Intrinsic Spin

San Francisco native ROMAN is haunted by his HIV+ status, which stopped him from saving his identical twin REMI from death by leukemia. In order to feel connected to his brother again, Roman loses himself in the nostalgia of his childhood memories. In day-to-day life, Roman faces his grief in troubling ways. First, by substituting his twin with his partner NEIL, and then through a sense of obligation to his dead brother’s wife NATHALIE. However, being around Nathalie, Roman indulges in his brother’s character traits and identity dysmorphia starts to manifest. Spiraling downward, Roman’s dreams become infected with anxiety while his waking mind grows more and more unstable. A strange and curious attraction to death becomes apparent as he considers joining his twin in the afterlife. News of a groundbreaking HIV+ organ transplantation procedure forces him to face the demons that he lives with around being both HIV+ and unable to be his twin’s donor. Unable to distinguish reality from fantasy, he succumbs to his compulsion to embody his brother, but the illusion is shattered when he confesses to being HIV+ during an unexpected sexual encounter with Nathalie. Desperate to pull himself out of darkness, Roman escapes to his mother, CHRIS, at their family home in Mendocino where she attempts to help him. However, being around his childhood home jerks him deeper into his path of self-destruction. An epiphany comes releasing Roman from his torment, forcing him to embrace the complexity of life without his beloved twin even as their spiritual connection remains eternal. Roman reconnects with Remi through his boyhood memories, finally able to find peace with being HIV+. In the end, a redwood trail becomes a metaphor for Roman’s life when he bears sole witness to the rare sighting of a lone Grey Wolf, a sign of healing.