Waking Up Dead: a sweet and charming asshole's redemption

7 Nov 2022.

Movies are always more pleasant to sit through when the star has a kissable face. Such is the case with a new gay indie called Waking Up Dead. The actor Gabriel Souza is so sweet and charming, all the while playing the most reprehensible asshole. It’s hard not to love this character, even in the wide shots where he is sitting on the toilet. The actor also has a nice light comic touch. I think I’d forgive him anything, which is just as well as redemption seems to be the point of the whole movie. 

Souza’s character Danny is a failed actor, jealous of other Latin hunks who get all the roles. I love that Danny still uses the old-style telephone with audible voice messaging, technology almost older than the actor himself. He tricks a lot, and why not, but his closest companions are almost all women. He has a sassy black friend who offers empowerment tweets, an aging British actress who tries to become his guardian angel (played by real-life aging British movie star Judy Geeson, of To Sir, With Love), and a beleaguered sister, overseeing the slow death of the mother he hates. 

After a fumbled suicide attempt, he gets offered the lead role of a pre-op trans surgeon on a Shonda Rhimes show, and he decides he has to clean up his act. But his agent, played by former porn legend Traci Lords, arrives with a big big bag of blow and the sad news that he has been replaced by an actual trans performer and that her agency is dropping him as a client. She delivers a beautifully written speech about how Hollywood works, and I loved it so much I want to quote it for you now: 
Each and every person that works for me is an asshole. You’ve been down at the agency. Haven’t you ever been in that office and thought "Wow, these people are really assholes." But here’s the thing. That’s why I hired them. Because now I can sit here with you, my very dear and good friend, and say "Danny, the assholes down at the agency are insisting that I let you go. What can I do? They’re assholes." But without them there to hide behind, I’d be the one dropping you. I’d be the asshole. And I’m not an asshole, Danny. I’m your friend.

Then the story gets dark, with Danny descending into druggie despair. This is a comedy and a drama at the same time. The production values are skimpy, especially the sound mix, but Gabriel Souza shows a lot of skin, and its director, Terracino, is clearly talented. Better than most other gay indies, the movie is well worth watching.