Marcus Howard (Owen Miller) is a troubled black cleaner who befriends the security guard Gus Huffman (Paul Wight) in a building where he works and clearly is on the verge of calling time on time, having gone through pretty much every conceivable challenge of negativity that life has thrown at him. Suffering psychological symptoms which affect his whole well-being and having visions of his own subconscious talking back at him, he is threatened with an eviction notice as well as a loss of income due to complaints in said building.

After he visits some friends, he learns where his musician daughter Gaby Thompson (Katana Malone) is performing and calls in on the lounge where she plays. It is here that he tries to reconcile with her, but that is going to be as challenging as everything else in his life….

MARCUS is the name of the lead character, but also is an acronym in a post-script at the end of a very sensitively-handled and touching account of one man’s desire to do good as well as feel good around those who are closest to him. It is a fitting movie in a year when so many lives have been affected by the pandemic and other related factors and is a movie that will definitely provide the perfect and simple catharsis to many people who need a genuinely emotional cry in their time of need.

Miller (who also co-produces the film with writer/director J.R. Poli) and Malone provide two of the best performances of the year via a chemistry that will certainly put them at the top of people’s favourite performances. It is also a refreshing offering in that the conflict is more of a thoughtful rather than a violence-based focus for a character traditionally up against the latter elements, albeit with a hint of racial context within the relationships briefly touched upon.

MARCUS is a movie about feelings and perceptions and something that we should all do well to heed and heal from. (A word of caution – there is a moment that makes you think the film has ended early which is a clever visual transition, so don’t leave the cinema seat prematurely!). More than that, it is a movie designed to help us all reach out to those in our immediate circle of friendship and social networks.

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Film and TV Journalist Follow: @Higgins99John Follow: @filmandtvnow