Synopsis

Set in contemporary L.A., “Camera Obscura” is a psychological drama about a crime scene photographer who’s appalled by the increasingly violent deaths he is forced to photograph every day. An innocent man who confronts his fears by trying to set his own boundaries of reality and illusion. It’s also about a young couple’s new life together, whose marriage and commitment becomes a testing ground of power, attraction, deception and compassion. Where love survives only if it’s reinvented everyday.

JIMMY, an extremely talented photographer with true artist’s sensibilities, takes a job with the LAPD to support himself and his beautiful wife, MARIA. Unable to comprehend the dark and cruel reality of the crime scenes, he tries to counter balance it by photographing anything beautiful he can find: nature, people, city life, and especially his lovely wife.

But the images of the crime scenes become so powerful and vivid, they begin to haunt his mind and soul…….until one day, alone at a crime scene, JIMMY begins to alter reality. He beautifies the crime scene, changing the composition, lights and lenses, shooting the victims in surreal and living poses. Soon in his pictures the victims don’t look dead anymore. Ultimately he convinces himself that through his camera he can make the dead come alive again. JIMMY turns himself and his camera into a Savior. With the line between reality and fantasy blurring more and more, he finds himself in trouble at home with his wife who’s desperate to understand the changes he’s going through.

MARIA is a talented ballet dancer who focuses on her ambitions once her husband has a steady job with the police department. She’s a sweet, passionate woman who loves JIMMY deeply and is committed to their relationship. She becomes increasingly concerned about his obvious on-the-job stress and his peculiar reaction to the dead bodies he has to photograph. Angered and frustrated by JIMMY’S odd behavior, MARIA renews her friendship with her old friend, the transvestite FISH, who finds her a job as an exotic dancer.

The two LAPD bad cops, FLOWERS and RUSSO, who happen to be JIMMY’S partners, are skimming a drug deal. Abrasive and sarcastic, they taunt JIMMY for his sensitivity on the job. FLOWERS hires JIMMY into one of his drug deals with the promise of big bucks. A desperate JIMMY agrees in the hope of earning enough money to quit his job.

The drug scam goes wrong…….their relationship degrades…….crime scenes become more violent, and the death of innocent people more painful. Eventually, everything in JIMMY’S real world comes to the same cross-road. He can no longer distinguish chaos from order, love from passion or death from life.

However, MARIA’S constant efforts to understand and to balance their life together turns their relationship into a spiral, which is full of ups and downs, humor and terror, misunderstandings and forgiveness. Trapped between reality and fantasy, JIMMY is lost and MARIA is the only light in his life.

But MARIA’S life is put in danger, when she witnesses the murder of FISH by FLOWERS and RUSSO. Confronted by his partners, JIMMY faces the reality of his wife becoming a victim of the same kind of violent murders he was forced to photograph.

Can he accept it? Can he save MARIA? JIMMY’S ultimate decision brings an end to his tormented journey. Their love overcomes death and life continues, even in pictures, so long as there is love.