3 Short Paragraphs (Or Not): New Life

2023, John Rosman (debut) -- download

Thoughtful, indie, scifi thrillers are my bag. A coworker, whose English is probably her third or fourth language, has commented on how everything I say involves idioms, most of which she doesn't understand. When I try to explain further, I just add on layers of idioms. My brain is wired that way. See? My brain is also wired to be a better communicator via text than via spoken word, probably the primary reason Kent won't get his podcast via me.

I cannot imagine how I would properly communicate should me primary methods be taken from me, my ability to type or speak. What else would be left? Motion command speech engines? Even they take some amount of motor skill.

Elsa Gray (Sonya Walger, Flashforward) has ALS, early stages. But they already affect her way of life, causing tremors and forcing her to walk with a cane. She knows she only has a little time but her line of work needs her, at least one last time. She's a fixer, that scary mix of off books investigator and assassin that does things for the government when they can't use traditional means.

Her current focus is Jessica Murdock (Hayley Erin, General Hospital), a young woman on the run. We first meet Jessica covered in blood, sporting a black eye. Abused woman fleeing her spouse? So think the nice people who feed her, clothe her, give her a drive. But when Elsa tracks her to the farm of Frank and Janie, we see the real reason -- Jessica is a carrier, of something deadly, something horrific, something the government wants contained; something apocalyptic.

This is a small movie, the kind I like. Jessica was a normal girl camping with fiancé, who was nice to a dog with fleas. The flea bites didn't take long. Elsa is a hard woman, dialed down emotionally, connected only to her work, fleeting friendships with the people she works with regularly, people she knows over phones and texts. This is probably her last job, and she needs it, not just because of the consequences of Jessica getting into general population, but.... well, you know.

Was this a plague movie? A zombie movie? A conspiracy thriller? Yes, all of the above (debatable on the zombie, but who knows....) but also more. I am not beholden to movies with themes, artful structures, I generally gravitate to the story and/or the style. But I did enjoy the movie's themes -- that Jessica wanted nothing but to start a new life with her fiancé, to travel and see things outside her small town. Elsa has had a new life forced upon her, one that probably won't last long but she is too stubborn to give into it. And what new life was Jessica carrying in her blood? The big stories happened in the background; your own stories are generally smaller but arguably more important?