Resolution

Resolution

Credits
Title:	Resolution
Genres:	Drama Thriller
Directed by:	Justin Benson; Aaron Scott Moorhead
Written by:	Justin Benson
Produced by:	Hal Wolverton; Alicia Johnson; Aaron Moorhead; Justin Benson; Michael Felker
Cinematography:	Aaron Moorhead
Edited by:	Justin Benson; Aaron Moorhead
Production
Distributed by:	Rustic Films Tribeca Film
Released:	April 22nd, 2012
Rating:	Unrated
Running time:	93 min.
Country:	USA
Language:	English
Navigation
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Next:	The Endless

Resolution is an American independent feature film of the drama and supernatural thriller genres. It was directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Scott Moorhead with a script written by Justin Benson. It was produced by Rustic Films and premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 22nd, 2012. The movie opened to limited theatrical release in the United States on January 25th, 2013, and was distributed through Tribeca Film.

Synopsis[]

Chris smokes a pipe — Chris is on the pipe.

A man named Michael Danube takes it upon himself to help his old high school best friend, Chris Daniels, who is a crystal meth addict. He goes to Chris' house in the rural backwoods of Southern California, only to find him shooting his handgun at birds, and complaining about insects. Chris invites him inside the house for a beer and takes a hit off his pipe. Michael flatly asks him if he would be willing to go into rehab. When Chris refuses, Michael zaps him with a stun gun, then handcuffs him to an exposed pipe on the wall. He takes his pipe away and throws his gun into the woods. He tells Chris that it takes seven days for drugs to work their way out of his system. If, in that time, he still refuses to go to rehab, then Michael will cut him off and have nothing more to do with him. Chris is naturally furious, and rails against him with a sling of profane comments.

Michael and the stone stove — Michael discovers the stone stove.

Michael soon discovers some of the dynamics relating to his friend's living arrangements. Firstly, there is a golden retriever that comes nosing around that Chris has taken in as his own, which he named Sara. There are also two tweakers whom Michael and Chris both knew from high school named Billy and Micah. Chris apparently owes them a supply of drugs. When Billy and Micah turn up demanding to see Chris, Mike refuse to let them in. He tries to bribe them, but this only infuriates the two drug addicts, who swear on returning to exact revenge. Michael also learns that Chris is a squatter and is not the owner, or even renter, of the house he residing in. The house is on the property of a Native American reservation. The tribal security officer, Charles, meets Michael, and tells him that they both needs to leave. Michael offers Charles a sum of money, which buys him a week's worth of time. By the end of that week, they will leave - one way or another.

Chris and Mike — Chris and Michael try to work out their frustrations.

To make matters even more uncomfortable for Michael, he begins experiencing strange occurrences that he cannot explain. He discovers a stone stove structure in the middle of the woods and finds strange photographs and old vinyl records. Playing the record, he hears the voices of two women speaking to one another. Little by little, Michael continues to find various forms of media from books to pictures - each one illustrating some sort of story - as if they were left behind specifically for him to find. This also includes strange imagery and videos that suddenly appear on Michael's laptop. When he tries to speak of this to Chris, his friend scoffs and blames everything on government satellites. Chris has reached the suicidal stage of drug withdrawal by this point.

Byron - Resolution — Michael meets with Byron for tea.

Billy and Micah return and kill Sara, Chris' dog. Michael buries the dog, then goes into town to find Charles, hoping to squeeze him for information relating to the bizarre media he has found. Charles accepts more money from Michael, but gives very little in the way of information save that some French students had recently been in the area doing research and may have left some of their belongings behind. Michael returns to the house only to find that a well-dressed con artist pretending to be a mortgage broker is trying to trick Chris into selling the house. Chris is playing along, but Michael is savvy enough to recognize a scam, and deters the man from further action.

Michael finds Sara's original owner, who is a foreigner named Byron. He tracks Byron to an isolated recreational vehicle in the middle of the woods, and tells him that his dog has died. Byron invites Michael into his RV for tea, and Byron reveals that he knew the French students who had been working here recently while he smokes a joint. When Byron begins acting existential, Michael politely excuses himself and leaves.

Michael and Chris see some freaky stuff.

Sometime after Michael returns to the house, Chris and he begin to realize that there is some sort of spectral supernatural force at play here. Michael's laptop begins spontaneously playing video of Chris and Mike from only a few minutes earlier. The two become greatly frightened when the laptop begins playing a video feed of events that have not happened yet - namely their deaths. In one video, Billy and Micah return and murder Michael and Chris with guns. Another video shows footage of Chris' funeral. A third video shows Charles murdering them instead and then setting the house on fire.

Believing themselves to be cursed by this unseen, disembodied presence, the two decide to leave. Michael un-cuffs Chris, and try to make their way to Michael's truck. They have to duck behind some bushes however when they see that Billy and Micah have returned and have vandalized his truck. They watch as Billy and Micah go into the house. Moments later, Charles arrives. He enters the house, shoots Billy and Micah, then sets the house on fire.

Taking a moment to collect themselves, the two friends reconcile over the past week's worth of animosity and hardship. Chris, completely sober by this point, finally agrees to go to rehab.

The presence makes itself known to Michael and Chris and a showy display of bluster and energy. Looking up, the two stand in shock and fascination. Chris falls to his knees while Michael pleads with the entity, "Can we try it another way?" What becomes of Michael and Chris following this encounter is unknown.

Cast[]

Actor

Role

Michael Danube

Chris Daniels

Jennifer Danube

Billy

Micah

Ted Tellensworth

Charles

Byron

Sara

Justin, the Level 3 UFO cult member

Aaron Moorhead

Level 2.5 UFO cult member

David Clarke Lawson, Jr.

Dave, the Level 1 UFO cult member

Glen Roberts

Charles' friend 1

Bob Low

Charles' friend 2

Michael Felker

White trash kid with soldering iron

Thor Wixom

Roadside man with pick axe

Melissa Low

Mental institute escapee in window

Antique store clerk

Store shopper

Man with burned face

Woman missing arm

One-armed soldier

Woman in photos 1

Woman in photos 2

Voice of "The Tragedy of 1920"

Notes[]

Resolution (2012) redirects to this page. It is not to be confused with the 2002 thriller Resolution by writer and director Jay Nuzum, or the 2017 action short film Resolution by director Jennifer Wen and writer Nandini Pal.

There are a total of twenty-five credited cast members in this film.

The setting for this film is rural Southern California. The movie The Endless retroactively establishes the timeline as taking place around the year 2007.

This film has an 85% Fresh rating on the movie review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, based on a total of thirteen reviews. It has an audience score of 65% based on 1,995 users.

This film has a weighted average rating of 80/100 on the movie review site Metacritic. It has a score of 6.8 based on twenty-five ratings by reviewers.

This is the first feature-length film directed or co-directed by Justin Benson.

This is the second feature-length film directed or co-directed by Aaron Moorhead. It is his first work in the drama and thriller genres.

Co-director Aaron Moorhead is credited as Aaron Scott Moorhead in this film.

Actor Kurt David Anderson is credited as Kurt Anderson in this film.

Producer and actor David Lawson, Jr. is credited as David Clarke Lawson, Jr. in this film.

Production designer and actress Melissa Lyon is credited as Melissa Low in this film.

Fun Facts[]

This film yielded a spin-off project called The Endless, which was released in 2017. Actors Peter Cilella and Vinny Curran reprise their roles as Michael Danube and Chris Daniels, but in a greatly diminished capacity. Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson, who play the UFO cultists Aaron and Justin in this film serve as the main protagonists in The Endless.

Presumably, the disembodied presence that tries to entertain itself with stories in this film is the same entity that creates the time loop in The Endless. No concrete explanation for this being is given in either film.

Directors Justin Benson and Aaron Scott Moorhead make an appearance in this film as two members of a UFO cult.

Explicit content[]

Female partial nudity - A woman's breasts are partially shown in old black and white photographs. The image is very distorted and grainy however, and barely discernible.
Profanity - Consistent use of strong language throughout, mostly from the character of Chris Daniels.

Recommendations[]

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