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Chet (Dustin Coffey) suffers from agoraphobia, which is why he has
lived with his parents for all his life - but now they move, and when Chet
claims he's not ready to move, they just leave him behind. Thus he finds
himself forced to take on a sublet, basically someone who's ok to run
errands for him in return for a rather low rent. And Valentina's (Chanel
Marriott) seems perfect, she's young, cute, likeable ... and when she
tries to seduce him, she scares the hell out of him. So Chet takes in
Maggie (Linda Burzynski) instead, a woman with a troubled story of her
own: She's a war veteran, her husband's (Ed Aristone) in prison, and she's
a bit of an alcoholic. But at least to a degree, Chet sees herself in her
stories, and in turn, taking care of him makes Maggie forget about her
husband. Somehow they grow closer and closer, but it's never clear if
their special relationship won't crash into a wall before long ... Lori
Petty plays Maggie's best friend, a barmaid - who more than once almost
breaks due to Maggie's alcohol-fueled shenanigans. Fear,
Love, and Agoraphobia is a very touching film - and ironically for the
reason that it doesn't try too hard but rather presents everything in an
as-is way, not begging the audience for sympathy for its broken characters
but portraying them as human beings - fallible yes, but not more than you
and me. And thanks to strong central performances and a directorial effort
that avoids spectacle and instead gives the performances room to breathe,
this turns out to be a really strong movie. Worth a look for sure!
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