Starring Christopher Thornton, Mark Ruffalo, Orlando Bloom, Juliette Lewis, Laura Linney, James Karen, Noah Emmerich and Robert Wisdom.Directed by Mark Ruffalo.
Mark Ruffalo's directorial debut is a thorny one. It asks philosophical questions but offers no answers, and based on the premise it goes down some unlikely, not necessarily believable paths.
Christopher Thornton plays Dean, a paraplegic DJ. Hard times and bitterness have left him stuck unemployed on skid row, but one day he discovers he has the power to heal people. The local priest who works with him exploits him to gin up donations for the local shelter, but all Dean wants to do is DJ in a band, and he gets his wish from the local obnoxious star (Orlando Bloom).
Ruffalo uses the same techniques many a low-budget mumblecore director have employed, like hand-held camera movements and several shots of the hero staring off and thinking while soft music plays. The movie really small. I had a hard time believing that he could heal so many people and not have it become a national story.
(*P.S. I wasn't sure if I wanted to see this since I'm almost finished with my own screenplay about a guy who can heal people. I was relieved to see that other than that, they have nothing in common.)
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