The Pretend One (2017)

The Pretend One: Directed by Tony Prescott. With David Field, Geraldine Hakewill, Elijah Perris, Fiona Press. An adult woman’s imaginary friend from childhood, Hugo, finds his existence threatened when a real person becomes the woman’s love interest.

“This is an Australian movie, it includes short flashbacks when Charlie and Hugo were children, but most of the movie takes place when she is in her mid-20s.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe young adult Charlie is played very nicely by Geraldine Hakewill. Her mother died when she was very young and now it is just her and her gruff dad working the cotton farm. Since Charlie was a child she had this red-haired friend, Hugo, that was almost always at her side. No one else could see or hear him but to Charlie he is very real, they have conversations, sometimes he wakes her in the morning.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThings begin to change for Hugo when a new guy comes to town, one that Charlie seems very interested in. If Charlie were to forget about Hugo then he would disappear. But Hugo then finds that with enough passion and fear he can start to develop the ability to touch and move things. It seems that it is a path to his becoming more than an imaginary person.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe whole story turns into a fable of sorts, and the ending reminds me of what Rick did for Ilsa in u0026quot;Casablancau0026quot;. This is a small but good movie, interesting concepts executed very well. My wife and I enjoyed it, on DVD from our public library.”