JANE, a spunky disfigured high school counsellor, finds a gaping hole of suck in her life after her bff, DANA, gets married and leaves on her honeymoon. Jane’s consolation: the honour of dog-sitting Dana’s hyperactive mutt, COLGATE. In return for Colgate’s colour-blind, unwavering love, she takes him to the dog park, even in the rainy autumn, which is where she meets TREVOR, a goofily charming drummer with a dog named DEVO. For reasons which baffle Jane, Trevor seems attracted to her. Luckily, she has work to keep her tethered to the real world and at school she finds herself contending with a new transfer student, DOVE, who has been disfigured in a fire and patently refuses to drink Jane’s “you are not a victim kool-aid.”
Meanwhile, at the park, Jane and Trevor continue to bond over dogs, obscure 80s music, and a shared sense of humor- including a few jokes at his ex-wife’s expense. This closeness starts to freak out Jane until Dana saves the day by returning and eliminating the need for Jane’s dog park visits. Back at school, after a gaff where she speaks her mind a bit too bluntly, Jane manages to convince Dove she can be her personal Obi Wan Kenobi. Things seem to go back to status quo until… Trevor shows up at her school as the music substitute. Backed into a corner, Jane agrees to go out to the club to check out his show. Things are about to get romantic when her birthmark once again becomes an issue and Jane takes off, feeling… once again… justified in using her deformity as armor. So she uses Christmas break to hunker down and get Trevor off her mind.
This, of course, fails and like all good things, Christmas break comes to an end. Throwing herself back into work- planning the winter dance and solving students’ problems, Jane tries to keep Trevor at arm’s length. As she continues to counsel Dove, she tries to celebrate Dove’s increasing confidence and ignore that the student is surpassing the master. Then a crisis with another student hits and Jane loses her footing, chinks in her self-protection armor start to appear. Trevor, still working at the school, witnesses this and embraces her vulnerability. Seeing his chance to start a meaningful, intimate relationship with Jane, he professes his feelings. Unfortunately, he expects too much and spooks her, causing her to hurt him for his own good and escape- it’s like the opposite of “you had me at hello.”
Jane seeks solace from her best friend, but Dana refuses to join in the pity party, calls Jane on her b.s., and kicks her out of the house. Alone and without a sounding board, Jane flips out, trying to blame her problems on everyone else. At the school dance, Jane finally realizes her immature hypocrisy after getting a lecture from Dove, who is starting to resemble a character right out of “Mean Girls.” (Jane leaves that as a problem to solve another day…) Jane chases down Trevor and fights to win him back, honestly admitting for the first time in her life that she was playing the victim. He accepts her with his generous heart and juicy lips. So she loses her pride but gains someone to make out with. And to love. It’s a pretty good trade.
Director – Mary Darling
Los Angeles feedback film festival 