San Diego Reader

ubewan Nov. 14, 2012 @ 11:29 a.m.

Synopsis:

A struggling conceptual artist seeks to make a name for himself by staging his own death. The entire inventory of his artwork and those purchased by several collectors and philanthropists immediately rise in value. Following his fake death, he decides to go into hiding, completely changing his looks and identity, only to re-emerge as an amateur poet.

In his new life doing spoken word at local cafe, he describes his previous life but from a third person perspective. Eventually a frequent female attendee to the cafe notices subtle similarities between the poet and the character described in his poetry. After several failed attempts to confirm her suspicions, she herself takes on a separate identity: a struggling artist. The poet suddenly takes interest in this new artist whose work adorns the cafe and is reminded of his past life. Sporadic encounters with one another inevitably build up to an unspoken courtship between false identities, each one growing more terrified at the thought of losing the other and themselves if the truth were to be uncovered. The Negotiator offers a collage of fame, falseness, and fear with a "The Usual Suspects" twist.

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