Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Wristcutters: A Love Story

On its surface this movie, starring Patrick Fugit and Shannyn Sossamon, sounds incredibly depressing and in many respects, it is. We are introduced to a world in which every inhabitant has committed suicide. It is a world much like our own "but slightly worse." Our hero, Zia (Fugit) has offed himself but wishes he hadn't as he is still in love with his ex Desiree. When he learns that she too has offed herself (the preferred phrase to describe the action as opposed to the more horrific term "suicide"), he goes on a road trip to find her, convinced she did this because she loves him.

With him is Mikal (Sossamon) a beautiful girl who claims this was a mistake, that she accidentally OD'ed. She hitches a ride with Zia and Gene (a very funny Shea Wigham) to find the men in white who are the PIC (People in Charge). Along the way they run into Tom Waits and his miracle crew who are a very wacky bunch and may not be who they claim. And yes, it is a love story, and not wholly unexpected.
The director, Goran Dukic, adapted the script from a short story by Etger Keret and apparently gave the film a happy ending that the original did not have. He also added a few supernatural touches that do give the movie some humor. On the whole, the film was good but slow-moving - although the running time was less than 90 minutes, it felt much longer. Not sure who I could recommend this to - it's not graphic or anything but knowing how the characters came to this place does make one shudder.

Maybe 1 out of 3 Vees would dig this.