THE STORY

With a jolt, Richard Barrow, an enigmatic and washed-up literary critic finds himself sucked into the turbulence of a disarming and chaotic young writer named B.Rian Garrity. Four years after writing a celebrated first novel, B.Rian seems to have dropped off the face of the earth. His only occupation now is indulging in the low life, catered by Celeste Kern, a cagey street urchin who brings out the worst in him. In the meantime, B.RianÕs live-in girlfriend, Maddie Alton, is getting tired of always picking up the pieces and putting her dreams of being a photographer on hold.

Seeing a chance to salvage his own languishing career, Richard devotes himself to reforming B.RianÕs life and molding him back into the writer he once was. Richard is convinced that under his strict tutelage B.Rian will create his next work of genius. B.Rian, however, is not so sure and locks himself into his apartment to escape the pressure. Maddie finds herself forced to stay with Richard who is secretly scheming more drastic measures.

Slowly Richard reveals his true duplicitous and controlling nature as he begins to manipulate all aspects of the unwitting writerÕs life while becoming B.RianÕs only conduit to the outside world. B.Rian finally gives in and begins to write. And the writing is brilliant. To much acclaim, Richard publishes the new book, chapter by chapter, exploiting his newfound celebrity as editor and exclusive connection to this rising star. Even Maddie finds herself enamored with the man who seems to be raising B.Rian Garrity from the dead.

But soon reality creeps back in. Richard catches Celeste sneaking out of B.Rian's apartment. And Maddie has taken up her camera again, keeping a curious eye on Richard and B.Rian's progress from the street below. Back at RichardÕs place, Maddie stumbles across traces of his hidden past which raise many questions in her mind about the man with whom she thought she was falling in love.

Nearing the completion of the book, Richard confronts B.Rian and discovers that B.Rian is not whom he thought he was. Stricken with the fear that his well-ordered world might come crashing down, Richard strikes out at B.Rian in a moment of rage, killing the young pretender. When he encounters several of Maddie's photos developing in his apartment, Richard is left to wonder what she has witnessed through her lens.

As Richard becomes completely entangled in his own web of paranoia, he runs into Maddie at a gallery exhibition of her haunting documentary-style photographs. In a moment of reckoning Richard is forced to face Maddie as the layers of his deceits are stripped away by the seemingly incriminating images surrounding him, rendering him a victim of his own hidden darkness.

Set amid the shadows of Chicago's urban landscape, Life Sentence is equal parts psychological thriller and darkly comic character study, combining the themes of Barton Fink with the tone and energy of Shallow Grave. Life Sentence explores the nightmares we will endure for a chance to realize our dreams.