker Kristopher Avedisian. Avedisian also stars in the movie, as the title role, and he co-wrote the screenplay as well, with Kyle Espeleta and Jesse Wakeman (all debut feature screenwriters). The film costars Wakeman, Louisa Krause and Ted Arcidi. It tells the story of a man, named Peter, who returns to his small hometown when his grandmother dies, and runs into his old (very awkward) childhood friend Donald. The two spend the day together, when Donald agrees to do Peter a favor, and they recollect on many old memories together. The film premiered at the 2016 South by Southwest film festival, and it's now available for viewing on Netflix. I found it to be extremely awkward, and uncomfortable to watch, but it's also oddly true to life, and somewhat moving.

Peter Latang (Wakeman) returns to his hometown, after being gone for many years, when his grandmother passes away. He's eager to take care of the funeral arrangements for her, and then leave town as quickly as possible. Peter realizes that he doesn't have access to any cash though. So he visits his old long lost childhood friend Donald (Wakeman), and asks him for help. Donald has been obsessively waiting for Peter to return, since he left, and he'll do anything to spend more time with him. So Peter reluctantly gets dragged around by Donald, for the entire day, being forced to revisit old memories that he desperately wants to forget.

The movie is so awkward that it's painful to sit through at times. Donald is a very unique, quirky and sometimes very annoying character, but he's also an extremely sympathetic one too. We can tell that Peter used to be a pretty big jerk to Donald, at least at times, but Donald still cherished their friendship together (that Peter obviously didn't think very highly of). This is something I can really relate to, with some of my friends. In a lot of ways I can really relate to the Donald character in this movie, but I'd definitely say he's a far more exaggerated version of myself (at the very least). This is why I really liked this film. The two lead performances are fantastic, and they seem like genuine real people (as exaggerated as they might seem at times even). It's a really well made movie in that way, but it's perhaps just a little too dark, awkward and depressing at times too.

Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: https://youtu.be/SXjABrLbV7A