''Fateful Findings'' is a 2012 American

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

science fiction film directed, written, produced, edited by, and starring

Neil Breen Neil Breen (born November 23, 1958) is an American filmmaker and actor. Since 2005, he has written, directed, independently produced, and starred in five films. Breen's films have garnered a cult following for their low-budget production value ...

, who was also in charge of production design, set decoration, makeup, sound editing, catering, and casting. The film was screened on December 8, 2012, at the invite-only

Butt-Numb-A-Thon The Butt-Numb-A-Thon (also known as BNAT) was a film marathon held in Austin, Texas every December from 1999 to 2016. It was hosted by Harry Knowles of the Ain't It Cool News website in celebration of his birthday. The festival showed 24 hours o ...

, had a public festival debut on May 23, 2013, at the

Seattle International Film Festival The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees. The SIFF runs for more th ...

, and was released to theaters in early 2014. Upon release, it was declared one of the " worst films ever made" and quickly gained a

cult following A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...

. Among other things, viewers cite the film's cryptic and incomprehensible plot, poor production values, overt political messages, stilted dialogue, and bizarre and unnatural performances as well as Breen's real-life eccentricities as part of the film's ironic appeal. Some critics have cited the film as an example of

outsider art Outsider art is art made by self-taught or supposedly naïve artists with typically little or no contact with the conventions of the art worlds. In many cases, their work is discovered only after their deaths. Often, outsider art illustrate ...

, and the phenomenon of "so bad it's good" media.

Plot

Eight-year-olds Dylan and Leah discover a magical black stone in the woods. With Leah's family's departure imminent, the two vow to always be friends but never see each other again. Decades later, Dylan, now a successful novelist, is struck by a car but miraculously survives the accident. In the hospital, he rapidly heals from his injuries, which he credits to the power of the stone. Returning home, Dylan reveals to his wife, Emily, that he has not been working on a new book but has instead been using his hacking abilities to uncover "the most secret government and corporate secrets", which he plans to publish in an exposé. His commitment to the project is tested by his wife's descent into drug addiction and eventual overdose, as well as the constant sexual attention paid to him by his best friend Jim's underage daughter. Later, Jim himself is murdered by his wife for valuing taking care of his car over listening to her issues. Distraught, she stages his death as a suicide. Later Dylan finds Jim's body and can't believe he committed suicide but is unable to help him. Plagued by disturbing dreams of a mystical book, Dylan begins seeing a psychologist, who helps him unearth repressed childhood memories. Doing so causes Dylan to realize that the doctor who attended to him during his recovery from the car accident was an adult Leah and the two are reunited, quickly beginning a sexual relationship. Learning about Dylan's plans to publish the exposé, a mysterious assailant kidnaps Leah. Using psychic powers granted to him by the stone, Dylan rescues her by teleporting into the kidnapper's compound. He then travels to the desert to find the book he sees in his dream. Going to visit his psychologist one last time, Dylan learns that she is, in fact, a ghost. Dylan publishes his book, hosting a press conference in front of the

National Archives Building The National Archives Building, known informally as Archives I, is the headquarters of the United States National Archives and Records Administration. It is located north of the National Mall at 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, Northwest, Washington, ...

divulging "the most secret government and corporate secrets". Various congresspeople and corporate executives react to the speech by committing

mass suicide Mass suicide is a form of suicide, occurring when a group of people simultaneously kill themselves. Overview Mass suicide sometimes occurs in religious settings. In war, defeated groups may resort to mass suicide rather than being captured. Su ...

to applause from the audience. A camouflaged

sniper A sniper is a military/paramilitary marksman who engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with high-precision r ...

attempts to assassinate him only for Dylan to kill him by reflecting the bullet using his psychic powers. His mission complete, Dylan and Leah return to the place where they found the stone in the woods as children.

Cast

as Dylan ** Jack Batoni as young Dylan * Jennifer Autry as Leah ** Brianna Borden as young Leah * Klara Landrat as Emily * Danielle Andrade as Aly * Victoria Viveiros as Amy * David Silva as Jim

Release

After Breen generated buzz and a

with his previous films, ''Fateful Findings'' played at

Harry Knowles Harry Jay Knowles (born December 11, 1971) is an American film critic and writer known for his website called Ain't It Cool News. Knowles was a member of the Austin Film Critics Association until he was removed in September 2017 "by a substanti ...

' 2012 Butt-Numb-A-Thon, an invite-only film festival. In 2013, it played at the

's Midnight Adrenaline program. The festival's programmer, Clinton McClung, said that he chose the film despite its amateurishness because of its uniqueness and cult appeal. Panorama Entertainment subsequently distributed it in the U.S.

Reception

Alan Jones of ''

The Dissolve ''The Dissolve'' was a film review, news, and commentary website which was operated by Pitchfork and based in Chicago, Illinois. The site was focused on reviews, commentary, interviews, and news about contemporary and classic films.{{cite web, url ...

'' wrote that the film could only have been made by Breen, as his incompetence makes what could have been boring instead fascinating. Peter K. of

Twitch Film Screen Anarchy, previously known as Twitch Film or Twitch, is a Canadian English-language website featuring news and reviews of mainly international, independent and cult films. The website was founded in 2004 by Todd Brown. In addition to films, ...

wrote, "It's not just for enjoying hilarious incompetence, more purely it is for the act of watching eccentric choices made by even more eccentric people." ''Fateful Findings'' has become a cult film. Describing why he thinks it deserves to be a cult film,

Nathan Rabin Nathan Rabin (; born April 24, 1976) is an American film and music critic. Rabin was the first head writer for '' The A.V. Club'', a position he held until he left the ''Onion'' organization in 2013.

called the film

as unpredictable and unconventional as '' Citizen Kane''. Jason Howard of ''INLUX Magazine'' began his interview of Breen by praising the film, writing "Ever on the hunt for the next great 'cult classic', I recently stumbled upon ''Fateful Findings''" and "it only took about a minute into the film for me to discover that I was watching something special that had more to offer than the typical film".

References

External links