The film’s logline is deceptively simple: "A down-on-his-luck salesman finds a mysterious briefcase containing seven 'opportunities' to reverse his fortune—but each success comes with a curse that erases a memory he holds dear." The protagonist, Arthur (played brilliantly by character actor Leo Hammond), is a traveling office supply salesman who has just been evicted. After a night of drinking, he discovers a glowing briefcase on a railway overpass. Inside is an ornate typewriter and a stack of yellowed paper.
Directed by the relatively obscure filmmaker Marcus T. Rendell (who later worked only in television commercials), Cursed Opportunities was shot in 11 days in a single, dilapidated warehouse in downtown Detroit. The budget was reportedly $7,000, raised via a now-defunct crowdfunding platform called IndieGoGo's early beta. cursed opportunities 2009 short film
The film holds a surprising 89% "Fresh" rating on Letterboxd among users who have logged it (though only 3,200 total logs exist). Though obscure, the film’s DNA appears in later works. The 2014 Black Mirror episode "Fifteen Million Merits" shares its theme of trading identity for currency. The 2016 indie film The Erasing directly lifted the "memory deletion as cost" mechanic. A24’s The Monster Inside (2019) references the briefcase in a background shot as an Easter egg. Directed by the relatively obscure filmmaker Marcus T