WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU

Year: 2008
USA: Yari Film Group
Cast: Mark Ruffalo, Ethan Hawke, Amanda Peet, Brian Goodman, Donnie Wahlberg, Angela Featherstone, Will Lyman, Eddie Lynch, Michael Yebba, Brian Connolly, Nathaniel Smyth, Oscar Wahlberg, Thomas Regan, Jean-Pierre Serret, George Khoury, Holly Karrol Clark, Leif Riddell, Lenny Clarke, Jay Giannone, Michael Balcanoff, Richard Lane, Jr, John Fiore
Director: Brian Goodman
Country: USA
USA: 100 mins
USA Rated: R for language, drug use, some violence and brief sexuality
USA Release Date: 12 December 2008 (Limited Release - New York and Los Angeles)


Synopsis

Based on writer/director Brian Goodman's childhood, WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU is based on his true life story of growing up on the crime-filled streets of Boston's Southie neighbourhood and attempts to honor the people he loved on - both sides of the law.

Brian Reilly (Mark Ruffalo) and Paulie McDougan (Ethan Hawke) are two childhood friends who meld with the crime-filled streets of their neighbourhood and it seems the natural route to follow. But as they grow older, the stakes increase as they do what they must to survive.

Petty crimes grow into more serious ones and eventually they fall under the control of organized crime boss Pat Kelly (Brian Goodman). Increasingly dependent on drugs, Brian's addiction puts tremendous strain on his family life and threatens to destabilize his marriage to his wife, Stacy (Amanda Peet).

Meanwhile Paulie plans "one last heist" but knows it will take both of them to pull it off. How can they escape the only life they know?