Customer Reviews

Dopamine [VHS]

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My adult son had the opportunity to go to Sundance, where he saw this film; he came home raving about it, so I was glad to finally be able to rent it on DVD. It's weirdly quirky in its attempt to ask the film's central question: What is love? Is it spiritual or hormonal, metaphysical or chemical?
Here's the deal: There are these 3 guys who have spent what, like 3 years? working to create an interactive computer pet, a bird named Koi-Koi (at least, that's how I'd spell it), who will respond appropriately to voiced emotion-laden conversation. They take it into a classroom of pre-schoolers to test it out, and Rand, one of the computer guys, falls in love (but there again, What is love?) with the teacher. Both of them are struggling with major loss of significant other people in their lives.
The settings in San Francisco, the hills, the distant vistas, the bike rides thru the Presidio and the views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Angel and Alcatraz Islands...they all lend authentic sense of place, and speaking as one from Oakland, the `other' Bay Area town, I appreciate that accuracy.
Nice little film. Not great, but very, very nice.

First of all, in support of a previous reviwer, this film is not about dopamine. I think the film "Titanic" may have caused some confusion because it is about a titanic boat which is also called the "Titanic." The current Fox TV series "House" is not about a house so the reviewer may want to avoid that as well. If I hear that any of the big drug companies plan to market dopamine, I will let him know.

This film left me exhausted in a good way. Much like the type of exhaustion of a good workout. I found a deepening empathy for both characters as the film went on. The performances by Lloyd and Livingston communicated a vulnerablity and honesty to the characters of Sara and Rand that made me care about what happened to them. Sabrina Lloyd's eyes alone are reason enough to see this film, they communicate 100 pages worth of dialogue. These are human beings (I won't use the word flawed to avoid being redundant) that most of us, with even a small amount of self awareness, too whom we can relate, damaged but still willing to go forward with their lives.

There are a couple of awkward scenes toward the end of the film that were a stretch. This movie has its heart in the right place however, and I can accept the end's symbolism. Its more important how Sara and Rand get to that point. The film is more prone to start discussions than to end debates.

The Dylan reference at the end kind of suckered me in anyway, even though it came across a bit forced. Much like Dylan's music there are layers that reward repeated viewing. In a just world people would line up at the cineplex to see films like this, and we'd all be kinder and smarter as a result.

A virtually perfect movie, in multiple ways. "Dopamine" delicately weaves its themes of love, intimacy, and fear of loss. All its characters are engaging and nuanced, in their various attempts to grapple with the risks of closeness--including Koy Koy, the virtual creature who flits seamlessly around and through the human drama; the digital character never intrudes in a contrived way, and stays totally believable as software development while being very endearing . Decena has a deft touch and subtle wit, never giving in to sentimentality but showing much compassion. The acting and faces are fresh, real and very Gen-Y SF. This isn't simply about a neurochemically obsessed guy, it's about a bunch of brittle, defended people trying to transcend their isolation. Watch for the fleeting synaptic "flashes" as surprisingly effective, novel exclamation points.

I saw Dopamine at Sundance and I recall that Roger Ebert said its an important film because its real and genuine and "in one way or another, "Dopamine" is about us." (check his review at http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/ebert_reviews/2003/10/101001.html)

Everyone that I know who has seen "Dopamine" feels the same way. This is a film that will make you think about your own life -- about what makes you who you are and what inspires you -- about what love is and about your choices today and your future.

The cinematography alternates between tight shots of the characters and fantastic highlights of the San Francisco area. Look for the quick visual of Sarah in bed which is a flashback to a critical choice in her life and is brilliantly filmed.

This is not a sappy Hollywood romance but a movie about reality that makes you think and is entertaining as well. See it with someone you care about .....

I liked Dopamine for the little movie that it is. It was not a big movie released at every theater in America, but it was released in small art houses. And, I have to respect it.

The generally about if people really do fall in love or is it just pheromones that make people attracted to each other. The movie goes around that idea showing different scenarios of love (and what is hormonally not a choice).

The movie isn't a typical cute romance movie that everyone will swoon over. It is kind of cute, not really romantic, but cute. They even go to the extent of using scientific knowledge as a way to attract each other. What is that?

I really liked the 2 main male characters. The main man Rand is such a nice guy wanting to love and to be loved. The other character Winston, well, isn't the same as Rand, but he has the best one liners throughout the movie.

This movie is educational (learning something about people and how they work), but doesn't need a brainy person to understand. It is a cute movie, but not the most exciting, but enjoyable.

Dopamine is an unusually thoughtful romantic drama that asks whether romantic love is a purely chemical phenomenon. With such an intellectual theme, the movie could easily have been artificial and nothing but a series of cerebral discussions, but director Mark Decena does a good job in making it all very natural and compelling. Strong performances also help to flesh this out into something more than a thesis. Rand (John Livingston) is a computer programmer who has created an animated character named Koy-Koy; right from the beginning, it's obvious that he is a bit too attached to his creation. If human emotions are nothing beyond chemical reactions, then a computer-generated creature could conceivably be considered human, or at least alive. When Rand meets Sarah (Sabrina Lloyd), the teacher in whose classroom Koy-Koy is going to be placed, the two enter upon a series of discussions and debates over the nature of romantic love, as well as embark upon a tentative romance of their own. Sarah is skeptical of Rand's coldly scientific view of love, but is herself very ambivalent about getting emotionally involved. Rand gradually reveals that his point of view is a way to protect himself from painful family experiences. Both exhibit a wide enough range of emotional responses to help counter the artifice of the basic theme (i.e. in real life, everything seldom revolves around one particular philosophical question). The camera work and understated shots of the San Francisco locations also breathe soul into the film .

I looked forward to seeing this movie for some time. And, maybe I built it up in my mind a little too much. But, I was somewhat disappointed. It was not a bad movie, but not as good as I had hoped. It just seems to keep approaching greatness and meaning, but never quite getting there, leaving much too soon or not confronting those issues head-on. Be that as it may, I still liked it, but then I would probably watch anything with Sabrina Lloyd. She rates very high in the cuteness category. I guess my crush on her affected my opinion of the main character, played lethargically by John Livington. How could he not love her? Who cares about the actual scientific chemistry of love? What kind of warped mind examines love in that context? Or on the other hand, what does she see in him? All questions that are hard to answer. Nonetheless, though disappointed I still feel that the movie is worth viewing and would probably check out other films by the director Mark Decena.

Nice little movie that really questions, is love real or just a series of chemical reactions that push us to do or say different things that our brains processes as love or lust. Both Livingston and Llyod do a great job of not overacting their parts and there is a 'chemistry' about the two of them that is not overpowering but gradually grows as the movie progresses.

This is a good love drama to watch. The guy trys to explain everything, including love, in terms of biochemistry but faces the limitation of doing so with a help of a lady whom he falls in love with. He was intellectualizing all matters by means of escaping from painful memories associated with his parents.

Once I know the story I don't feel like watching it again. The movie is good but not the greatest.

"Dopamine" starts out with a pretty rockin' title sequence, but the rest of the movie is something fairly different. It is a pretty well written, well acted character study about a dot-com programmer named Rand (John Livingston) who comes out of his emotional shell. Rand works at a start-up company trying to create a computer animated bird that responds to other people's emotions. In the process, Rand begins to respond to the emotions of a pre-school teacher, Sarah (Sabrina Lloyd), and discover his own feelings. As directed by Mark Decena, "Dopamine" captures pretty well the feel of a small, late 1990's San Francisco start-up full of big ideas but short on time and cash. To anyone who has been there, the moment when the characters in "Dopamine" fail to get their second round of funding from their angel investors will have definite resonance.