A Real Adventure [Video]
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By Omeleto
A Real Adventure
Jack is visiting his father Richard in prison for the first time since Richard was locked up. Their visit is ostensibly pleasant at first, as the two men catch up after a long time not seeing one another.
As Jack listens to his dad talk about life in prison and his plans for when he gets out, the son remembers key moments of his relationship with his dad, until reaching a point of confrontation on just why he’s in prison, to begin with.
Well-acted, sensitive, and ultimately compassionate in feeling, this short drama, written and directed by co-star Josh Zuckerman, has an eye and ear for ordinary yet resonant emotions and relationships. Alert to how small yet telling details reveals worldview and character, the story details a shift in how a son views his father, and where their relationship could go in the future.
Rendered in a low-key, naturalistic style, this kind of storytelling leans on beautifully delineated writing and performances to generate interest and hold attention. The dialogue here is excellent, specific to each character and what they reveal and hide in their words and actions. It sets up Richard as a caring, involved dad at first impression, someone who loves to share his thoughts and knowledge with his young son.
But he’s also quick-talking, a little glib, full of schemes — definitely a dreamer, and perhaps a little delusional about himself and reality. Though it’s never fully explicit about what happened at first, we get hints that it was this penchant for both self-delusion and grandiosity that got Richard in legal trouble, to begin with.
Actor Michael Laskin portrays this tension with both warm presence and subtle feeling, showing that this fault emerges out of his clear desire to do his best for his family. But Richard lacks a core of essential self-awareness to know the difference between right and wrong and perhaps isn’t being entirely honest with himself about his failings as a human and a father.
Jack is more reserved and observant — especially in the face of his dad’s garrulous nature — though it’s clear from the flashbacks that the bond between child and parent was strong. Zuckerman is able to capture the clear love between the two but also flickers of skepticism, and many times Jack is often holding back what he really wants to say.
The writing’s weaving of past and present can be a difficult structure for short films to pull off, but it works here because it’s yoked to the son’s interior experience. The structure captures how certain lines or feelings in the present evoke past resonances; a relationship never exists in just the present tense. When Jack finally speaks out, it disrupts Richard’s fantasies, and the son finally unloads the great emotional burden that’s been building — something years in the making.
“A Real Adventure” ends with Jack’s own fantasy, one that seems to integrate the highs and lows of his relationship, and he ends by seeing his dad for what he is — a flawed human being, with gifts and faults like anyone else. It is a journey that most children will take with their parents, as mothers and fathers go from being almost god-like figures to people just struggling with life. Sometimes this shift brings a disillusionment that neither parent nor child can come back from. But sometimes it can enrich and deepen a relationship and a bond, as acceptance becomes the foundation for moving forward.
Transcript provided by YouTube:
00:56
jack sorry i’m like the um
01:00
the traffic is a lot worse than i
01:03
all right i’m just glad you’re here yeah
01:05
so uh how do you like my outfit
01:08
i don’t yeah well listen uh
01:14
well thanks for coming guy it’s not so
01:18
hey do me a favor once you talk to your
01:19
mother and your sister maybe you can
01:21
convince them to come down here for a
01:23
no for thanksgiving maybe no yeah sure
01:27
okay good oh did you bring the quarters
01:34
no no i can’t uh i can’t handle money
01:37
they don’t no but i can’t even look at
01:39
the money but you know you could no
01:41
you could do me a favor just go out in
01:42
the hallway there’s a vending machine
01:44
i’d love you to get me a
01:45
hershey chocolate bar uh yeah oh and if
01:49
you have enough left over could you uh
01:51
get me a repair irregular
01:54
diet are you serious come on
02:14
oh i got it i got it i got it
02:24
that stopped what did i do
02:32
dad what why do they say money doesn’t
02:36
well but it does you just gotta know
02:39
well like this tree right here yeah
02:42
that’s a money tree no it isn’t yeah it
02:46
go ahead shake it see what happens give
02:48
it a good hard shake you’ll be surprised
02:52
that’s it little harder a little harder
02:57
wow look what you did 20 right
03:09
i didn’t have enough for the rupert no
03:12
i wrote you i i i told you to bring five
03:14
dollars i did dad the candy bar alone
03:16
was 4.25 can you check the prices first
03:18
they don’t let me go near those machines
03:20
well it’s ridiculous i mean that’d be 90
03:23
cents up the road at a gas station don’t
03:24
worry about it it’s four dollars
03:26
yeah well it’s easy for you to say not
03:30
the chocolate so good i’ve been planning
03:33
but i’m going to get from that vending
03:38
how are you i’m good you know what they
03:42
to feed a prisoner per day a dollar 30.
03:47
probably why they don’t have you to
03:48
touch the vending machines to start a
03:49
riot a dollar 30. can you believe this
03:51
i don’t remember the last time i saw a
03:53
vegetable and every once in a while
03:54
they’ll bring me one of these
03:55
gigantic gmo tomatoes you know it’s like
03:59
freaking casaba melon and forget about
04:01
it it tastes just horrible but
04:03
it’s chocolate oh boy this is gorgeous
04:12
what’s that this is a chocolate egg
04:14
cream all right now when i was a kid
04:17
every day after school we’d go to the
04:18
soda fountain we would have one of these
04:20
eggs take a sip have some
04:28
tastes fizzy little fizzy okay well
04:31
here’s the thing if you don’t like it
04:33
doesn’t matter we’re in the best deli in
04:36
and we’re gonna order everything on the
04:37
menu including a pastrami sandwich
04:43
this is good you should be eating that
04:46
it’s all right hey listen
04:50
whatever happened to that girl that you
04:52
introduced me to up in san francisco you
04:54
the one the one you were sweet on
05:01
okay um yeah jacqueline i think you mean
05:05
yes um she’s all right i guess i don’t
05:07
know we’re actually not together anymore
05:10
i’m sorry i thought she was great thanks
05:13
that yeah okay listen you know my
05:17
my science is doing really well okay i
05:19
got a job here at the library
05:21
and i can access all kinds of books i
05:24
for scientific journals and they it
05:27
takes a little longer for them to get
05:28
here a little bit of a process i have to
05:30
give somebody a can of tuna once in a
05:32
while you know but i get like
05:33
it’s amazing i can get any book in the
05:38
these guys call me the mad scientist
05:40
we’ve been calling you that for years
05:42
hey do you know about lake maracaibo no
05:44
okay look this up on the internet
05:46
they have more lightning strikes in that
05:49
than anywhere else on the planet they
05:56
listen you know about about steve jobs
05:57
guy yeah he’s the guy who built your
05:59
macintosh computer oh yeah
06:01
yeah oh another good one well
06:04
it turns out he wants to buy one of your
06:09
what do you think of that cool i made a
06:12
you know the difference between a
06:13
conductor and an insulator
06:15
nope oh we got to learn that along with
06:18
catching okay and so what i’m trying to
06:22
and i’m very close is i’m trying to
06:24
create a device that can capture
06:26
the lightning energy all right we’re
06:30
five billion joules of energy billion
06:34
okay you know how much that is any idea
06:37
that can power a 60 watt light bulb for
06:40
and it’s free okay and then what i’m
06:42
going to do is i’m going to
06:44
oh okay i’m all right i’m sorry
06:47
i’m boring you you don’t want to hear
06:48
about my science stuff no i’m
06:50
i just i i don’t even know what you’re
06:55
oh well a jewel is a unit of energy
07:07
okay what do you want to talk about i
07:10
mean we only have a few minutes left
07:22
okay you see all those gears in there
07:25
what are they doing telling time that’s
07:27
exactly right and the whole thing
07:29
is entirely mechanical isn’t that
07:33
will it go on forever yeah
07:36
how does that work um well every clock
07:39
has a main spring that has to
07:41
your mother sent me that article that
07:42
you wrote for the magazine
07:45
i i i thought it was great it was
07:47
beautifully written thanks
07:48
and i showed it to some of the inmates
07:50
here they also thought that see
07:52
oh so you were always a very elegant
07:56
you should write a novel no dad i don’t
07:59
want to write a novel sure i do
08:06
come on hey hey want to go on adventure
08:12
remember i used to say that to you
08:13
you’re a little kid i would say you want
08:16
and you would say yes but you wanted to
08:17
be something bigger than pee-wee’s
08:19
well indiana jones more likely yeah so
08:21
we would you know we would take a
08:23
we would take a bus we would go to no
08:25
destination in particular and we would
08:32
i don’t know well that doesn’t sound
08:34
like a real adventure that was the best
08:37
where do we go uh depends i mean i
08:41
one day we went to the zoo and uh we
08:44
putzed around there for a little bit
08:45
and i bought you an ice cream cone and
08:47
uh then we made our way back home
08:50
yeah i don’t remember that okay
08:54
you’re a cute kid you’re a pain in the
08:57
ass but you were a cute kid
08:59
i’m sure i was i’m gonna be getting out
09:04
soon and i just want you know things
09:07
things are gonna be better
09:08
okay we’ll have more adventures i’m
09:11
i’m gonna get a new house for your mom
09:13
i’m gonna take her to europe we’re gonna
09:15
maybe we’ll sail around scandinavia and
09:19
you know what you know we should go we
09:22
i always wanted to see the library at
09:24
the medical school where my father’s
09:26
name was up at the ceiling you know with
09:27
mcgill he was a very very famous alum
09:32
what are you doing nothing i’m just
09:34
trying to have i’m trying to have a
09:40
okay what what’s wrong what’s the matter
09:44
you you seem so upbeat well you gotta be
09:51
miracles can happen jack yeah right but
09:54
why does everything have to be so grand
09:56
you know you you can’t make plans to
09:58
travel the world when you’re still in
10:00
okay all right all right i mean you
10:01
don’t even have a job all right you know
10:03
what you don’t have to lecture me about
10:05
that please i’m not trying to steal your
10:07
plans away from you whatever you can do
10:08
whatever you want i just i just wish you
10:10
aimed low okay just stop picking on me
10:12
if you don’t mind maybe we wouldn’t be
10:14
maybe you could get a root beer
10:15
chocolate bar anytime you wanted the
10:17
seven months there’s nothing wrong with
10:24
okay okay i just want you to know that
10:28
i did for you and your mother and your
10:30
sister i just wanted to have
10:37
i never asked you to hit a grand slam
10:39
listen to it it’s gonna be okay
10:41
it’s no it’s gonna be okay you gotta
10:44
you gotta give me a little trust it’s
10:48
it’s the same thing you know
10:50
you’ve always been in trouble you always
10:52
be in trouble all right come on that’s
10:53
yeah just pick them that’s fine just
10:54
that that that’s you you know you you
10:56
will you’ll hide money from the
10:57
government you’ll steal money
11:09
we miss out on you and you’re the hot
11:12
ticket item dad you’re what’s your
11:15
three minutes you got three minutes
11:38
jack maybe you’re right let me try to
11:42
come on let’s go on a real adventure
12:02
where you headed going on a real
13:00
visitors please make your way to the
13:02
front desk to collect your ids
13:05
inmates filed to the back
13:10
listen uh i’m sorry if i
13:14
you know did the best i could okay
14:13
i’ll bring more quarters next time
This post was previously published on YouTube.

Photo credit: Screenshot from video