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THE ALTRUIST
Produced, Directed, Written, and Videotaped by Mick McCleery
Edited by Jeff Torrico and Mick McCleeryNick Andrews - Billy Franks
Teresa - Bobbi Ashton
Carl - John Innocenzo
David - Mike McLaunghlin
Toni - Jonene NelsonDirector Mick McCleery teamed with actors Billy Franks and Bobbi Ashton on the fantastic musical thriller TRACK 16. The three return for another round of suspense in THE ALTRUIST, a politically motivated thriller that mixes tension with morbidly dark sense of humor. Where TRACK 16 was a case of style of substance, McCleery creates a movie that debates a person's right to die. For the uninformed, that's Jack Kevorkian territory.
THE ALTRUIST revolves around the employees of Terminal Asst., a company that specializes in pairing the terminally ill with cold-hearted killers. In theory, this is a pretty sound idea. Rather than serial killers offing victims at random, they now have willing targets to satisfy their bloodlust who won't put up a fight. Just think what something like that would do the crime rate, not to mention the spiritual issues involved. Is it really murder if the victim is willing? Is it really suicide if the triggerman isn't you?
But of all the questions raised, the biggest is probably why it is a crime to assist someone in speeding up their own death? McCleery avoids imposing his own political views opting to allow viewers to draw their own conclusion. Like Joe Friday, McCleery gives us just the facts in this fictional story that will leave viewers discussing the key points.
To facilitate the moral quandaries, McCleery has us follow the seemingly amoral Nick Andrews. An opportunist, the only viewpoint Andrews takes that doesn't concern his own self-preservation is his fierce belief in a person's right to die. Unfortunately, one gets the feeling that Andrew's take isn't so much about death with dignity as it is about his ability to exploit a person's desperation to line his own pockets.
When we first meet Andrews, the shit has hit the fan. His one rule, no business in town, has just been broken and it's all over the evening news. Andrews isn't so much worried about the police on his back, since they're all paid off, but the heat that could arise if someone decided to probe a victim's involvement with Terminal Asst. A raging limey without a single care for his public perception, Andrews possesses the uncanny ability to work the word "fuck", and every variance there of be it noun, verb, adjective, or adverb, into every sentence at every opportunity. Think of a British Sam Jackson.
The night before, one of his employees took it upon themselves to save the boss some paperwork and bestow an assignment to a friend of theirs. What wasn't counted on was the victim's wife, Teresa. It's not so much that she interfered with the murder, but that when the victim thought the killer might harm his wife he decided to fight back resulting in the death of each. The victim loved his wife so much that he wanted to shield her from any possible pain. At first it was the possible pain of a prolonged death as she watched her husband die. In the end, it was the possible pain inflicted upon her at the hands of a killer looking for an extra rush brought about by the screams of an unwilling participant.
Seeing Teresa on the news, Andrews is intrigued. He says that he wants to know the woman important enough for a man to sacrifice his life for twice and promptly sets about meeting this woman. At one point he declares his love for her, but it becomes clear that this isn't a case of love at first sight. Andrews sees something in Teresa's face tat stirs memories long forgotten, or possible even suppressed, where as a 10 year old boy, his terminally ill mother called upon him to pull the trigger in her own assisted suicide. Andrews recognizes his own grief in Teresa.
This alone would have made an interesting movie, but McCleery complicates the mix with corrupt cops and politicians, insurance fraud, private investigators, and loved ones of past victims. By all rights, Andrews should lock his doors and leave town, but he's a victim of his own single flaw, Teresa. Like her dead husband, Andrews wants to shield her from any further pain which mean making sure she knows, and understands, the truth.
As Andrews, Billy Franks brings that same easy charm to his portrayal that made his work in TRACK 16 so memorable. With the previous movie, one gets a sense that Franks was playing a variation on himself, a real life musician. With THE ALTRUIST, Blanks has to create a character repugnant enough to be in his line of work but likable enough that viewers root for his success. His chemistry with Bobbi Ashton was evident with TRACK 16, but this time around the two are asked to show viewers an attraction that isn't so much physical as it internal. This time around their characters don't need each other out of love or lust, but rather pain. In each other is the possibility of both solace and salvation.
The movie opens with a definition of the world "altruism." 1. Unselfish concern for the welfare of others; selflessness. 2. Instinctive behavior that is detrimental to the individual but contributes to the survival of the species. Who the true "altruist" is in the movie is one of the debatable topics. Is it the murder victim who wishes not to burden his loved ones with their prolonged demise, or is it Andrews who risks his own neck to help a person die on their own terms.
I haven't seen McCleery's first feature, THE KILLING OF BOBBY GREEN, but his two subsequent films have been such excellent examples of do-it-yourself no-budget cinema that the prospect of seeing where he started intrigues me. While the world of microcinema first saw McCleery in a number of forgettable horror efforts from Kevin Lindenmuth, McCleery's established himself as a far more interesting director than his roots would indicate. Never content to work within the confines of a genre, McCleery appears to understand that a good movie requires three things: a intelligent script, actors willing to give it their all, and a vision behind the camera with the ability to pull everything together.
The limited promotional edition of THE ALTRUIST contains a stills collection after the main feature.