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Life on the Ledge

World Premiere

USA | 89 MINUTES | English |

LIFE ON THE LEDGE

Brian Leib takes pleasure in baking a fresh loaf of bread everyday but not much else. His conspiracy-minded parents have turned him into a 32-year-old neurotic with obsessive-compulsive disorder who talks with the visualization of his adolescent ego. He still lives at home, leaving the apartment only to visit his shrink on Tuesdays or to sit on the roof and contemplate suicide. His routine takes an abrupt turn the day he finds a tumor on his neck and discovers that he's really dying. Believing he has only six months to live, Brian begins to do things he never would have attempted previously, most notably speaking to his dream girl Claire, who he sees one day per week at his psychiatrist's office. Claire is dealing with her own issues, but Brian's sweetness breaks through some of her hardened defensiveness. In Claire, Brian finds a soul mate-a woman he wants to help and care for. So how does he tell her he's going to die? Lewis Helfer not only plays Brian but also writes and directs this dark and twisted comedy reminiscent of early Woody Allen and Albert Brooks. Helfer's energetically creative visual style mixes with a consistently sarcastic tone to create a unique love story, one that always manages to support the surface laughs with an underlying emotional center that we can all relate to.