A film director whose life crumbles after the suicide of his Hollywood starlet girlfriend becomes obsessed with a lifelike robot that appears to be her exact duplicate.
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Title: Diminuendo (2018)
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3 wins & 3 nominations.
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Cast
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Richard Hatch | ... | Haskell Edwards | |
| Chloe Dykstra | ... | Cello Shea / Number 8 | |
 |
John Champion | ... | Stuart |
|
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Xine Zanillo | ... | Susan |
| Thurston Hill III | ... | Drake (as Alex Hill) | |
| Kiki Salcido | ... | Lance | |
| Olivia Dunkley | ... | Valerie | |
| Walter Koenig | ... | Milton Green | |
| Gigi Edgley | ... | Lauren | |
|
|
Claire Hudgens | ... | Receptionist |
| Peter James Smith | ... | David White | |
| Bridget Garwood | ... | Jonell Firth | |
|
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Robert Gonzalez | ... | Anders Schiff |
|
|
Nikita Yan Guo | ... | Ye Song |
| Rebecca Gray | ... | Alice | |
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Plot Summary
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Storyline
Once a renowned director, Haskell Edwards has wallowed in a self-inflicted haze of drug and alcohol abuse for nine years. This has been his life since witnessing the suicide of his one true love, Cello Shea, an iconic young film star. When a cutting edge tech-company approaches Haskell to direct a film about Cello's life, he is stunned to meet the actress who will portray her - an incredibly life-like robot. Horrified and fascinated at the same time, he can't turn down the opportunity to honor his lost love's memory and repair her suicide-tarnished legacy. Recruiting his old friends, and even some enemies, in the production, Haskell has to relive his relationship with the Hollywood sex symbol. Ultimately, he's forced to address the differences between his love for Cello, and his growing obsession with a machine that... is nothing more than a programmed doppelgänger. Written by Jason Curtis
Plot Keywords:
depression | suicide | filmmaking | film within a film | substance abuse |Taglines:
Imagine Owning Your Very Own See more »Parents Guide:
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Details
Country:
USALanguage:
EnglishRelease Date:
20 April 2018 (USA) See more »Edit
Box Office
Budget:
$1,000,000 (estimated)Company Credits
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IMDbPro »
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Color:
ColorAspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1
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Milton Green: So what does it say that you keep fucking it up?
Haskell Edwards: That I'm a fuck up? Big shock.
Milton Green: You've gotten pretty good at feeling sorry for yourself.
Haskell Edwards: Well, the position was open so I took it.
Milton Green: Cello wouldn't have like it. And it's Bonobos, by the way.
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Did You Know?
Trivia
At the time of filming, Chloe Dykstra was dating actor Robert Kazinsky. He appears briefly in a montage as Michael, the actor Cello sleeps with in London. Kazinsky is credited as Chuck Hansen, his character in Pacific Rim (2013). See more »Quotes
Haskell Edwards: It's a show for idiots, Milt. A Rhesus monkey could direct it and never stop jacking himself.Milton Green: So what does it say that you keep fucking it up?
Haskell Edwards: That I'm a fuck up? Big shock.
Milton Green: You've gotten pretty good at feeling sorry for yourself.
Haskell Edwards: Well, the position was open so I took it.
Milton Green: Cello wouldn't have like it. And it's Bonobos, by the way.
See more »
Crazy Credits
Filmed Under Duress on RED Digital Cinema Cameras (because we couldn't afford Alexa) See more »Frequently Asked Questions
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Diminuendo, as it turns out, is unpronouncable to the massess, and so is this film. As with a clumsy portmanteau, it seeks to be more than the sum of its parts. At times a soap opera with a B-list cast, at others a sci-fi thriller with supernatural notes, and finally touching on horror, it's rather bewildering, and as a result seems much longer than an hour and a half. It reminded me 'F/X Murder By Illusion', but without the pace. And there are moments from Richard Attenborough's 'Magic' - from the doll.
On the plus side, it's original. But many of these new ideas make no sense, and fall flat. It feels like it's too ambitious, like it casts aside plot development and characterisation in the pursuit of the dramatic punchline. The central premise of the film, Cello's death, makes the least sense, as we are given no background nor cause except the briefest, badly handled scripted exposition. "Oh, right, OK then", we are meant to say. I could provide a long list of plot situations which will make you shout or lol. The first-meeting sex scene, for example, is a huge stretch (pun intended).
There are a couple of good performances, but the better actors struggle with a clunky and often cliche-ridden script, and the central character's weathered and real world appearance condemns the rest of the cast to skin-deep superficiality. Some of them are more plastic than the robot. On the other hand, I was occasionally tempted to think it doesn't take itself all that seriously, and that there is some kind of buried social commentary about the movie business. Let's hope so.
It won't be the best film you'll ever see, but it might give some food for thought about future possibilities. Unfortunately the future possibilities at the start of this film were never realised.