Movie – 13th Stepping
Director – Emily Ruhl
“…most Substance-addicted people are also addicted to thinking, meaning they have a compulsive and unhealthy relationship with their own thinking.”
― David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest
Emily Ruhl is known as one of the most talented and promising storytellers of Hollywood. Her stories are full of excitement and innovative. Emily started her career as a model and became a familiar face. She has modelled for Marie Claire, Teen Vogue, Elle Canada, Nylon and so on. Ruhl made her screen debut with Nicolas Hoult in Newness by Drake Doremus.
She hits the screen again with her brilliant story. Her debut film Blue Moon was extraordinary and mesmerising and it seems Emily is keeping her track intact.
Emily’s second film “13th Stepping” brings forth the addiction issue and portrays how mind bending the situation can be. The movie follows Lily, a freshly sober actress with an insatiable appetite for escaping her unbearable reality. Her movie is a provocative glimpse into addiction and redemption. The movie is a dark comedy-drama. Here we find a club, The Saturday Night Alive Group of Alcoholics Anonymous. As the movie says, we have to “ Hang on tight. Recovery is a bumpy ride.”Addiction of any kind is dangerous. It slowly consumes our entire being and leaves us stranded in a pathway from where we don’t seem to find any way of returning. In the present world, substance or alcohol addiction has increased a lot and many people have been lost due to the immense pressure the addiction creates on one.
Actor turned director Emily Ruhl has made this movie in order to address the issue of addiction. Taking the reference from her personal experiences, she creates this precautionary tale. The director says, “During my teenage years, drugs were my friends and feelings were my foes. I survived by the skin of my teeth and a weekend in rehab. Creating 13TH STEPPING has turned a nightmare into a dream come true.”
13th Stepping has a wide range of actors who portray the members of the club and their stories are so diverse in nature. All of them share a common link – they are survivors.
Emily not only directed this brilliant movie but she has also acted in it. Her character Lily Hall represents the people living with trauma and trying their best to move on from it. The other actors are Sushant Adlakha, Dusty Lachowicz, Jeff Essex, Sascha Belle Nastasi, Yurika Ohno and many more. Ruhl’s cast and characters are diverse, and it shows how substance addiction is slowly becoming a peril among the humans. Ruhl’s latest movie is like a companion to her previous movie Blue Moon and it would definitely appeal to the audience.
