It’s not often I get to see a documentary series, especially one that finds a way to put people’s stories together. I always enjoy a good fictional documentary whether it be locally made or even as something from a bigger production company. But to see one with people whom I’ve worked with before is even better. What is the story of? Well, have you ever wanted to make it in life because you felt you had a certain purpose? That’s kind of how my life went, but at least it has semi-progressed as of lately.
When heroes go on quests or journeys, they don’t always know what they’re getting into. Like Patrick (Stephen Huddlestone), your average blonde long-haired guy carrying a guitar in a case. He’s walking along a big stretch of road past rather big houses hoping to hitch a ride while a camera crew films him for a rather interesting documentary. Eventually someone (Grant Gladish) comes to pick up Patrick and the camera crew following him bringing them all to Vancouver. Patrick looks around the vibrant city taking in the view of the Granville St Bridge, then opens up to the viewer explaining his backstory. He’s going to find his long lost mother Talia (Jan Chadburn) after his father died, and follow his dream of being a musician, which explains the guitar case. Patrick finally meets his long lost mother who is a free spirit and clearly doesn’t care about her son, calling him a dolt. Talia can’t seem to find herself a suitable man calling them all freeloaders and shuns her own son. With nowhere else to go, Patrick walks under one of Vancouver’s high bridges and before he knows it, runs afoul of two street people, Paul (Marek Gabriel Kovar) and Donson (Brian Luneza) who question if he’s headed to Central. Patrick boards the skytrain and makes his way further into the Granville area where he interacts with a sex worker named Strudle (Ally Rafter), and later decides to spend the night asleep on the beach. The next morning, a rather creepy looking person named Volume (Alex Engel) invites Patirck to his home to record some songs. While Patrick is up for the opportunity, his new producer isn’t exactly the cleanest person with his nasty habits and he can’t stay at that particular basement suite either. But despite the issues Patrick goes through, the fact that he has met these people somehow works out for him and them as he introduces his mother to the street people, starting a three-way relationship, saving Strudle’s life after finding her passed out in an alley and eventually residing in her closet, and of course, giving Volume some 2nd or maybe 3rd aid after he’s been fatally stabbed in the organs. Three months later however, things do however take a turn for the worse, and Patrick is unsure of where to go in life when he’s hardly making the least bit of money in the music world.
This is a great series that could work as a feature but does so much better in the small parts it has been divided into, leaving people on interesting cliffhangers for every episode, and every episode is conveniently named after a rather interesting line of dialogue from said episode. While the sound tends to go up and down much like Volume’s theory on volume, it still is intellgible, I always enjoy seeing as much of Vancouver get showcased as possible in a production, and the overall story mixed with other stories is both hilarious and interesting as we learn no matter what life hurdles at us, we gotta keep going and figure things out the best we can.
You can watch it for yourself here, along with some other short films.
