That doesn't help. That does not even remotely help, because the sincerity Alex applied to his project, that prima donna insistence that the film was meaningful and loaded with a deep, philosophical weight communicated purely through shots of Brian walking through burned-out buildings looking reflective, was one of the few things he can still claim with any certainty was something that belonged to Alex.

Except even then, he was already devolving, decohering, coming apart because Brian was generous enough, persuasive enough, stupid enough to invite his buddy Tim to the audition.

"Like that asshole in every college dorm who always plays 'Wonderwall' on the acoustic." An awkward subject shift, but a necessary nonetheless. Neither of them are here to dwell. "If you didn't have one, you probably were the asshole."