The American thriller Dose of Reality packs wire-to-wire intensity and a surprise ending that no one will see coming. A woman is found in a bar’s restroom after closing time, apparently beaten and raped, but unable to remember by whom. Two bar employees are the only possible suspects. Both deny it, and the woman launches a series of searing mind games to determine her attacker.
Fairuza Balk (American History X, Almost Famous) commands the screen as the woman. Her character, coming from a place of utter victimization, becomes totally dominant over the men. The most interesting of the guys is played by Rick Ravanello, a veteran TV actor with 77 acting credits on IMDb. Ravanello’s eyes are uncommonly able to portray dimness, cunning, tweaked impairment, guilt and terror.
But, although it’s a compelling movie for the first 75 minutes, Dose of Reality is all about the Big Surprise – which is on the scale of The Crying Game. Afterward, I was able to identify at least four clues in the story, but none of the 250 audience members at Dose of Reality’s Cinequest world premiere was unsurprised. Actor Ravanello recounts that when he first read the script, he got to the end and blurted “No Fucking Way!”. Writer-director Christopher Glatis has a real winner in Dose of Reality.
Dose of Reality is playing Cinequest again on March 5 and 9, and will release on DVD and VOD on March 26.
Will look for it on VOD….Sounds great.