Sum of Existence

Although I only saw the rough cut, I sat glued to the screen through all 120 minutes and felt that I was witnessing the story first hand. The movie drew you in and evoked the correct emotions at the right time. If this does not get any award nominations, I will be greatly surprised.

I was impressed by the acting performed from both the seasoned actors and the relative new-comers to the screen. I am looking forward to seeing more of this writer / director's works in the future. It was one of the best movies I have seen for years.

"Sum of Existence" by first time director Jon Cohen is a great example of Australian independent film that is not afraid to present controversial ideas and concepts that are larger than life on such a shoe string budget.

The film presents the story of Liz, who after a traumatic and brutal experience is hypnotized in order to forget. In short it does help her recover from her complete psychotic break, but in the long run the treatment begins to affect her behavior towards those around her. The film therefore presents a realistic commentary on psychiatry and is a successful attempt of how most psychiatric treatments are short term behavior modifiers, but do not always work long term.

By placing this commentary in amongst a "serial kidnapper/rapist" storyline the film is heightened in its dramatic premise and keeps you entertained and intrigued.

The acting by the entire cast is strong and the vision functionally reflect this and the story nicely.

I have great respect for Jon and his team who were able to take a complex story and actually go out there and make it happen on such a low-budget and then to top it off they were able to score a nice time-slot on Channel 9 through sheer perseverance.

Patience and perseverance is exactly what this film is all about and if this is the first feature film by Jon Cohen then I look forward to experiencing future films of his... Give this guy a budget and see what happens...!!!!

Sum of Existence is an extraordinary film that breaks with one of the most cliché'd traditions of psychological thrillers -- the idea that hypnosis is a panacea that can be used to solve problems. In fact, the story centers around the way that the use of hypnosis takes a girl who has already been brutally wounded and unbalances her in ways that almost get her -- and others -- killed.

Liz Murphy is a normal, vivacious teen, who was brutally assaulted by a stranger and left to die. Months after the attack, she lives in a strange sea of denial and confusion. Attempting to go about her normal life, she doesn't understand why so many people treat her differently, even her best friend and her parents, nor why she's periodically haunted by strange, frightening flashes of... something...

What Liz doesn't know is that, in the aftermath of her attack, she broke down so completely that, as a last resort, her parents turned to a psychiatrist who used hypnosis to block her memories. In the short term, it helped her to recover. But it's left her behaving in ways that her friends and family find disturbingly out of character, and THEY are still dealing with the fallout of what happened to her, even if she no longer is. Worst of all, her assailant is furious that she's forgotten him, and is determined to make her remember.

Although a lot of the conventions of the traditional thriller are in place, including the cat-and-mouse game that soon develops between Liz and her stalker, what truly distinguishes this film is the way it delves into the minds of its characters. It explores Liz's fragile state, and the way simply burying a trauma such as hers only worsens its impact. It explores the mind of her psychiatrist, a woman who becomes far too attached to her patients and can't always discern (because she's lost her objectivity) what is truly best for them. And it explores the mind of the twisted psychopath who has become obsessed with Liz's destruction.

Brooke Anderson is a luminous actress, definitely one to watch. She makes Liz's plight very real, and yet manages, even when Liz is at her worst, to imbue the character with a quiet strength that comes to the fore. Liz is nobody's victim, and her mind is nobody's playground, and watching her take back her life and her sanity is a very triumphant experience.

I would like to add some balance to th previous "review" in whom was a little on the harsh side.

SUM OF EXISTENCE was shot on digital beta (I bothered to ask what it was shot on) so having some limited knowledge of the film making process and how something that was shot as a "telemovie" would translate onto the big screen, I understood the look the film had when it was translated to the "big screen".

JD COHEN (writer, director and producer) has produced a worth while film for his maiden voyage into the film industry. While it was shot on an almost "shoe string budget", he and his team did a fine job for their first feature film. I certainly believe it was better than most directorial debuts I have seen over the years.

As for the person picking the "plot holes" in the script, well hey, welcome to the world of film making. I would certainly like to see some films of his or hers that DO NOT have plot holes (when thinking of plot holes, let us not forget a certain big budget sci-fi in which the world was saved when we uploaded a computer virus in an ALIEN computer .... and we think that windows and mac have compatibility problems ... HA!).

SUM OF EXISTENCE was well acted and well directed in my humble opinion (especially when the very small if not non-existent budget is taken into account!). This opinion I "qualify" as an indie film maker myself.

Above all things, the most important aspect to consider is that JD COHEN and the team have GOT OUT THERE AND DONE THE THING !!! Many plan to shoot something, won't try for funding and winge and moan about the state of our film industry in this country (which admittedly isn't all that good!!!), then they will have a dig at someone and their team that HAS GONE OUT THERE and MADE THE FILM.

Kudos to JD COHEN, TIM MADDOCKS and the rest of the team.

Kudos to SUM OF EXISTENCE.

Lets see more people willing to take a chance and get out there.

PS. I have been in contact with both JD and Tim since the screening, both are in planning and negotiations for their next respective films ... with substantial budgets .... so there's another reason for us all to get off our butts and make our films ... after all you never know where that project will take you

they say that the sum of a films parts shouldn't equal more than it's whole. This is true with Sum of Existence. It has amazingly strong acting, strong story line, strong characters, strong direction, strong photography, but something about it doesn't quite fit.

It could be the edit. The film is an intriguing journey through a post-rape mind that has been hypnotized to forget. The protagonist Liz, is played by a talented young actress, and gives us an interesting character to follow during the film. The concept is brilliant. Cohen, (the writer/director) has done his job in creating a believable and realistic yet somehow surreal world in which to tell his story.

An odd one to call. This film has so many strengths in so many areas, but as a whole, something about it just doesn't gel with me. Odd. I did enjoy watching it though, so give it an 8/10.