There's no mistake The People We Used to Be is a student film. An Oberlin student film. It's got action, humor, sex, drama, computerized special effects, musical talent and bare buns.
Written, directed and edited by graduating senior Nick Wauters the film begins in the future with news clips about a killer virus related to the plague, attacking large numbers of humans. The clips are followed by gratuitous scenes of dead victims in random locations such as the Starlight Lounge in Langston Hall.
Soon after, we meet the main character John Adams (O'Dhaniel Mullette-Gillman) a tall blonde humble hero with a ponytail with a role of its own and Mark, (Maurice Teschemy) a comical and awkward sidekick. They both work in a high-tech office of Kem-life Security. Among the office amenities is the option to have a pint of Ben and Jerry's materialized for breakfast (one of many extraneous scenes to show off the computer effects.)
The boss, Mr. Cain, played by Wauters himself, calls John in to give him a promotion to head of security. Cain is the big powerful bad guy who runs the Kem-life company which happens to hold the only vaccine for the virus. Cain dresses in black and has odd tubes coming from his pasty face.
At home we meet John's personal talking computer, ROB, reminiscent of Ziggy in the Quantum Leap episodes. ROB plays messages for John on a hologram board and then materializes a snack for him. Then we are introduced to John's wife, Jessica (Jennifer Vo) as she works out alongside a hologram image supplied by ROB.
That night they attend a special ceremony of "The Cult," the hip religion focusing on reincarnation and getting in touch with past lives. This bizarre scene shows a druidic ceremony, complete with chanting, integrating the futuristic technology of the movie with the magical, spiritual aspects.
John, Jessica and Mark head to a club to celebrate their day where John and Jessica appear to be the only heterosexual couple and stick out like a sore thumb. Though the film attempts to include scenes of homosexual couples they remain on the sidelines. It is as if Wauters is making a conscious effort to include them but the significance of their inclusion is diminished by the fact that the hero is a typical hetero male hero who plays the responsible, courageous defender of justice who trys to rescue his shrieking heroine.
Buddy turns foe when Mark begins to make unwanted advances toward Jessica. There are several strange scenes of past life events between Mark and Jessica which attempt to reveal the convoluted plot involving revenge for past life incidents.
In addition to the terror of the deadly virus there were later news reports of a serial murderer, the media-named "Reincarnator." The theory held that the Reincarnator, a follower of the Cult, was killing people who had wronged his soul in past lives. When the Reincarnator begins to intrude upon the fairytale life of John and Jessica the plot picks up.
After several twists in the plot, John leaps back in time to follow and capture the Reincarnator and bring him to justice. The reincarnator has leaped back to Oberlin and parasitized the body of Oberlin student, Joe (Jeremy Ellison-Gladstone). For Oberlin students in the audience, this is where the entertainment really begins.
John leaps after the Reincarnator and meets up with Jessica's past life, Mary Parrish (Vo), an Oberlin biology professor. John explains to her his situation and solicits her help in saving the world from the Reincarnator and the evil Cain and the killer virus which all turn out to be interrelated.
The characters then enjoy a bout of poking fun at various Oberlin institutions including Security (one of our favorite punching bags) and the counseling center (another).
During one part, John and Mary head to the 'Sco for a break from research and saving the world (Yeah, how many professors have we seen dancing in the 'Sco?) More typical scenes from real life at the 'Sco show Noah Bopp as DJ and others dancing. During a slow dance between John and Mary a kiss takes Mary into a trippy trek back into scenes from her other lives.
Meanwhile, Joe's roommate (David Heafitz) senses the sudden personality change in Joe and talks to a school counselor Dr. Herbert (Dan Goulding). But their discovery of Joe's danger comes to no avail when Joe takes care of them both.
The flick won't end without a few too many choreographed fight scenes, some more believeable than others and a puzzling end scene of a live embryo in the womb.
Among the scenes to remember is a painfully long sex scene between John and Jessica which is quite rehearsed. The covered bodies and elusive shots leaves you wondering - did they? You'll be wishing you could get your hands on the fast forward button then.
Aside from a rape scene in which the music sounds like a demo melody on a Radio Shack battery-operated keyboard, the soundtrack- by sophomore Mike Reiners and Kenon Chen OC'95 - is a shining aspect of the film.
There are several inconsistent scenes, for instance when Mary is running from the porasitized body of Joe. The sequence begins on the second floor of Mudd. Joe chases Mary up seemingly endless flights of stairs to the elevator where she frantically pushes the up button and what floor is she on? - the second according to the plaque on the wall. After a trip on the elevator she arrives at the ground floor of Wright Hall, runs up one flight of stairs and finds herself on the roof fighting the parasitized Joe.
Some highlights of the film include a cameo appearance by Joe DiChristina and Gary Kriesen, vaguely bringing back a sense of 8444 the student short documentary on Security which played in the Oberlin Film Series last year. Very undisguised allusions to several notorious movies including both Terminators, Fatal Attraction and stoplight scenes from Fire Walk With Me, or the "Twin Peaks" series reccur throughout the film.
Many aspects of the film are amateur including the acting. But Wauters himself said the film was intended to be a learning experience for everyone. And that it was.
Wauters said he ended up having to lower his expectations for the film but was satisfied with the overall outcome including the experience he gained in directing fight scenes and love scenes. But don't expect to be frightened or turned on. Maybe in the next Wauters production.
-Julianne Walden
The Director: Nick Wauters, center, discusses The People We Used to Be. (file photo)
Copyright © 1996, The Oberlin Review.
Volume 124, Number 25; May 24, 1996
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