NORTH AMERICAN GUINEA PIG
THE NORTH AMERICAN GUINEA PIG presents as a very original and creative psychological drama, which also contains some dark humor. The idea of a distraught and desperate man working as a “guinea pig” to test new experimental drugs has merit. The goal for the protagonist is clear and the stakes are personal. The plot is driven more by the emotional goal of the protagonist, Tristan, to win his family back and to get “control” of his life.
The script conveys solid themes about control, healing, and learning to move on with life.
While the creativity of the script is well appreciated and sometimes very refreshing, the overall script would benefit from reconsidering some of the story choices.
First, there’s a solid inciting event in the first act with the accident. The accident sequence is very well crafted and creates nice tension. The idea that Tristan decides to work as a medical guinea pig is the catalyst …show more content…
While the symbolism is appreciated, given they died in an explosion, the hallucination/delusion/dream, becomes too exaggerated to believe and the story loses credibility.
In addition, the twist that Tristan has been in a coma and all of the events were just in his mind due to a drug isn’t a very compelling or satisfying twist. The “it was all just a dream” twist has been done before both on the big screen and on TV and therefore, it feels outdated.
Furthermore, the ending with his death is extremely dark and, again, not satisfying. The message of the story isn’t well conveyed. One thinks it’s supposed to be about healing and moving on, but the ending doesn’t really convey this message.
Also, it’s not believable that if he doesn’t take his medication he’ll die. There’s no real explanation about this and so it’s unclear why he dies at the
The script conveys solid themes about control, healing, and learning to move on with life.
While the creativity of the script is well appreciated and sometimes very refreshing, the overall script would benefit from reconsidering some of the story choices.
First, there’s a solid inciting event in the first act with the accident. The accident sequence is very well crafted and creates nice tension. The idea that Tristan decides to work as a medical guinea pig is the catalyst …show more content…
While the symbolism is appreciated, given they died in an explosion, the hallucination/delusion/dream, becomes too exaggerated to believe and the story loses credibility.
In addition, the twist that Tristan has been in a coma and all of the events were just in his mind due to a drug isn’t a very compelling or satisfying twist. The “it was all just a dream” twist has been done before both on the big screen and on TV and therefore, it feels outdated.
Furthermore, the ending with his death is extremely dark and, again, not satisfying. The message of the story isn’t well conveyed. One thinks it’s supposed to be about healing and moving on, but the ending doesn’t really convey this message.
Also, it’s not believable that if he doesn’t take his medication he’ll die. There’s no real explanation about this and so it’s unclear why he dies at the