A living statue street performer painted in gold must learn to believe in himself so he can break free of his past and strive after his hopes for the future of becoming an architect.

SYNOPSIS:

Charlie Nightfall, 36, lives in a depressing, beat-up apartment where everything is gold painted. The TV, walls, plates, shelves, even the couch. He wears a fully painted gold cowboy outfit. Every inch of his skin is painted in metallic gold. There’s a blue-colored mechanical pencil that he keeps in his chest pocket, close to his heart which symbolizes what he truly wants to do with his life. To be an architect.

We can’t see his eyes through his gold-painted Aviator sunglasses as he stares at a framed blueprint of a house hanging on the wall. For a moment, his dreams take him over and he’s happy. His apartment becomes a modern designed pad, with stylized furniture, lush greenery, and fun designs. His alarm goes off which snaps him out of his delusions because he must go to his regular job. He works as a gold-painted cowboy mime who’s a living statue at a beach.

Charlie prides himself on doing a good job, having convinced himself that this is his dream. When he does get tipped, he puts on a show that involves shooting Western pistols. In his mind, it’s an extravagant show, but in reality, his show isn’t very exciting, and most of his tippers are less than impressed.

Charlie returns home to Linette, his girlfriend, who cannot stand Charlie’s depressing way of life. She’s pissed that Charlie isn’t in touch with his emotions and never talks to her, so she leaves him. Charlie contemplates suicide. He places the barrel of his gold-painted gun to his head and pulls the trigger. The gun is plastic and he’s stuck in his depression with a rubber dart stuck to his head.

Having gone through failed experiments to help his mentality, he tries therapy, a psychic, and his mom who doesn’t give any help. Charlie turns to booze and rots his days away drinking in his apartment.

One day at work, Charlie’s crate breaks and he falls face-first to the concrete. His lip is split open and blood streams down his golden skin. His sunglasses are busted and for the first time, we get a glimpse of his sad, bright blue eyes. The mechanical pencil lies broken on the ground with smashed pieces of lead.

Another mime, Kim, helps him up, brushes the blood away, and tries to fix the mechanical pencil. Unfortunately, she has no luck and is unable to fix it. She places it back into his pocket and goes back to work.

Over how his life isn’t working out, Charlie is fueled by his hopes and dreams as he runs through the dilapidated town that changes to modern, posh environments in his mind. He runs to an art store to buy a new pack of mechanical pencils while imagining blueprints of decayed buildings change and become modern facilities. As he runs, the gold paint flakes off, illuminating Charlie for who he is. A dreamer who’s been wearing a mask and a struggling human in search of his true dreams.

Charlie gets home and washes the remaining gold paint off him. He throws away the golden cowboy costume and all his golden accessories. He breaks open the framed blueprint and starts to go to work on it with his new pencils.

Night becomes day and Charlie has been at work with a ton of new ideas sketched out before him. Architecture is what he truly considers to be his purpose and his passion, while his past – the cowboy – lies in a trash can.