By Omeleto
.
.
After a questionable incident with her peers, high school senior Jamie is forced to complete an addiction assessment at a drug and alcohol recovery center. Nonchalant, smart, and confident, she knows exactly what to say to avoid trouble.
Jamie meets with LeAnn, who is conducting the evaluation. But LeAnn is seasoned and experienced, and as the pair size each other up, a formulaic evaluation evolves into an unexpected conversation.
Written and directed by Eric Otten, this compelling short drama takes a situation where two people size one another up and get to know each other quickly. In the compressed specific format of the drug and alcohol intake, it asks if we can truly know someone well enough in such personal yet forensic situations, and how.
The storytelling is pared down to the most essential elements of narrative: two people in a room, talking. But the short’s superb writing endows each character with great specificity, making clear what’s at stake what each perspective and character need is. Each beat matters, and with terrific visual acuity, each shot captures a small but telling detail, whether it’s the smoke surrounding Jamie as she walks into the clinic, a seemingly off-hand gesture or a scrutinizing look at a critical moment.
The conversation begins with a series of simple mental tests. The intake seems to be “by the book,” but as the interaction evolves, it takes an intriguing turn, as we wonder if Jamie will outsmart the counselor. As the pair circle around what happened in the troubling incident that got Jamie in trouble in the first place, the talk becomes more heated, like an interrogation. But before LeAnn can ratchet up the intensity on an increasingly rattled Jamie, there’s an interruption, which allows for a more personal detour — as well as an opportunity.
Actors Sara Kamine and Lindsay B. Davis rise to the challenge of bringing the film’s seemingly facile dialogue to life, each warily playing the roles set out for them at the start, and both play off one another beautifully. Their performances have precision and depth, peeling back the layers of the initial dynamic and revealing a more personal connection.
At least, that’s what it seems, until the final movements of “Intake” reveal a more subtle game of cat-and-mouse at work, one where we see just how clever each character is. It ends with a terrific series of emotional chess moves that culminates with an ironic, deeply satisfying final play — and a perfect ending to a tightly constructed, deftly woven battle of wills.
Transcript provided by YouTube:
um i was told to be here at three for an
evaluation
do you perform yeah
oh sorry
it’s okay
do you have a parent with you
uh no
i want you to visualize these items in
your head and then repeat them back to
me
ball
chair
house
right now
yeah
ball
chair
house one more time
are you kidding
one more time for me please
ball
chair
house
can you do me a favor
start at 100 and then count down by
seven
193
86
79
72
65
that’s fine
in 60 seconds can you name as many
four-legged animals as possible
right now
uh-huh
all right uh
a cat a dog
a hamster
i’m thinking what you’d see at the zoo
um
lions tigers
bears
who am i
um
zebra
horse
uh
camel
gorilla well i guess no they sometimes
walk on four legs i guess technically
params uh
hippo
jaguar black bear brown bear polar bear
a donkey
[Music]
wolves coyotes
the freaking unicorn
all right
what does this all do you know asking
all that
i know they seem odd but they’re really
standard questions
they help me get a better sense of if
you’re all there
why don’t you tell me a little bit about
yourself
how do you like school
it’s fine
what classes are you taking
french
english lit
uh
algebra 2
and a couple art classes what’s your gpa
3.9 3.9 well 3.85 but yeah
wow
what
well you know we’ll call it school and
check on that right
so i’m gonna ask you a few questions
that i ask everyone who comes through
here and just
do your best to be honest okay
okay i’ll keep your answers confidential
in the past year on how many days have
you had more than a few sips of beer
wine or any drink containing alcohol
zero
zero yep
in the past year have you smoked any
marijuana or hashish
i
honestly don’t know what hashish is but
no i haven’t
do you vape or smoke cigarettes no huff
anything
do you use cocaine ecstasy acid or other
illegal drugs no
what about prescription drugs maybe
oxycontin or adderall
i have a prescription for adderall but i
don’t you know i don’t take too much or
anything
any other prescriptions
birth control but i can’t really get
high off that
you realize this is a pretty serious
situation right
sorry
you know why we’re having this
conversation right
i’ve been talking to you in the other
students to get a better picture of what
happened that night
it’s then my job once we’re through here
to make a recommendation to your vice
principal about your future
is your future something that’s
important to you
yes
well what do you like to do for fun
outside of school
hang out with friends
i paint a lot
what kind of stuff do you paint well
technically it’s sometimes paint but
like i also do
sketches illustrations watercolors
that kind of thing
i’m gonna study painting and drawing
next year
where are you going
i don’t know yet
and what do your friends like to do for
fun do they paint and draw with you
no we just hang out
what do you like to do when you hang out
mostly eat
go to the movies
hang at people’s houses
what do you do when you hang out at
people’s houses
do your friends like to go to parties
sometimes
do you go with them
no it’s not really my thing
so the party where the incident occurred
that night that was
first one you’ve attended
well i just i wouldn’t really say that
it was a party just people hanging out
were people drinking
a little
were they doing other things i don’t
know
were you drinking no
do you know where the alcohol came from
no
you know i’ve been talking to a lot of
students and uh i’ve heard a lot of
conflicting things
a lot of them are saying that you were
the ones who thought it was confidential
you were the one who brought the alcohol
to the party that night and you were the
one pressuring others to drink that’s
not true someone else brought the
alcohol to the party then i don’t
[Music]
[Music]
sorry my kid is sick
so i’m gonna ask where did you get that
what
that
is that from the exhibit of the summer
at the um
at shepherd
yeah actually did you go
yeah my dad took me
why did you pick that one
uh my
husband bought it for me i said that i
liked it and he just joked that i should
take it home
you didn’t like the more famous ones
what do you mean well i’m sure they had
prince of the more well-known ones
rothko newman jackson pollock
to be honest i didn’t know that my
choice was going to be judged by an art
critic no no
actually
really really like shelby and
that’s
one of my favorites
and why is that
i think it was in
1968
or something but
shelby’s wife had to leave new york for
a while because her brother got really
sick he ended up dying within like a
year or something
but
while she was there they write letters
back and forth but shelby wasn’t a great
writer you know it wasn’t really his
thing he tried telling her how much he
missed her or how he wished he could be
there but it just
it wouldn’t come out right
so instead he would draw her something
even if it’s just like scribbling or
something super small he just he wanted
to send her something he really meant
and when her brother eventually died he
started just painting and painting and
painting so
when his wife came home she found
that
sitting
10 feet high in their studio
that’s a nice gift
that’s a really nice gift i think it’s
worth like 45 million dollars today
well he didn’t paint it for me but i’m
glad it’s in my office
i mean
it’s nice
even if it is hanging upside down
jamie
at the beginning of this evaluation i
asked you to remember and repeat back
three words
can you do that for me now
[Music]
you
—
This post was previously published on YouTube.
***
You Might Also Like These From The Good Men Project
 |
 |
 |
 |
Join The Good Men Project as a Premium Member today.
All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS.
A $50 annual membership gives you an all access pass. You can be a part of every call, group, class and community.
A $25 annual membership gives you access to one class, one Social Interest group and our online communities.
A $12 annual membership gives you access to our Friday calls with the publisher, our online community.
Register New Account
Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here.
—
Photo credit: iStock
