A woman inherits the patent for a healing machine from her quack father in this exploration of grief, in which a number of low budget film-makers cameo
H
ere is a deeply strange but diverting indie experiment: a docu-fictional meditation on the nature of grief from director Courtney Stephens and her co-writer and lead performer Callie Hernandez. Hernandez plays Carrie, a version of herself, opposite deadpan cameos from various microbudget directors.
In the fictional part of the film, Carrie’s father has died; he was a quack doctor who attempted to market an alternative healing machine as part of a pyramid-selling scam, but who also had many friends and followers who were bowled over by his charm. The lawyer executing his will tells Carrie there won’t be any money left after all her dad’s debts are paid, but she does inherit the rights to the healing machine, and there is even a prototype in a safety deposit box for her to try out.
Over and above this, there is a factual level to the film: Hernandez’s real-life father, Dr John Hernandez, was in actuality an alternative medicine evangelist who achieved a certain amount of fame on local TV. Does Carrie in her grief – or Hernandez in hers – want to somehow overturn her natural suspicion about her dad’s apparent delusions or even charlatanism? Is this film the way to do it? A way to keep faith with her grief by somehow believing her dad’s views?
