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Eulogy for a Stranger
A feature film from Opening Act Productions, LLC™
Life is fleeting; the future fragile. Who you are, or what you are becoming, can be a mystery... sometimes most of all to you.
Not that we usually think about those things. It can be quite a head trip, a major bummer. It's much easier?and preferable?to let life, to let the party, roll on.
Josh Connolly's party is interrupted one day when he chases a homeless man, who happens to keel over. A random occurrence, a cosmic joke or divine intervention, Josh can't shake the guilt. How culpable was he? He also can't escape the nagging desire to find out who this guy was. How did he end up like this? And how can Josh avoid it. The bum's got to have a story.
This sets Josh on a journey?one his friends, try as they might, do not understand?to find out about this stranger and, ultimately, himself. It's a story about the value of life and the power of relationships and those things that drive us.
The story opens at Josh and Mark's pad. These up-and-coming young lawyers are having a party on the eve of getting their break, the case that will open the door to all the things they want - money, fame, women and their own practice. They've got a plan and they're going to make it together.
A good party comes with a good hangover. Crash! Bang! The noise from the bum rummaging in their garbage cans the next morning doesn't help Josh's pickled head. It makes him mad. This is the last time that bum pokes around their trash. Josh grabs Mark and they chase the bum. Huffing and puffing, the bum's heart gives out with the boys in pursuit.
Mark says forget it. It's not their fault; the bum would have died anyway. Josh can't forget. Something about seeing the bum lying there, being connected to him through these circumstances, flips a switch in Josh - some unrealized compassion, but mostly fear of the future.
Josh begins a journey to find out who this stranger was: his own journey down the yellow brick road, or more of like an adventure in wonderland. It takes him to places he's never been - the city morgue, a homeless shelter, the homeless' cardboard city and the wrong side of the tracks. He meets strange, new people—the cheeky morgue technician, the wise homeless shelter manager, the protective bum and the stranger's enchanting daughter.
But what about the life Josh was leading? His actions jeopardize Mark and his case and estrange him from his friends, especially his trophy girlfriend. It's clear to them that Josh is off his rocker. They know what's best for him, and they all collide.
In the end, Josh finds out who the bum was, but, most of all, he learns more about himself. He finds answer to those nagging questions, the ones he's been ignoring, in the back of his head. It's a new life, a better direction, thanks to a stranger, a bum who seemed to have nothing to give.
This character-driven drama, with a touch of humor, has compelling characters and an intriguing plot. This 92-page script is written to be shot as a low-budget, independent film, which can be filmed in any city and suburban area. The investment for Eulogy for a Stranger is minimal, but will allow OAP to break out of any given genre box.