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Descent

Written by Nobuhiro Hosoki

 

Press conference at Tribeca Film Festival with actress Rosario Dawson and director Talia Lugacy

Director Talia Lugacy, after having worked on several short films with Rosario Dawson, pitches the idea for a feature-length film "Descent." This isn't the ordinary moviegoing experience; it's shocking to one's eyes, and some might have problems with the content. The film draws us into the emotional destruction and distortion of a woman named Maya (Rosario Dawson), whose life was once filled with ambition and promising academic future, but is seen slowly plummeting into rage and despair.

Maya is a typical bookworm who spends her time studying, has recently broken up with boyfriend, and her choice of drinks is  club soda--sure indicators of a totally mundane existence. To spice up her life, she meets a handsome jock named Jared (Chad Faust); she initially manages to resist his aggressive blandishments at a party but decides to have dinner with him. It starts out as supposedly a harmless night, but eventually he lures her into his apartment where she is brutally raped and verbally abused with ugly racial slurs. Completely traumatized by the agony of this experience, she goes into emotional denial and never reports this to the police. Several month later, she descends into an oblivion of promiscuous sex and club-hopping. Evenher appearance has radically changed: no make-up when it's daytime, and rather darkish color around her eyes, which alienates her co-workers.

Maya seems to walking through life as a wounded animal. Then one night she forms a strange relationship with Adrian (Marcus Patrick), a club DJ, who awakens her empowerment to the new world, transforms her into a confident woman and sends her back to Jared for a payback. Rosario Dawson gives a compelling performance by conveying every range of emotion, never losing the sympathy of the audience.

On the surface, this is explosive subject matter and a grim tale, and audiences might assume this to be a female revenge fantasy. However,  director Lugacy uses long shots to capture the characters' expressions, which  deliberately leave us with a stranded feeling of what might have happened to a woman who faces this state of submission, but who never opened her mouth.  The films ends vaguely--a chilling examination of what it's like for today's woman to suffer oppression in a man's world.

Director: Talia Lugacy
Writers: Brian Priest, Talia Lugacy
Producers: Morris S. Levy, Rosario Dawson, Talia Lugacy
Directors of photography: Christopher LaVasseur, Jonathan Furmanski
Production designer: Tristam Steinberg
Music: Alex Moulton
Co-producers: Jeff Mazzola, John Scaccia
Costume designer: Amy Ritchings
Editor: Frank Reynolds
Running time -- 104 minutes
No MPAA rating

Cast:
Maya: Rosario Dawson
Jared: Chad Faust
Adrian: Marcus Patrick
Running time -- 104 minutes
No MPAA rating