Find the Meaning of Life on DVD with WHEN THE STARLIGHT ENDS

Jeri Jacquin

Coming to DVD from writer/director Adam Sigal and Cinedigm is the story of life, the written word and the clash between the two with WHEN THE STARLIGHT ENDS.

Jacob (Sam Heughan) is stuck at a job he can’t stand and girlfriend Cassandra (Arabella Oz) wants him to be happy. He truly wants to write and when Cassandra says he should follow his dream, their lives begin to change. Sitting in front of a computer screen daily, he pumps out his thoughts trying to put it all together in a book worth publishing.

When it begins to pay off, he knows that Cassandra deserves to fruits of their labor and finding the house of their dreams is a good beginning. Jacob begins working on his next work but starts to get sidetracked and tries to get it together with a side chat with dog-neighbor Ralph (Sean Patrick Flanery). When that doesn’t help, his mind begins to wander wondering if it’s possible that there is another ‘Jacob’ living another life.

Cassandra makes the painful decision to leave when she realizes that Jacob’s writing is more important than she is. Knowing he could change this fate around with one simple promise, something inside stops every urge he has. That decision puts Jacob back in front of the keyboard to try and find a happy ending to it all.

He lives for the words.

Heughan as Jacob is a man who can’t believe the love of his life allows him to finally have the time to put his thoughts into a book. When the book is successful, it releases him to freely write and take care of his life with Cassandra. Heughan is sweet in this role giving us all a look inside of the thought process of a writer but this character has moments of artistic narcissism.

Of course I’m sure it can be said that all artists carry a bit of it with them but Cassandra isn’t about to have it in her life. Heughan came to the attention of American audiences from the STARZ original series Outlander playing the role of Scottish rogue Jamie Fraser. This is a different look for accent-less Heughan and the stories within the main story come off well.

Oz as Cassandra also has the opportunity to play other characters within the stories Jacob is writing. Because his work focuses around his love for her, it is also a very cool way of showcasing Oz’s ability to go from loving girlfriend to hitchhiker. The brilliant scene toward the end of the film between Cassandra and Heughan is awkward, necessary and it felt like I was eavesdropping.

Flanery as Ralph is the odd duck neighbor who occasionally is Jacob’s sounding board. It’s not so much that he really cares about what Jacob is going through as much as it would be nice to have a buddy to have a few beers with. His story comes into play when the writer can’t help but wonder how his life works.

Other cast include Armando Gutierrez as Don, Hunter Gomez as Danny, Georgia Cook as Ellie, George Griffith as Jimmy, AlexAnn Hopkins as Eva, and David Arquette as Bill.

Cinedigm is a leading distributor of amazing content in storefronts, digital platforms, Internet and Demand platforms for cable television. With an extensive library of over 52,000 films and television shows, Docudrama films, next-gen Indies and Independent films. At its inception, Cinedigm has played a pioneering role in transitioning movie theatres from traditional film prints to digital distribution to advance worldwide cinema modernization. For more on what Cinedigm has to offer please visit http://www.cinedigm.com.

WHEN THE STARLIGHT ENDS is a look inside the mind of Jacob as a writer and he truly does have a lot to say and in such a way that I loved hearing every word. The process of how he gets there is the story of a man who goes so deep into his own world that he forgets about the one person he constantly professes is his life.

Writer/director Sigal presents his complex story blanketed in the simplicity of love and the choices we all make using that emotion. Sometimes it isn’t until we hurt or are hurt that what is in our hearts and minds flows out of us whether it is writing, painting, singing, etc.

The character of Jacob had the choice to keep the life he professed to love but instead took another path that was riddled with mirrors of pain, angst and ugly realities staring right back at him.

In the end – rewrite your life!