Indican Pictures' Emoticon ;) Makes Its DVD Debut On July 8

Indican Pictures has tabbed July 8 as the DVD debut date for actress, writer, producer and director Livia De Paolis’ Emoticon ;).

Blessed with a cast that includes Sonia Braga, Carol Kane and Michael Cristofer, we are introduced to Elena (De Paolis), a thirty-something grad-student working (struggling with) on her thesis — something about “the modern means of communication” — who finds herself in a relationship with (read: the latest younger “girlfriend” of a much older man … ) Walter (Michael Cristopher).   

He is a wealthy New Yorker who has had little time for relationships that last or the baggage of family that goes with such things.   Indeed, his “family” consists of not one, but two adopted teens and an ex-wife who is even more self-obsessed than he is.

The kids, and talk about “designer” babies — they were selected for being about the same age from two different mothers (just months apart … you know, “covering all our bases,” that sort of thing) have now become teens (young adults soon) and very observant to the debris field that passes for “family.”   

Luke (Miles Chandler — The Longshots, The Education of Charlie Banks) and Mandy (Diane Guerrero — as Maritza in the TV series Orange Is the New Black) view Elena with contempt … she’s just another “bimbo” in a long a string there of — “ladyfriend,” not “girlfriend” since she is older than the last couple of relationships that their father has had.

That’s your setup and quite frankly, in the early going, you are left to ponder where writer/director Livia De Paolis is going to take both her character and the story.   It seems like a recipe for disaster … a young woman, taking too long to finish her doctorate, in a doomed relationship (count the weeks, or days until Walter becomes bored with her) and clearly adrift in where her life is going.

But with Emoticon ;) we get some pleasant twists, Elena becomes a better friend/mentor to the teens (who have issues) than their mother and the potentially cardboard Walter proves his worth when an unexpected personal crisis threatens to overwhelm Elena.

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