Shallow Focus

Los Angeles: Aubrey is a down at heel wedding photographer. During a job at a fancy hotel in downtown Los Angeles, he gets a call from his wife Rachel requesting a divorce. As he shoots the happy couple, a corpse falls to the ground elsewhere in the hotel. Aubrey moves in to his friend Doug’s spare room. Doug is a faded child star, obsessed with his own legacy. We meet him ranting about Harry Page, a kid with a YouTube channel that dubs fart noises onto old TV shows. He is incensed at the lack of effort it takes to become famous these days. He gives Aubrey his spare room – a shrine to his old sitcom, replete with train set bed. Aubrey meanwhile is handed a note in lipstick by Jean Claude, Doug’s concierge, and fixer. It is unsigned. Elsewhere, a mysterious tattooed figure interrupts Rachel’s dinner, looking for Aubrey. Not finding him, he calls a friend. Back at Doug’s a little later, Aubrey is settling in and calling his wife when he is set upon by the tattooed figure, who beats Aubrey and demands his photos from the wedding earlier that day. After an altercation the man smashes Aubrey’s camera gear and shreds the photos. Doug, who manages to stab him in the leg before he escapes, then fights him off. The pair piece together that the man had been at the wedding, and may be responsible for the death of local aged rock musician Pat Paige. Aubrey wants to go to the police. Instead, Doug, sensing a payday tries to drive him to see his investigator friend, Wilson instead. Aubrey declines, afraid of not playing by the rules. The next day Aubrey eavesdrops on a couple lamenting the plight of the homeless and has an idea. He meets Rachel but fails to reconcile. Instead becoming enraged at the idea he is dependent on others. Doug collects him, and an enraged Aubrey is now ready to begin their adventure. Aubrey has taken a homeless man’s glasses whilst waiting. After a brief stop to pick up detective outfits, the boys arrive at a bar as Doug feels Aubrey needs to get laid. Failing to pick up anyone attractive, Doug works the room and settles on an old lady. Meanwhile Aubrey becomes besotted with the bar crooner, Karina Garcia. After seeing the two arrive, Karina sweet-talks her way back to Aubrey’s place. During which she pretends to fall for Aubrey. While he busies himself in the bathroom, Karina steals a memory card of surveillance footage from Doug’s guest room. She is seen doing so by the shadowy figure. Finally they take the case to Wilson, Doug’s detective friend. Wilson creates an un-necessarily elaborate sting operation, involving tailing and then seducing the widow of the deceased, Olivia Paige. Aubrey attempts to make amends with Karina, and learns that she is unhappy. Doug begins a seduction in disguise, infiltrating Karina’s yoga class to seduce Olivia. Wilson and Aubrey record evidence. The seduction goes swimmingly until the action moves to a local bar, and due to enthusiastic perspiration, Doug’s microphone short circuits, burning his chest. Whilst attempting to disguise the issue, Wilson pulls the plug on the operation, sending his assistant Daisy to silence the loose ends. A brief fight ensues, that ends with Doug limping away, with a recently sedated Olivia Paige under his arm. Sensing things spiraling out of control, Aubrey follows Doug to Olivia’s mansion. There he sees Doug staging a seduction in a morally questionable way. Before he has chance to back out fully, Karina arrives, having given chase. In the ensuing argument, it becomes apparent that Doug will go to whatever lengths he needs to in order to get paid. During the argument, Aubrey is accidentally locked out on a balcony. In his attempt to exit, he is tazered by Olivia’s son, Harry. His relationships in ruins, Aubrey returns to pack up and leave Doug’s apartment, and attend the school play his daughters are in. During the full production of Hamlet, Doug (in an attempt to mend fences) crashes the play. During the interval, Aubrey recognizes the school janitor as the hitman who broke into his apartment. After giving chase, he is cold-cocked by Harry Paige, who is co- incidentally playing Hamlet. Using the janitor (Mr Hansen) to subdue Aubrey, he explains that he offed his step father because he could, and he would get money. Doug appears to rescue Aubrey. A chase occurs through the school, and into waiting cars for a medium-speed and poorly executed chase, which ends with both cars crashing into a statue of the school’s patron Bruce Campbell, who is also in attendance. A week later, Doug and Aubrey meet to repair their relationship. Both men have been humiliated in the public eye by Harry and his expert use of the media. Doug reveals to Aubrey that he attempted to seduce Karina once for a case, and painted her as an alcoholic. Aubrey meets Karina to apologize a final time, only to find she is leaving town. He begs her to come to his art gallery opening. At the gallery, it transpires the exhibition is not of pretentious photos of people pretending to be homeless, but instead Aubrey’s best wedding photographs. His work brings together many of the couples in the film. Karina arrives, briefly, then leaves. Aubrey is left heartbroken. He is then punched in the throat by the homeless man who’s glasses he stole.