Bad Fever

Alternately quiet and delirious, always desperate, Bad Fever is a witness to one man’s broken American dream and his eternal longing to find someone, anyone, who understands or even pretends to understand. Eddie (Kentucker Audley) bumbles his way through an agonizing courtship with Irene (Eleonore Hendricks), a manipulative drifter who videotapes their fleeting moments together. To express his true feelings for her, he painstakingly orchestrates his debut stand-up performance at the local comedy club. This singular debut feature by Dustin Guy Defa is a portrait of two lonely trains passing each other by on the emotional railroad tracks of a forgotten city. (Criterion)