Understatement

**Understatement** is a drama movie, created by Nathan Network. The story follows Gray Brown as he tries to overcome his mental issues of Pringle cans following him everywhere after a curse, and his issues with killing & harming people.

The writer and creator of Understatement, Vaopa Longdong has confirmed that there is no future intentions for a sequel to Understatement, as it "ends perfectly". Vaopa also confirmed that the ending is completely up to interpretation and there is "no correct answer to the ending of Understatement".

## History

### Creation (2019-2021)

The writer, Vaopa Longdong said in an interview that he wanted to create something profound and emotional, something that would change the way people view the world, a sad, yet empowering story.

He came up with the concept while eating dill pickle Pringles, and reading a news article on the New York Times about how someone by the name of Richard Lapyhapy was an awful person for stealing from a bank and killing 3 people. Vaopa said he felt disgusted while reading this article, not because of the incident, not because of the awful food he was eating, but because he was disappointed by how people were seen as horrible people, just for doing something bad. And he wanted to make a movie that shows that no matter how many horrible things you do, you should always be yourself. He ended up acquiring the funds and began production of Understatement.

### Release & reception (2021)

Understatement released on October 16th, 2021. The film was met with mostly positive reviews. Critic Jake Aberdore said this "Wait, i'm not a critic why are you interviewing me? This is a Taco Bell".

Critics praised the storytelling, characters, writing, and acting. However, some critics did criticize the cinematography, pacing, morality of the ending, and audio design with one critic known as Helda Helda saying this: "The film has a wonderful story and it was well written, and Adrius Ramirez was a perfect actor for this film, his role as Gray Brown may be the best in Nathan Network history. Though a lot of times the cinematography can be bad, since it was a very ambitious film. And I really don't know if I like the moral of the story. Be yourself, be horrible? It sounds pretty messed up if you ask me"

## Story

### At the Bar / A Painful Walk

The film begins with the protagonist Gray Brown at a bar, looking depressed. He orders a bag of chips and a cocktail. The bartender Don Donpop asks him why he's so sad, and Gray Brown says that his girlfriend broke up with him, and she threw a Pringles can at him and yelled "You're cursed!". Don tells Gray not to start a bar fight and leaves the room.

Trilly Tree walks in to the bar and sits down next to Gray and calls him a "butt trucker". Gray gets angry and smashes his cocktail bottle over Trilly's head, and shoves him on the floor, he then proceeds to kick him. And Don returns and yells at Gray, telling him to get out of the bar. Gray then runs away.

Gray begins walking on the street and punches an innocent man. He then begins looking at houses to rob, however in the process, he trips over a Dill Pickle Pringles can and injures himself. He then says that he needs to call a therapist.

### Therapy / Property Damage

Gray decides to sign up for therapy from professional therapist, Dr. Chevyford, to discuss his problems relating to Pringles cans and mental problems, such as impulsive violence. the therapist proceeds to toss Gray a cocktail. In this therapy session, Gray admits to beating up people simply because it's fun, and he has no real motive behind his actions. Gray also says that he loves to frequent the bar simply to have a drink or two and get in a bar fight. After a long discussion, the therapist diagnoses Gray with "mesopatamiumpasses disorder", a mental disorder causing people to act more erratic and violent, and he prescribes Gray with a therapy round every Friday and Tuesday, along with some medication. However, Dr. Chevyford also states the the Pringles can problem is a coincidence and is not a real problem. However, Gray reaffirms that the Pringles can issue is not a coincidence, and he still believes that he was cursed by his ex-girlfriend. At this point, Dr. Chevyford pulls out a dill pickle Pringles can, in an attempt to force Gray to face his fear of Pringles. After a quick scare by Dr. Chevyford, he puts away the Pringles.

As Gray stands up to leave the therapy room, he trips over the couch and spills his cocktail all over Dr. Chevyford's rug. Chevyford begins immediately trying to wash the rug with wet towels, with not a whole lot of success. And Chevyford now says that "maybe bad things do happen when Pringles are around". After a lot of cleaning, they eventually get the stain mostly out of the rug. He tells Gray to come back to therapy next Friday, and possibly Tuesday since Gray might need it. He also proceeds to add an additional $200 to Gray's therapy bill for damaging the rug. The two get in a small fight over the bill pricing and Chevyford kicks Gray out.

As Gray walks out of the therapy office. He runs into a dill pickle Pringles can and tries to avoid it, however, trips over it yet again.

### Nice House To Rob

After Gray trips over the Pringles can, the screen fades to black and we get a time skip to next Tuesday. Gray is now walking around the streets looking for houses to rob, since he needs to pay off his therapy bill and the property damage he caused at the therapy session.

He comes across a nice house and begins trying to sneak into it, however, he sees someone sitting on a bench looking at the ocean in the backyard. So he carefully sneaks, as to not draw their attention, and he is successfully able to sneak into the house. Now inside the house, he walks up stairs and takes a swig of some weird juice sitting upstairs (maybe some smoothie or something I don't know). However, once he walks into the main upstairs room, Gray gets horrified as he sees something disturbing... a dill pickle Pringles can sitting on the table. He immediately recoils at the sight of them, however he decides to conquer his fear and try and eat one, however after sniffing them, he decides not to since they taste bad. After entering the next upstairs room, Gray gets an even bigger surprise. Inside the room is his therapist, Dr. Chevyford, and he turns out he was robbing his house. Gray decides to run away, and trips over another Pringle can on his way out. Gray exclaims "Money's on the table!" and Chevyford tells him to come back to therapy next Tuesday, which Gray agrees to.

### Second Therapy Session

Next Friday, Gray decides to go to a new therapist, Dr. Nathan, and Gray goes over the same stuff he told Chevyford about. However, this time, the therapist is much more mean-spirited. and Dr. Nathan tells Gray that his story about the Pringles can situation is "ridiculous" "not real", and a "waste of time". Dr. Nathan proceeds to call out Gray and calls him a "horrible person", and tells him to stop beating up people. And he proceeds to tell Gray that in order to get better therapy, he needs to pay extra. Gray says that Dr. Nathan must be making a lot of money, to which Nathan responds, saying that's he's "living the dream!" at this point, Gray says that Dr. Nathan won't be "living anymore, pal" and he proceeds to kill Dr. Nathan with an assault rifle.

### The End

At this point, we see Gray Brown running off to the beach and he escapes from the therapy office. And the credits begin rolling as we see Gray sitting on the beach peacefully watching the waves crash as the sun sets. We hear an ending monologue in the background, where Gray talks about how he now understands that he is a horrible person and always will be, no one can change him, and he has fully accepted and embraced his horrible and disgusting lifestyle. He now understands that he doesn't need to change himself for anyone, and he should simply continue living his horrible, yet perfect and wonderful lifestyle. We see a quote appear on screen which simply says "Be yourself, be horrible".

We then get a post credits scene where some random guy walks over to Gray on the beach saying that he needs to take a selfie in the spot Gray's sitting at. However, Gray refuses to move. And the screen cuts to black and we hear a gunshot and a body hit the sand. This ending is up to interpretation, Gray may have killed the guy, or committed suicide. It's unknown the true ending. The writer of Understatement, Vaopa Longdong stated that there will "never be an Understatement sequel, and the ending is fully up to the viewer's mind".