Taking The Fall

Tyler (Munro Chambers) is met by Justin (Roland Buck III) after he’s released from jail having served a six-years for a drug related offence. With his orange jumpsuit as a souvenir Tyler is a little underwhelmed by the reunion and further tightens up when he’s told over a burger that a dinner party has been planned for his return, with friends from college (who were at the party the night he was nicked) and who over the years may not have been as supportive as Tyler would have liked or expected.

His ex Kate (Katie Gill) is now engaged to Zachary (Jonathan Dylan King) a man who is completely self-absorbed and universally loathed by the group. Peter (Chris Sturgeon) is engaged to the ultra clingy Michelle (Kristin Zimber) and Allison (Avalon Penrose) who has a daughter of around four or five that knocks Tyler sideways.

As is the way of these things the introduction of booze turns tongues from fleshy probes into sharp cutting tools that only serve to sever already fraying friendships. It’s a clumsy tool but it serves its purpose in the narrative as writer Steve Hellman explores what has happened to the core friends since Tyler’s jailing and they left college.

It’s a story of missed opportunities wasted years in rotten jobs, bad relationships and a simmering tension that Tyler feels let down by his friends while he was in prison. The character of Tyler is something of a McGuffin just there to lubricate the story which is exploring the difficulties of today’s millennials. The thousands of dollars of college debts, the waste of studying for a degree in the subject they loved but then find there is no employment in that field.

Directed with some sensitivity by Josh Marble this story (I suspect) will be familiar to many. There’s also latent love, that it can’t be returned as people move on for better or worse. It’s about friends drifting apart, giving the impression that college was the main reason that they hung out, and once that was gone there was little left other than an acquaintance.

Each character has their story, each is unfulfilled and/or compromising on what they truly want to do or be. This unfortunately is life for the majority, not just those that go to college.

Dreams do for the most part remain unfulfilled with life becoming a trudge with occasional oases of hope or relief. Yet despite the almost unrelenting frustration within the group Hellman and Marble do provide some hope that dreams can be fulfilled.

Taking The Fall is available now on digital platforms.