Rosemead (film)

Irene is a terminally ill widow who lives with her 17-year-old son Joe in the San Gabriel Valley of southern California. Since being diagnosed with schizophrenia, Joe has been seeing a therapist and starting to take medication to help with his symptoms. Irene hides the fact of her cancer diagnosis from Joe. Joe is a former star student and swimmer, whose schizophrenia symptoms worsen. Joe is usually dropped off at therapy sessions, but one day Irene decides to join Joe in a session, where the therapist has Joe reminisce of a happy time. Joe recounts a memory where Irene, his father, and Joe are dancing and singing in a motel at night. Irene and Joe are eating food while listening to the radio talk about recent school shooting events. Joe turns up the volume before Irene turns it off. Joe has an active shooter drill at school and is overwhelmed. Immediately afterward, he tries to go to the bathroom and Joe’s schizophrenia triggers him to run in between empty classrooms and destroy school property. The school discovers the damage and links it to Joe using the school's security cameras. School administrators bring this situation to Irene but she dismisses their suggestion to transfer Joe to another school with allegedly better resources to manage Joe's condition. Joe has more frequent episodes with bursts of violence, shatters his iPad screen, destroys rooms, and eventually self-harms. One day, Irene finds Joe's laptop open with browser tabs on school shooting events (notably incidents from Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, and Aurora, Colorado). Irene finds Joe in his room with the television's volume turned up while the news details of victims and weapons. Irene starts to attend Joe's therapy sessions, and she shares with the therapist of Joe's recent concerning search history. Irene also visits a local gun shop to check on whether Joe has visited the shop, and the shop owner confirms that Joe has visited and was interested in a gas mask. After visiting the doctor, Irene learns the experimental drug she is taking for her cancer is not working and will only have months to live. Joe is found jaywalking at night. Picking Joe up at the police station, Irene learns that upon Joe's 18th birthday, she will no longer have custody of Joe and his medical care. Joe goes missing after another episode, and his friends try to locate him. Irene drives around the city to look for Joe, while putting up missing person's fliers and talking with locals on the whereabouts of Joe. After a couple of days, Irene received a call from a motel that Joe is spotted, where Irene is reunited with Joe. Irene visits her friend who owns an herbal medicine shop and drops off the deed to her printing shop. She also visits the gun shop again and has a conversation with the owner. Upon Joe's 18th birthday, Irene takes Joe to the motel that he has fond memories of. After eating cake, Irene gifts Joe white sneakers and Joe suggests to Irene to stay in the motel room forever so no one can bother them. Joe falls asleep, and then Irene meticulously cleans the room and goes to her car to make a call to her friend to burn pictures of their family. Irene returns to the motel room and fatally shoots Joe. Irene is distraught over her actions but calls the police to turn herself in. She is arrested but dies from her cancer before she can be tried in court. ==Cast==