Mahaffy strikes a careful balance in how we perceive Thomas. The two attempt several sales meetings together, which end with Thomas sheepishly trying to reign in Paul, whose curse-laden tirades literally send customers running.All of this should be extremely funny, but the empathy that Jeff Clark’s portrayal of Thomas elicits is too devastating to allow for much laughter. Paul, played brilliantly by Mahaffy’s father, is tyrannical and abrasive. Our salesman, Thomas Lindsay, meets his boss Paul for the first time, with high hopes of impressing him and moving up in the company. As the tragic story unfolds, the film becomes a profound meditation on the blurry line between faith and self-deception.Early on in the film we begin to suspect that the Wellness company may not be on the up and up. Like many films of its ilk, it nails awkward social situations with laser precision, but the value of Wellness doesn’t stop there. While many films that fit this description never leave the territory of Gen-Y narcissism, Wellness takes a different tack, examining several days in the life of a middle-aged pyramid scheme salesman. It was made with almost no money, shot on a handheld camera with natural light, and the non-actor cast was not working from a script. On the surface, Jake Mahaffy’s Wellness seems similar to many films that have played at SXSW recently.
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