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Currently Playing: PALOOKAVILLE | Omeleto

A man hits his head. Jojo lives with his sister in a cramped apartment in Brooklyn. Their parents have recently died, and Joe himself is aimless and at odds, resented by his sibling. He's apathetic, despite the constant berating and entreaties for emotional engagement. Sick of Joe, his sister kicks him out for the night. Left to his own devices, Jojo wanders, then begs someone to buy him baby formula, which he exchanges for cash. At odds with the world, he's not sure where else he can go -- until a sudden brush with violence on the subway gives him an unusual fresh start. Directed and written by Theodore Collatos, this textured, loose-limbed short drama examines the push and pull of the American dream, and how we summon the spirit and just enough delusion to keep soldiering on to achieve it. Visually, it has the patina of gritty urban naturalism, but the storytelling also shapeshifts into Jojo's visions, dreams and subjective headspace, all while sharpening its eye on the city itself, full of eccentric, troubled souls barely holding on. Amid this intrepid, jagged portrait of the city and psyche, Jojo wanders, the impressionistic editing streaming through sensations, sights and snatches of random conversation. The narrative captures a certain spirit of New York City, blending moments of surreal humor with wry drama, often in the same scene. Jojo is a lost soul, and it takes a while for his character and dilemma to come into focus through a series of seemingly random encounters, from a man he cajoles into buying him formula to the woman who gives him cash for it. What links both comedy and drama is the tone of observant, nonjudgmental intimacy, which lets the characters reveal themselves with a surprising complexity in a very short period of time. The film's flights of dreamy lyricism and rough-and-tumble realism are anchored by actor Howard Lester's performance as Jojo, who is often befuddled by the people and events around him and often passive, carried to and from by the vehemence of others. Yet he keeps going, somehow -- until a shattering incident of random malevolence puts a stop to any momentum, one that leaves Jojo and the viewer shaken. Yet when Jojo awakes, bloodied and basically alone, he finds himself believing himself to be the heroic historical figure of boxer Joe Lewis -- and believing at long last that he is the hero of his own story. It makes PALOOKAVILLE -- which lays the groundwork for a larger tale -- an ironic comment on success and glory amid the dysfunction and breakdown of society. The American dream, it seems, may be more akin to a collective hallucination, requiring a serious suspension of disbelief and a helping of delusion. PALOOKAVILLE. Courtesy of Theodore Collatos at https://teddycollatos.com.