By Valerie Milano
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) – Coming up at the end of July 2023 is the annual LA Shorts Fest, which will feature some 400 short films – out of which will most likely come the Oscar-qualifying shorts for 2024.
Among this big crowd of films will be one short film by award-winning actress and filmmaker Talita Maia –Terminally Unique (16 min., USA, 2023), which she has produced, written, and directed. In Terminally Unique, Talita Maia plays a young Brazilian woman named Marianne, who is in love with a charming troubled American writer named Eric (Evan Williams) as they go through the vicious cycles of their codependent relationship. Marianne is an immigrant from Brazil and a photographer but works as a receptionist for a small nondescript company. Her boyfriend is a troubled American writer who comes from an affluent family. He has a problem with alcoholism and has been to rehab and is trying to land a gig writing a screenplay.
Terminally Unique will screen at the LA Shorts Fest on Saturday, July 22, 7:45 PM. The LA Shorts Fest happens at the Regal Cinemas next to LA Live in downtown Los Angeles from July 19 through July 30. For more information and tickets, go to: https://www.lashortsfest.com.
Caught between genuine love and dealing with Eric’s self-doubt and relapses into drinking, Marianne begins to understand the cycle of co-dependent behavior that dominate their relationship. As Talita explains in my interview with her, “Showing empathy for a person with an addiction like alcoholism means understanding that addiction is a disease.” But when that empathy ends up supporting the other person’s sense of being “terminally unique,” then the relationship is one of co-dependency and mutually self-destructive. “Enabling that person is also hurting yourself.” Where the strength of love is ultimately toppled by substance abuse, Terminally Unique provides a glimpse into the potentially endless cycles too many of us endure in codependent relationships.
Without giving away any spoilers about the film, Talita Maia sees the main issue in her film as the very American culture of normalizing excessive alcohol consumption. And coming from Brazil, she sees that alcoholism and denial are very real. But even more important is the underlying psychological issues of how people normalize the behaviors of friends or relationships or family members. Women are especially prone to be supportive and nurturing of men, and that is even more engrained in Latino culture. So often women do not know how to set boundaries for the men around them and end up in toxic relationships in emotionally damaged persons. “Everyone can relate to toxic relationships – at least once in their life.” Escape can become unlikely if not impossible.
I asked Talita about her experience with acting in the film that she is also directing. She has had considerable experience acting so that seems to come easily. The challenge is having clarity about the exact shape of the film. She believes in the importance of pre-production planning and says that she edits all the shots in her own head beforehand. She finds it easier to relax in an acting role once she has established the parameters of production and made sure the DP and crew know exactly what to do.
The Hollywood Times had the opportunity to speak to Talita about her new film Terminally Unique. Enjoy the interview:
In Terminally Unique, Talita Maia packs a lot into this short slice-of-life film, choosing to show rather than explain how the two main characters have a co-dependent relationship. In that, she has followed a similar vector from her first short film Tempest Desert, which she wrote, directed, and starred in it. The film did the film festival circuit, including Oscar-qualifying LA Shorts, BAFTA qualifying Carmarthen Bay Film Festival, and the established Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, where it won several awards. Actor Evan Williams is also in that film.
Talita Maia’s acting credits include TV shows like Community (NBC), Why Women Kill” (Paramount+), ICarly Revival (Paramount+), as well as the independent pilot Blow Me alongside Tony Shalhoub and Jeremy Sisto, where she played the female lead. Evan Williams was born in Alberta, Canada, and is a graduate of Ryerson Theatre School, Evan gained recognition internationally on Degrassi: The Next Generation in the role of Kelly Ashoona. In addition, Evan has appeared in a number of popular television shows including The Border, Instant Star, and Being Erica as well as appearing in films such as A Flesh Offering and HBO’s Grey Gardens in which he appears alongside Drew Barrymore.