ME & MY LEFT BRAIN

Australia, 2019, 76 minutes, Colour. Alex Lykos, Malcolm Kennard, Rachel Beck, Chantelle Barry, Natalia Ladyko..
Directed by Alex Lykos.

it is something of a surprise to find a reference to the left brain, even incorporating it into the title. And, then, there is a discovery that one of the main characters is actually called Left Brain!

This is a brief comedy written and directed by Alex -like loss, who made the entertaining interfaith Sydney comedy drama, Greek orthodox and Lebanese Christian, and ethnic and religious variation on Romeo and Juliet, Alex and Eve.

Lykos himself plays the central character, Arthur. Arthur has a touch of the morose. He has more than a touch of the nerd. He lives a lonely kind of life, somewhat remote. But he does have ambitions to be an actor. And he does have an ambition to fall in love.

We see him walking down the street with an older man, their conversations, the older man being rather bossy on his way, telling Arthur what to do, exasperated when he doesn’t do it, when Arthur becomes timid and backs out of situations.

And just who is this older man, played by Mel Kennard? Of course, he is Arthur’s ultimate ego, or at least his left brain alter ego, Mr Left Brain.

One good thing in Arthur’s favour is that he has a best friend, Vivian, much more outgoing, tangled in her relationships (with a comic situation where Arthur intrudes on her episode with a big, bearded, burly Irishman). And, sometimes, Vivian herself has her shadow Left Brain.

At the centre of all of Arthur’s anguish and the urging of Left Brain is the girl of Arthur’s dreams, Helen (Chantelle Barry) – the focus of many flashbacks, happy Times, companionship, Arthur being taken seriously. But, what can Arthur do, phone, text, try to meet up with Helen? No wonder Left Brain is exasperated.

The film uses the amusing device of Arthur going to bed after failing to contact Helen, Left Brain lying on the bed trying to doze – and continual focus on the digital clock, registering the passing of time (exceedingly slowly) Arthur momentarily dreaming, momentarily yearning, the clock moving on half a minute or so!

Vivian tells her Left Brain that Arthur is her best friend – and, she is always prepared to come to his rescue!

A mini comic slice of life.