WELLNESS World Cinema

Film and literature are filled with charming charlatans-suave frauds who take our money, yes, but also steal our hearts. This oxymoronic breed is nowhere to be found in writer-director Jake Mahaffy’s devastating drama WELLNESS, which instead presents a starkly prosaic take on the modern confidence man. In the story of the erstwhile salesman Thomas (Jeff Clark), a middle-aged mark whose earnestness betrays his desperation, this film reminds us that victims of crime are never happy with their fates Out on the road in gloomy upstate New York, Thomas tries and fails to interest anyone in the titular product, a panacea that is definitely miraculous and probably fictitious. He gets no help from his “soles rep,” Paul, a bullet-headed shark of a man portrayed with all the appropriate piss and vinegar by Paul Mahaffy, the filmmaker’s father. As the complications pile up, Thomas digs deeper into fantasy and writes mare checks rather than ever admit defeat to himself or, more importantly, his wife G rim and beautiful, WELLNESS will have even the most entrenched cynic hoping against all logic for a happy ending. Which, of course, is how these guys get you…