Jozi (2010)

Comedy

Cast
Carl Beukes
Lionel Newton
Nick Boraine
Jena Dover
Lindi Matshikiza

Tagline

Screwing up can be addictive!

Logline

A comedy writer’s life is quickly going down the drain and his only salvation is to trawl the treacherous streets of Johannesburg in search of the thing he most desperately needs, his sense of humour.

Synopsis

James is a successful comedy writer. He has a good career, nice friends, a cute car and an even cuter girlfriend. Things are going great. There is only one small problem, he lives in Johannesburg and has completely lost his sense of humour.

James turns to a bizarre concoction of drugs to try and lift himself out of his malaise. This only makes matters worse and after throwing his producer's computer out the window his friends organize an intervention. They persuade him to spend some time in the notorious bible bashing Daspoort rehabilitation centre, in the heart of the Karoo.

At Daspoort James is plunged into a kind of madness that he has never before experienced. He falls under the control of the messianic Reverend Andries Vermuelen. James is caught in a web of prayer, prayer and more prayer, walking the reverend's pit bulls and therapeutic sessions with the in house therapist Dr Van Blerk a man whose entire therapeutic advice is dispensed in Bob Dylan lyrics. James plots an escape with his only ally an incredibly friendly Dope head from Cape Town called Martin.

James must now return to Johannesburg, the city which destroyed him and try and regain his career, his life, his girlfriend and his ability to laugh.

Broke, with nowhere to stay James starts squatting in his parent’s old house which is for sale. His presence in the house causes endless problems with the estate agent Barbara. particularly on Sundays. This also brings James into conflict with his parents in Australia. They pressurize him to get the hell out of South Africa, almost as if the entire country might just explode. James wants to stay, wants to try and find himself in the chaos of the city.

In the maddest of madcap journeys James must travel through the highways and byways of Johannesburg to try and find his elusive sense of humour as well as his ability to love and laugh again. James meets the enchanting if a little dotty Brenda who helps him see his city in a new way.