Puncture

Two partners run a small law firm in Houston. When an emergency room nurse contracts HIV from a needlestick, they take the case and meet an inventor: his retractable needle makes it impossible for the same needle to stick a second person. The product does not sell, because hospital purchasing groups have closed the door. The film is not interested in a courtroom victory. It is interested in how the supply chain works: it argues that the obstacle is neither science nor cost but the system of kickbacks between the purchasing cartels and the large manufacturer. The form is a double portrait: on one side the legal story, on the other one lawyer's drug addiction. The two strands keep undermining each other, and the film does not tidy that up. The story is true, taken from the case of the Houston lawyer Mike Weiss and his partner Paul Danziger. It never went to trial; years later another lawyer settled it on the courthouse steps for a hundred and fifty million dollars. Chris Evans plays Weiss; Adam Kassen, who directs, and Mark Kassen, who plays the partner, are brothers. Who it is for: viewers who like legal drama and criticism of the healthcare system. Who it is not for: anyone looking for a clean hero. The film shows the lawyer's addiction without decoration and does not end in victory.