Institute History
Description
Suzi is an art lecturer at UCLA who happens to collect mid-twentieth century decorative arts. She's very rich. Her best pal is a wealthy, confused but lovestruck skateboarder named Renato. Together they conspire against German collectors in Cologne, Japanese buyers in Tokyo, and a duo of mysterious American investors. The stakes are high—dealers and collectors are dying (literally) to locate a prototype Charles Eames chaise. The worlds of high art, fashion, philosophy, S&M, conceptualism, big business, underground sex, and what's left of the spy scene collide in the ultra-hip L.A. of the '90s.
But no matter how beautifully Suzi manipulates her world, it collapses when a dirty but sexy mechanic, Buzz, changes her tire on a dirt road one dark night. Suzi falls for Buzz when he helps her seize a George Nelson console. Almost against his wishes, Buzz feels a spark for Suzi—something very real and emotional. But Buzz also sees Suzi's upper class world as an arena of self-deception. For her part, Suzi has never actually been in love (you can't be cool and emotional at the same time), and her authentic emotions for Buzz startle, worry, and ultimately push her to confront the betrayals and compromises on which her world is built. She is not going to emerge unscathed. Love hurts. And costs. That's why it means something.
The dissonant relationship between Suzi and Buzz is contrasted by the struggles and deception surrounding an objet d'art in the trendy and rarely seen Art-World of the late twentieth century. But SUZI AND THE MECHANIC is not just a love story in an exotic locale. It is no parody. Ultimately, it is a comedy about the dangers of being smart and cool. And empty.