Hand in Hand

Running time: 77 mins

Trapped in their New York City apartment during a smallpox epidemic, a codependent 20-something couple are forced to confront their dysfunctional relationship.

Greg Dulli once sang, ?Is this love too strong to die, or are we too weak to kill it?? In Hand In Hand, the codependent Cate and Wesley may not have to end their dysfunctional relationship, the smallpox epidemic may do it for them. Cate and Wesley, rather than being brought closer together in crisis, are pulled apart by their cyclical and self-perpetuating bickering. The couple's shortcomings become magnified when Cate voices she wants an established and more luxurious ?adult? life, while an unmotivated Wesley craves constant turmoil and drama.

Claustrophobic, hopelessly romantic, frantic and tense, Iris Green's Hand In Hand is an unrelenting drama about a relationship that is disintegrating, but not ending. Echoes of September 11th show us how people interpret large-scale events of tragedy, while the film remains a very personal story of love and loss.


David Brooks

MAVERICK COMPETITION