Dopamine
Release Date:
October 10, 2003
Limited release
There are those rational thinkers that believe love is just a feeling you get when the chemical dopamine (hence the movie’s title) is released into the bloodstream. When the dopamine dissipates, the love fades right along with it. Filmmaker Mark Decena takes a look at this issue in this movie, which marks his feature film debut.
Our story follows a computer animator named Rand (Jonathan Livingston) who knows a lot about the subject of love. Well, at least the chemical and neurological aspects. This “knowledge” reveals itself by the fact that he can’t hold on to a long-term relationship. This causes him to throw himself into his work, creating a computer program that helps children with learning responsibility.
One night, while on a break from work, he goes out with his business partners to a local bar. There they encounter a stunning woman named Sarah (Sabrina Lloyd) and Rand begins to have a “stirring in his loins”. Of course he blame the chemicals in his body for these feelings, not a possible “irrational” love connection. They go their separate ways, assuming they’ll never meet again. That will not be the case.
The next day, Rand and his business partners show up at a nursery school to field test their computer creation. They find out that Sarah is a teacher there. Once again, Rand is drawn to her. But will he give into his feelings or just push them aside as a chemical reaction?
The idea for this film got its start about 5 years ago as a screenwriting project at one of the Sundance Filmmakers and Screenwriters Labs. Movie critics have been pretty positive in their reviews of this film and it has even won awards. Hopefully you will like it too. (Marty Doskins/BOP)
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