Donald Cried
Directed by: Kris Avedisian
Written by: Kris Avedisian
Starring: Kris Avedisian, Jesse Wakeman, Louisa Krause, Patrick Languzzi, Jeremy Furtado
Comedy/Drama - 85 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 14 Mar 2017
Written by: Kris Avedisian
Starring: Kris Avedisian, Jesse Wakeman, Louisa Krause, Patrick Languzzi, Jeremy Furtado
Comedy/Drama - 85 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 14 Mar 2017
The adult who must return to his childhood hometown, class reunion, etc… is nothing new in plot lines; a couple of these inevitably pop up every year. There are the comedies, mostly about the 20 year high school reunions and there are the horror films where the present finally confronts past evils. Donald Cried is a micro-budget indie balancing on the see-saw between awkward comedy and unspoken drama. Director/writer/lead actor Kris Avedisian says he mined some memories of how he regretted acting toward people in high school and his script and performance is all the better for it. Donald Cried shows the reluctant homecoming from the point of view of the rueful man who would rather avoid the past lest it bring up uncomfortable memories and the man-child who never left who can’t wait to swim out into the ocean of what used to be.
Peter Latang (Jesse Wakeman) avoids his hometown for a reason. Upon reflection, he realizes the kind of person he was 20 years ago and either 1) wants to stiff arm awkward situations with bad memories past and/or 2) steer clear of any backsliding temptations lest he return to his old ways. In a ham-handed gimmick to get the two main characters together, Peter loses his wallet on the way into town and cannot accomplish any of the business of taking care of his dead grandmother’s affairs without relying on Donald’s goodwill and charity.
Peter Latang (Jesse Wakeman) avoids his hometown for a reason. Upon reflection, he realizes the kind of person he was 20 years ago and either 1) wants to stiff arm awkward situations with bad memories past and/or 2) steer clear of any backsliding temptations lest he return to his old ways. In a ham-handed gimmick to get the two main characters together, Peter loses his wallet on the way into town and cannot accomplish any of the business of taking care of his dead grandmother’s affairs without relying on Donald’s goodwill and charity.
Many may mistake Donald (Avedisian) as an extreme arrested development case. I disagree. Donald is a realist and fully recognizes the point in life he was happiest; high school with his buddy Peter. Donald held out hope for two decades that his buddy would come home and they would ‘get the band back together’ so to speak. Notice how often Donald brings up stories he believes will make Peter look fondly on the past. Unfortunately, he fails to notice these memories are the same painful embarrassments which Peter does his best to gloss over and pretend never happened. Donald most likely resurrects almost the exact same conversations their 18 year-old selves talked about including how often they masturbate and that time they threw bags of their poop at the houses of girls who turned them down.
Peter isn’t the only character who self-selects what past they choose to embrace. Various stories alluding to multiple times Peter emotionally and even physically abused Donald pop up and the resulting silence says more than either of the duo can express verbally. The eponymous ‘Donald cried’ story is the epitome of either Donald’s willingness to forgive and forget or his failure to separate himself from negative influencers in his life. We all sugarcoat the past and remember things in a rosier light than they occurred at the time. While Peter recalls with unease how events truly went down, Donald maintains they were the glory years.
This back-and-forth down memory lane between Donald and Peter is fascinating for such a nuts and bolts story. Who needs millions of dollars for production and B-list stars when you have Kris Avedisian bringing to life a character who makes you cringe with his adolescent behavior and earns your sympathy because you wouldn’t walk a mile in his shoes for any amount of money. The blue-collar Rhode Island town the duo criss-cross probably looked a lot pluckier back in the ‘80s and filming the story while a foot of snow blankets everything was a slick move. Everywhere is that much harder to get to and that much more frustrating. Donald Cried is not for the folks who want to watch the former high school dweeb return a triumphant hero; it’s for the those who relish scripts based on emotional realism and characters who entice and disturb you at the same time.
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