Father Trinity

The Black List recommended FATHER TRINITY is a drama feature with elements of psychological horror. It's MAGNOLIA meets MULHOLLAND DRIVE with the tone of GET OUT. In three intertwining stories, men aged 11, 22 and 50 live and work at Studio 3, home of FATHER TRINITY a long-running martial arts horror TV show. The relationship between the men is unclear until the final scene.

ACE (50) is an ageing, alcoholic stagehand, with a rat phobia, living below the BONEYARD of damaged props. On his birthday unsettling events unfold. Ace hears a baby screaming. A cradle rocks in the boneyard, caused by a cat caught in a rattrap. Caring for her awakens Ace’s repressed feelings. A shadow taunts him, asking, “What’s my name?” A photo album mysteriously appears, with clues to his past. A white tin appears, the source of the baby cries -- his baby’s urn.

JACKIE (11), the opposite of cool, is the son of hardened "show no tears" stuntman BLADE and Asian-American makeup artist DOT. Jackie discovers his father having an affair with his Mom’s best friend, BUNNY, a former playmate. In hi-jinx with his karate-kicking bestie, BETTY, they fight racist bullies and try to stop the affair before his Mom finds out. Their attempts escalate from itching powder in makeup to staging an accident on set, only bringing Blade and Bunny closer. Jackie sees red monsters in the boneyard. When his mother investigates, she finds Blade and Bunny together. In a rage, Blade shakes Jackie and shoves Dot, damaging Jackie’s vision and causing Dot to miscarry. Unable to read his script, Jackie relies on his memory, winning the part. When his Mom sinks into a depression, Jackie has to care for her. Jackie and Betty hide in the trunk, to catch Blade and Bunny in the act. Instead, they hear Bunny’s declaration of love. Jackie finds Dot, surrounded by baby clothes in the dark. Whilst searching for his father, he falls through to the studio basement, apparently dead. Jackie is last seen at his mother’s wake. His father passes him a football and Jackie begins his journey to becoming his father’s idea of a man.

FLASH (20s) is the reason girls have curfews. After his quarterback career falls through, he becomes Father Trinity, the star of a martial arts horror show. With his entourage, he revels in drugs and women. Wearing green contact lenses, he is mistaken as White. When he falls for ALLY, his Chinese heritage is confronted, as her old money parents worry that their grandchild will look Asian. Crazy stalkers terrify pregnant Ally, leading to the hire of a seductive bodyguard. A white demon – racism – haunts the cradle, which is overlooked by a pink teddy bear. Ally is pushed down the stairs by shadowed hands, losing the baby. Flash spins out of control, getting caught with a sex worker, and speeds on his motorbike in the dark, chased by the black wraiths of grief. Ally and Flash reunite at his hospital bed. Ally, unravelled by visions of her daughter, apparently kills herself.

Ace unravels the clues from the photo album, leading him to retrieve a pink teddy bear from a floor safe. It’s a nanny cam, showing Flash having sex with his security guard. Ace, swamped with regret, scatters his baby’s ashes at the beach.

As Ace drowns, his dying flashbacks REVEAL that he was once Jackie, who grew up to be Flash. With supernatural insight, Ace sees himself through the eyes of the women he has hurt. Betty is revealed to be his stalker, the bodyguard and Ally’s killer. Ace understands that men “drown in absent tears” and that men pass on their masculine identity to their sons. Ace decides to fight his destiny and claws his way to the beach, slashing blindly at the person leaning over him -- his stalker.