DOPAMINE Rating: (out of 5 stars) Director: Mark Decena Producers: Debbie Brubaker, Tad Fettig Writers: Mark Decena, Timothy Breitbach Director of Photography: Rob Humphreys Cast: John Livingston, Sabrina Lloyd, Bruno Campos, Rueben Grundy, William Windom, and Nicole Wilder Visit the IMDB page for full cast and crew.

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Review by: Laurel Williams
10/5/03

Writer/Director Mark Decena's first film, Dopamine, is a romantic dramedy that poses the question: "Is love real, or is it just a chemical reaction to physical stimuli?" It's an original angle that should have some resonance for an audience already skeptical about the possibility or permanence of love. Unfortunately, it's also an angle that gets old very fast because the filmmakers insist on pushing it in every single scene.

The story centers on Rand (John Livingston, Dogtown, EdTV), a very talented computer programmer with a head for science. Rand is skeptical about the concept of true love because he has watched his own parents' love seemingly dissipate when his mother developed Alzheimer's. Rand and his two friends, the womanizing Winston (Bruno Campos) and the zen-master Johnson (Rueben Grady), have created an animated computer program featuring the bird "Koy Koy." Koy Koy responds to voice commands and is programmed to act like a real pet. Their investors insist that Koy Koy be tested on real kids, and so the local children's center is chosen to test the product. Rand meets and is instantly attracted to Sarah (Sabrina Lloyd, "Sports Night", "Ed"), a teacher at the center who is against the Koy Koy project and the idea that an animated pet is any substitute for the real thing. The more Rand and Sarah start hanging out and falling for each other the more they begin to challenge each other, and Rand eventually needs to reconcile for himself whether he is going to believe in love.

Dopamine is shot quite beautifully on high-definition video. The framing of shots and some of the editing is done with great skill -- feeling very poetic at times. The performances are quite skilled as well, especially Livingston's subtlety and charm as Rand, and Lloyd's simmering intensity as Sarah. Both definitely deserve to get more attention after this. However, appealing as they were, Livingston and Lloyd's performances were not enough to overcome the weaknesses of the script. The philosophical question posited in the very beginning never stops being explored, to the point that everything becomes unnatural. Characters sit around and discuss the clash of love and science. Everything in Rand's life is a reflection of his angst over this issue, and I mean everything. Sarah's big issue stems from her never being able to get over a bond she had in her past, one Rand insists is scientifically built to never be beaten. Rand delivers argument after argument to Sarah about how chemistry is the reason for all feelings -- chemicals such as dopamine released in the brain in response to pheromones; the evolutionary necessity of the species to reproduce; the scientific explanation for the "seven year itch"; and so on. He's even pontificating on this as he's making out with Sarah for the first time. It's as if Decena wants to make sure the audience gets his point, even if he has to slam it in with a sledgehammer and manipulate his characters into inhuman-like behavior to do it. It gets old very fast, and suffocates the entire movie.

(A Sundance Film Series release. Opens in limited release in Loews Theaters on October 10, 2003.)