Ripple Effect is a Virgina Madsen film I hadn’t seen before but very much looking forward to. It might as well have driven up my street, parked outside and given me a friendly wave while holding a box of popcorn.
It’s a film that deals with the consequences of our actions. Those events that shape our lives in ways we can’t possibly understand or comprehend at the time.
Phillippe Caland wears many hats in Ripple Effect. He writes, directs, produces, and stars as the lead character, Amer Atrash. He’s a once successful fashion designer who despite doing well for himself is haunted by his demons. Amer is looking down the barrel of a mid-life crisis as the guilt from a hit and run accident in his past weighs heavier and heavier on his soul. He once hit a man with his car while in the country illegally, he did his best to ensure that the man did survive the accident but didn’t come forward and admit his actions for fear of running his own life.
We meet Amer as he’s just lost funding for his latest projects, despite his best efforts he can’t seem to raise the money he needs. He eventually implodes and begins to realise he can’t move forward with his life until he reconciles his past. No matter what that might look like.
No longer able to help himself, he confesses all to his wife, Sherry (Virginia Madsen) who agrees that he must put his mind to rest before he can begin to work out what to do with the rest of his life. She loves him and the daughter they have together dearly but she can see something isn’t right.
Amer reveals that he has kept tabs on his victim and knows where he is. He’s watched as the man recovered from the accident but has been left disabled and in a wheelchair due to the accident.
He makes arrangements to be at the same place at the same time at the place he knows he’ll be and “bumps into” the man and his wife. His name is Phillip (Forest Whittaker), he’s there with his wife Kitty (Minnie Driver). Phillip, left disabled after the accident, has adapted in his own way. He and his wife Kitty have an unconventional arrangement with his consent, since Phillip is physically unable to fulfil her needs, Kitty seeks lovers outside their marriage, and so it’s easy for Amer to meet the couple and get an invite to their home.
The night doesn’t go as planned for Kitty, but Amer has an in with Phillip and pretty soon he’s confessing all to the man he paralysed all those years ago. But, he doesn’t quite find what he’s looking for with Phillip. In some ways Amer wants to be punished by Phillip for what he’s done to this life, but what he finds is a spiritual man who long since come to terms with his lot in life and sees things completely different to Amer.
I’ll leave that there and let you discover the rest of the story for yourself if you’ve not already. It’s worth a watch if you’re not necessarily in the mood for an introspective kind of film.
Virginia Madsen’s Sherry character is a good one for her. She’s much more than the supporting character she could easily have been. There’s a very real world weariness to her and it helps carry the film immeasurably. No melodrama, just a realistic portrayal of a woman who has loved a man for a long time but has grown somewhat apart from him through no real fault of her own.
I think it’s safe to say that without the inclusion of both Virginia Madsen and Forest Whitaker in this film, it would have been far worse. They both carry it further than it perhaps should have gone.
I didn’t enjoy the film as much as I wanted to do. I like the concept, and for the most part the execution. But I think it suffers somewhere that I can’t quite get my head around. I certainly don’t think Phillppe Caland Caland’s ambition to take on so many roles in the film was such a good idea, as the lead, he’s overshadowed by the actors of Virginia Madsen and Forest Whittakers calibre. That said, and as I said before. It is worth a watch for a bit of introspection. It’s not a bad film, it’s just a bit all over the place with some things better than others that don’t quite manage to bring it all together.
It’s a shame, Ripple Effect could have been something special.
If you do decide to watch it, make sure you don’t switch it off as soon as the credits roll for a final “Huh” moment…
Availability:
It has a release on DVD, but it’s availabilty is relugated to who ever is selling it on eBay or a simialr site. It’s not hard to get hold of but it’s prices seem to vary quite a lot.
Trailer:
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