Screening - Light and the Sufferer w/Paul Dano (Little Miss Sunshine)

Jan 3, 2010
7:30 pm
MOBS at The Guild, 2828 35th St, Sacramento (corner of 35th & Broadway)
Admission: $5.00

Light and the Sufferer
Realism and fantasy collide in best-selling author Jonathan Lethem's genre-bending coming-of-age story, which follows two estranged brothers as they try to leave New York City for a new life in California only to find their plans--and lives--being forever changed by the appearance of a mysterious alien.

We follow Paul--fresh from dropping out of college and living unhappily at home with his parents--as he arrives in New York City's Washington Square Park in search of his wayward brother Don (aka "Light" - Paul Dano, "Little Miss Sunshine"), who was kicked out of their parents' home a year earlier with neither Paul or their parents hearing from him since.

Realizing their lives are at a dead end and looking to forge a new future together, Paul suggests that the two hop a plane for California and "leave all the bullshit behind." After a robbery intended to raise money for their trip goes awry, the brothers find themselves being pursued not only by the drug dealers they ripped off, but by a sufferer: one of the sphinx-like alien creatures that roam the city, trailing after people in trouble.

The brothers' interaction with this fantastical creature turns the story on its head with both hilarious and heart-wrenching results. What does the sufferer want and why is it following them? Has it come to help or hurt them? Is it a guardian angel or death angel?