>>REVIEW
SO MUCH SO FAST
DIRECTED BY Steven Ascher and Jeanne Jordan
Opens Friday, April 20
The Plaza
So Much So Fast is the story of Stephen Heywood, a man diagnosed with ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, while in the midst of getting married and having his first child. The film depicts Stephen as an upbeat realist, a man who knows he doesn’t have much of a chance to outlive the two to five year timeline that most ALS patients receive, but handles it all with an admirable sense of humour.
It is a moving, interesting and poignant film, but you can’t help but feel like somebody is missing the point. That somebody is Jamie Heywood, Stephen’s brother. Jamie’s heart is very much in the right place – when he hears that Stephen is sick, he quits his job and starts a foundation to find a cure. In a short amount of time, Jamie is running a successful lab of "guerrilla scientists," releasing their lab results to the public without caring about patents and trying desperately to help Stephen before he dies.
Jamie’s quest is no doubt admirable, but the film shows almost no interaction between Jamie and Stephen, to the point where you wish you could grab Jamie by the shoulders and implore him to spend time with his brother. Though it’s Stephen’s health that’s deteriorating, it is ironically Jamie’s life that falls apart before the camera. Ultimately, his wife leaves him and his foundation teeters on the brink of bankruptcy at least twice.
So Much So Fast is approached in a totally unexpected way, and directors Steven Ascher and Jeanne Jordan deserve credit for that. Much more time is spent on Jamie’s foundation than on Stephen’s illness, and though it can be frustrating to watch Jamie fret over financial concerns while his brother is falling apart before our eyes, it becomes a fascinating example of the different ways people cope with death. |
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