SYNOPSIS

A job, a life, a marriage, a family. Each universal yet unique. And yet how fragile they are when examined closely.

Themes & Intermissions, a new feature-length drama, takes a quietly suspenseful, unblinking look at several realistic individuals struggling to hold onto hope against all odds.

In today's uncertain world, everything we think we know about stability in life can change in a heartbeat -- or the blink of an eye. No one learns of how illusory stability can be more swiftly (or brutally) than Brian (Dan Parilis), a thirty-something husband and father of one, when he's fired from his job without warning or notice, only days after the turning of the New Year.

As Brian frantically looks for work with no success, a tap dance of silence ensues between Brian and his wife, Sharon (Christa Kimlicko-Jones). Days turn into weeks, and the invisible eggshells under their feet begin to crack, the pretense of carefree suburban bliss crumbling all around them and becoming impossible to maintain.

Desperation eventually leads Brian down a slippery slope, starting with petty thievery, and inevitably veering towards something much darker and more foreboding...

How long can we veer off the righteous path before we discover we've lost our way? At that moment – the moment after we make the choices we make, do we discover that there's no turning back?

Conceived by filmmaker Dan Parilis as a quiet slice of life in the styles of such filmmakers as John Cassavetes and Mike Leigh, Parilis went on to write, direct, and star in Themes & Intermissions, a quietly touching character study reminiscent of such films as Rachel Getting Married, Half Nelson, and Man Push Cart.

Themes & Intermissions is a whisper, not a shout – the slow horror of free-fall in a world in which stability can be lost in a single moment, and simply holding on can be a quiet kind of heroism. The film is a slow burn of a story that illustrates how silence and emotional avoidance can cause circumstances to go from bad to worse, spinning slowly and horribly out of control. Themes & Intermissions offers a keen eye on the fear, powerlessness, and despair every person has experienced, while offering a resolution that is a mixture of emotions that are never less than believable – from hope and despair, to loss and eventual triumph, even against all odds.