The age of excessive high-tech is a good time to be filthy rich, especially if you happen to be an entitled scoundrel whose level of wealth-fueled egomania makes Scrooge look like a benevolent fuddy-duddy. In "Self/Less," Ben Kingsley as New York real estate mogul Damian is that scoundrel, and he pushes all the buttons that you would expect a mean SOB sitting on a mountain of cash to push.
No one loves Damian. Damian loves no one. His only family is an estranged daughter (Michelle Dockery) who wants nothing to do with him. He spends time relaxing (sort of, because Damian has too much cash to feel really comfortable) in an extraordinary glittering gold penthouse apartment — alone. One of the salient features of "Self/Less" is that Damian's home actually belongs to Donald Trump (it's in the credits) who apparently gave his OK for it to be used in a movie about an arrogant, self-obsessed guy who made his bajillions from NY real estate. Talk about a sense of self-irony. Trump must have the hide of a bullet-proof rhino or is completely delusional.
Being rich does not, however, mean being immortal and Damian learns he not only has cancer, but also has just a few months to live. Bummer. But wait — money can fix that. Damian contacts cool scientist Albright (Matthew Goode), who informs him that for an exorbitant fee — one that could probably feed the world's poor for the next century — Damian's mind can exit his sinking ship and inhabit a new "empty vessel." That "vessel" turns out to be a young guy's healthy body. Albright calls the process "shedding," and it was invented, Damian is told, by the older, brilliant scientist Dr. Jensen (Thomas Francis Murphy), who inexplicably disappeared a while ago.
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