On The Corner

Synopsis
Patricia ‘Angel’ Henry is a street smart, twenty-one year old run-away from
Prince Rupert. Five years earlier she fled her Reserve and ended up in
Vancouver’s urban ghetto. Angel lives in room 301 at the Brandiz - one of the
many old and run down hotels in the Downtown Eastside. Angel survives the
best she can, supporting her heroin habit by working as a prostitute.
Occasionally, she and Bernie, the hotel manager, work as a team, splitting the
cash they get from ripping off old drunks she seduces into her room. Down the
hall, Angel’s best friend Stacey, eighteen and also a prostitute, lives with her
boyfriend, Cliffie – a petty dealer and junkie. And at the end of the third floor lives
Floyd, an older man who is a binner, and also a friend of Angel’s.
When Angel’s little brother Randy shows up needing a place to stay and insisting
he won’t go back to his foster home, Angel immediately feels imposed upon. She
lets him stay for one night, then calls in a debt Floyd owes her, and hands Randy
over to the care of the older man. Reluctantly Randy follows Floyd through the
alleys and dumpsters, earning a little money, and quickly overcoming his distaste
for digging through the garbage for cans and bottles. And despite herself Angel
begins to feel the presence of her brother – going out of her way to ensure
Bernie lifts his guest fee policy for Randy. As he slowly settles into life on the
third floor of the Brandiz, Cliffie encourages Randy to make real money dealing
on the street. When Stacey inadvertently introduces Randy to crack cocaine, his
conversion to street life is set in motion.
With Randy now living down the hall, Angel is faced with her own life reflected
back through the eyes of someone intimately connected to her. Intuitively she
begins to evaluate her life and comes to realize how unhappy she is. When Floyd
kicks Randy out of his place for smoking crack, he again begs Angel to let him
stay. Randy suggests that in time they could get a place together – a real
apartment. Angel, uncertain but also encouraged, relents, and allows Randy to
stay. In the following days Angel tries to help and take care of her brother, setting
him up as a dealer in order for him to make money until he can qualify for
welfare. Cliffie, having succeeded in establishing Randy as an easy and reliable
source, uses his secret crack use to manipulate dope from Randy. As Angel
begins to feel intimations of responsibility toward her brother, she makes subtle
changes in her lifestyle. While Angel finally entertains the idea of quitting dope,
Randy continues to hide his escalating drug use from her.
As their two divergent paths crash headlong into one another, the consequences
of one eventful night separate them for several weeks. While Angel continues to
gain perspective on her life, Randy falls deeper into a world consumed by
abandonment and fuelled by drug use. Angel finally returns to the Downtown
Eastside in a desperate search to find Randy and take him home. As the pain
and betrayal in their family past catches up with them, Angel must finally face the
truth about her own life and the realization that she must let Randy go.