Despite a lack of scientific evidence of any validity millions of people have a firm belief in horoscopes. Most are content in reading their daily fortune and guidance in the morning newspaper. Some with more fiscal means may opt for hiring the services of an astrologer to create a far more detailed ‘chart’ than the generic couple of sentences found in the paper. There are many calculations figuring in the alignment of various celestial bodies as well as the precise time and location of the subject’s birth. No matter which methodology is employed the scientific community offers nothing in the way of substantiation of this practice. The doubts surrounding astrology has found its way to become the central premise of an imaginative of an independent film. One thing to note at this point is the filmmaker could very well have exploited the lack of scientific validation for laughs but in an interesting twist writer/director Danny Buday has come up with a rather poignant drama. It uses a birthday horoscope as a springboard to examine the lives of a small group of strangers connected only by the happenstance of their births. The excellent cast takes on this project with earnest intentions and although some technical missteps are evident credit must be given to the professional way all involved deport themselves. I was impressed by the emotional commitment provided by the cast and crew making this a little Indy gem. The fact is a story like this with no sensationalistic moments would find a difficult time being green lit by a major studio. What you have here is a worthy example of why independent film is so vital to cinema; it pushes it forward with experimental techniques and innovative vantage points as well as touch on the very real emotional context of our humanity. I admit that just reading the synopsis in the press release I didn’t know what to expect but in the past films distributed by ‘Breaking Glass Picture’ have been among my favorite independent movies in my collection. This is one of those films that need to be experienced; you just can’t trust the marketing blurb for an accurate portrayal.

Jake Gibson's (Cam Gigandet) is one of those people that are in the habit of checking his horoscope in the daily paper. The forecast for his birthday predicted a ‘5 Star Day’, day were everything will go his way. Contrary to what is ‘Written in the stars’ everything that could possibly go wrong did. Within that twenty four hour period Jake’s car is stolen, is fired from his job which brings him home early enough to find his girlfriend in the act of cheating on him. Just to add the cherry on top of the day his faucet bursts flooding his apartment. This is the he polar opposite of the kind of day that the horoscope promised. Jake does find a way to salvage something from his disastrous natal day. Just as an aside the word disastrous literally means bad stars, an indication of the impact the belief in astrology has made on our culture. Jake is in dire need of a topic to pass his ethics course in school. Without getting an ‘A’ in the class he will not be able to graduate. He comes up with the idea to write a thesis on how horoscopes are completely bogus. In order to test this hypothesis in a rational fashion he plans to locate a few people born at the same time and place as he was. He starts his search with the modern Delphi, Google searching for ‘February 6, 1982 at 10:32 p.m’. He locates three people not only born at that time but who came into the world in the same hospital in Chicago. This improbable mission is met with mixed reactions by his ‘horoscope twins’. The first of the birthday trio is Sarah (Jena Malone) who a single mother and sufficiently suspicious of Jake’s motives is to call the police. It turns out that she also had the anti five star day. The father of her child is a drug addict who was in desperate need of funds for his next fix. He steals everything in sight, cash, credit cards and a sentimentally valuable necklace. An investigator from family services happened by so now Sarah is in danger of losing custody. Jake’s hypothesis is further confirmed with his next subject, Yvette (Brooklyn Sudano). She works in a financially depressed neighborhood in Chicago for a drug rehab center. On her ‘5 star day’ she accidently hits a kid on a bicycle breaking his arm. To interview the last subject Jake treks out to Las Vegas to meet Wesley (Max Hartman). He is a longue singer who has fashioned his act and persona after Frank Sinatra. He is anxious to take Jake on a tour of after hour joints eventually revealing his just discovered he has cancer.

The premise is very intriguing but the filmmaker has some difficulty maintain the narrative foundation of the story. This is the freshman feature film for Danny Buday and he definitely shows signs that he is on the right track. It was a good move to tackle a story that could be presented as basically three relatively independent tales. What was needed was a stronger connective tissue to bind the lot together. This could have strengthened the narrative by presenting the sections as three acts in the same play rather than a trio of loosely connected encounters. The Strength of Buday’s script and directorial style is his emphasis on the emotional character arch Jake experiences. What began as a response to the worse possible day in his life somehow blossomed into a life altering positive experience for Jake. The pacing is slow, perhaps overly so but it does afford the audience ample opportunity to understand Jake and his new friends. The film is nicely played by its cast especial an Indy favorite of mine, Jenna Malone. As always she is able to get into the skin of a complicated character and pulls it off with élan. This is one to catch.