Genre: Drama/Biography
Director: Steve McQueen
Writer: Chad Taylor
Cast: John Gallagher Jr., Patricia Clarkson, Melissa Benoist, Jonathan Groff, Bruce Greenwood, Payman Maadi, Alia Bhatt
Plot: Act I: 1972
Maitreya Kali (John Gallagher Jr.) is a struggling musician in L.A., now living with his parents (who insist on calling him Craig, his birth name). Maitreya is reeling from just being dumped by his fiancée, and redirects most of his emotions through making music. His mother Nona (Patricia Clarkson) tells him that his old friend Greg stopped by and he should get back into touch and possibly get him out of this funk. Maiteya devotes most of his time putting the finishing touches on his self-produced album Inca, on which he performed all of the vocals and instruments. To his mother’s disapproval, he gets a tattoo of a spider directly between his eyebrows – reminiscent of Manson’s swastika.
Maitreya goes to a local bar and is several rounds in when he runs into Wendy (Melissa Benoist), a former acquaintance. She invites him to her table to join her and a couple of friends – including Greg (Jonathan Groff). Reluctant at first, Maitreya joins them and is quiet at first. As the night progresses, he becomes more talkative and spouts philosophical beliefs. As he starts to descend into a rant about the end of the world and himself being the chosen messiah, the others start to get scared and worried by his attitude. When Greg pulls Maitreya aside and suggests he tone it down a bit, Kali pulls out a knife but keeps it at a safe distance from Greg’s body. Obviously Greg is shaken by this and leaves the bar with Sheila and friends.
Maitreya wanders the streets of L.A., handing out his album to strangers. Maitreya sits on a public bench with his guitar, strumming melancholic folk tunes. We then find out that this is actually across the street from Greg’s house when Greg arrives home from work. Upon seeing Maitreya, he tells him to stay away. Maitreya is insistent that he only wants to give him his new album, but Greg retreats inside and locks the door. Back home, Nona informs him that Greg has filed for a restraining order from him, upon which she begins to grill him as to why. She also brings up the money needed to reimburse his fiancee’s family for the wedding dress that he cut into pieces when they broke up. He becomes angry and rushes at his mom, punching her multiple times until his father intervenes. Fade to black.
Act II: 1966
Craig Smith is an upbeat, clean-cut twentysomething – looking cut directly from the Beach Boy cloth. He, Greg, and three other young musicians are part of pop group the Good Time Singers. He and Greg are best friends, both in and out of the studio. They currently have a steady gig as the back-up band for popular 50s crooner Don Tucker (Bruce Greenwood) – for whom Craig is also a songwriter. On the road, Craig is hard at work courting Don’s daughter Wendy – who is also a back-up singer for her father. When Don discovers this, Craig and the band are told they will not be retained at the end of the tour.
As the Good Time Singers disband, Greg suggests they become a folk-pop duo named Craig & Greg. Craig is receptive to the idea until Wendy, whom they are still in contact with, lets him know about an audition to be on a Monkees rip-off show for ABC. Realizing the exposure this could give him, Craig opts for this route and shuns Greg’s offer. He successfully lands one of the leading roles. To celebrate, he takes Wendy out to a movie and they finally kiss.
A few weeks later, Craig receives news that ABC did not pick up the pilot of the show, effectively putting him back to square one. He calls Greg and is willing to take him up on his offer, but his friend has already moved on to a new band. Depressed and disillusioned by the corporate music culture, Craig starts to spend more time alone and ignoring the calls of people like his parents and Wendy. He sits alone in his room playing the acoustic guitar as the camera fades to black.
Act III: 1968
Craig is in a VW Bus on a trip from Turkey to India – effectively known as the Hippie Trail. Craig and his companions (all strangers to him) have very little possessions except for a sizable drug supply. During their one-day stay in Afghanistan, Craig becomes enamored with a girl (Alia Bhatt) he sees from afar. He spends most of his day “touring the city” under the influence of LSD, but in actuality, he is just following the girl around from afar. He is given a brief moment of hope when they share eye contact and he returns to the hotel satisfied. He informs his fellow travelers that he will stay behind for a few days and meet up with them in Kabul.
The next day, in his quest to find the girl again, he befriends a local shopkeeper Yousef (Payman Maadi), who speaks English. At the apartment above the shop, Craig discovers the man has a guitar and he offers to play him something. They sit on Yousef’s balcony as Craig sings a love song he has made on the spot, with the Afgahngirl in mind. Craig, again on acid, takes the life advice from the man to heart – seemingly awakening some type of spirit within him.
He promises the man that he will be back to see him at some point. Back out on the town, Craig searches for the girl. After many fruitless attempts, he finally finds her again but this time she is with a group of others. When the girl notices him again, this time she alerts her friends that this is the man who was following her before. As they all turn their eyes towards him, Craig tries to flee but multiple men catch up to him. They corner him in a back alley and beat him to a bloody pulp. One of the men proceeds to rape Craig. He is left alone in the alley, sprawled out on the ground.
Epilogue:
Maitreya sits alone in prison, after being prosecuted for assaulting his mother. End text scrolling over this image reveal that he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and released three years later. With no family, he proceeded to be homeless for the next 35 years of his life. Inca, and its predecessor 1971 Apache, would go on to gain a cult following in niche music circles. Maitreya Kali passed away in anonymity in 2012.
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