Dopamine

Theatrical Release Date: 2003 10 10 (USA - Limited)

UPC: 758445903621

Studio: Showtime Entertainment

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Adult Language, Sexual Situations, Drug Content]

Summary: Mark Decena makes his directorial debut with the romantic comedy Dopamine. In San Francisco during the economic heyday of computer technology, Rand (John Livingston) works as a software designer. He and his co-workers, Winston (Bruno Campos) and Johnson (Reuben Grundy), have created a toy called Koy Koy, an A.I. cyber-pet that can respond to its owner's voice. Rand's love life hasn't been very productive, especially because his father (William Windom) has been repeatedly telling him that love is just a series of chemical reactions ever since his mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. One day, Rand goes out to the bar after work and meets preschool teacher Sarah (Sabrina Lloyd), whom he feels strongly attracted to. When his company test markets his cyber-pet to little kids, Rand meets Sarah again and they are instantly connected. Despite their differing opinions on the chemical nature of love, Rand and Sarah begin a romance that puts their theories to the test. The film also stars Kathleen Antonia and Nicole Wilder. Shot on digital video, Dopamine premiered at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

Category: Romance

Awards: Alfred P. Sloan Prize – Sundance Film Festival

Features: ccCommentary with director/writer Mark Decena, writer Tim Breitbach, and actress Sabrina Lloyd
Deleted scenes
Behind-the-scenes featurette
Highlights from the 2003 Sundance Film Series
Theatrical trailer
Director's introduction
"One of Those Days": A short by Mark Decena, 1996 Sundance Film Festival, official selection

Dopamine

Format: DVD

Release Date: 04/13/2004

Audio: DD Dolby Digital

Runtime: 85 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Chapters: Side #1 --
1. Opening Credits [3:55]
2. Life's Work [2:56]
3. Grab a Smoke [4:49]
4. Skeptical [5:15]
5. Testing Koy Koy [4:52]
6. Artificial Life Thing [4:44]
7. Chemical Attraction [4:08]
8. Male and Female [4:34]
9. The Gallery [2:39]
10. Parents' Story [6:19]
11. The Deconstruction [2:14]
12. Hormone Codes [5:51]
13. About Sam [10:49]
14. Good Enough Reason [4:37]
15. Mother and Son [3:24]
16. Shut Down [3:37]
17. The Surrender [5:31]
18. End Credits [4:22]

Derek Armstrong

Dopamine is an artistic and occasionally overreaching study of the causation of love -- namely, whether it's something profound and intangible, or whether it's just chemical impulse. Mark Decena's film never figures out the answer, but it leaves one with the sense that a useful discussion has been tapped. It's not that Rand, the computer programmer played with quiet understatement by John Livingston, is incapable of romanticism; it's that he's been conditioned to note his physical reactions upon feeling attraction (the adrenaline bursts from the smell of perfume, for instance). As a clear line of demarcation from the scientist, Sabrina Lloyd is the free-spirited teacher who paints on canvas rather than on a computer screen and considers love strictly mental and emotional. Add in Koy Koy the computerized pet as a stand-in for the closed-off programmer, and Dopamine has some fairly obvious metaphors and methodology. But it's effective because it uses these symbols to provoke thought in the audience, even if that thought doesn't coalesce into clear conclusions. (How could it, when the topic is so fertile?) Digging at the heart of the dichotomy are the chemistry-themed voice-overs from Rand's father, a husband dealing with his wife's Alzheimer's, who has retreated to his dispassionate explanation of love out of bitterness. Because it exists on this intellectual and sometimes remote level, Dopamine should please the scientists in the audience a bit more than the romantics. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Mark Decena  Director 
Mark Decena  Screenwriter 
Timothy Breitbach  Screenwriter 
Tad Fettig  Producer 
Debbie Brubaker  Producer 
Eric Kovisto  Executive Producer 
Eric Holland  Composer (Music Score) 
John Livingston  Actor 
Sabrina Lloyd  Actor 
Bruno Campos  Actor 
Reuben Grundy  Actor 
Kathleen Antonia  Actor 
Nicole Wilder  Actor 

Country: USA