The Life List of Adrian Mandrick

On the surface, Adrian appears to have it all. He is a competent and successful anesthesiologist with a kind, loving wife and two great children. He also has a devastating secret connected to his abusive childhood. Consequently, he tries not to feel anything. Adrian achieves this through an addiction to painkillers. He carefully manages his use so as to not destroy his career, but this repressed man is not present for his family. In fact, his mother dies without any contact from Adrian. He channels all this pain into his one great passion, bird-watching, obsessively adding new species to his life list of sightings. Our protagonist may venture up mountains, through deep woods, and into inaccessible swamps to escape the past, but eventually he has to confront his long-estranged father. Experienced actor and narrator David Aaron Baker captures expertly the tone of this poignant story about flawed human beings.