Day 63 -- Wristcutters: A Love Story

Released: November 2nd, 2007
  
Starring: Patrick Fugit, Shannyn Sossamon, Shea Whigham, Tom Waits, Leslie Bibb, Will Arnett
 
Writer/Director: Goran Dukic

Description: A film set in a strange afterlife way station that has been reserved for people who have committed suicide.

[Review may contain spoilers. Please watch movie before reading, unless you don't care. Most of these films have already been released for a while, so they should be readily available.]

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One aspect of this project that I hadn't considered going in was that some films tend to expire off of Netflix Instant without much warning. This was the main catalyst for the first last two reviews this week. While, I could have done without seeing "Summer's Moon", I'm glad I caught this movie before it went off into the ether.

"Wristcutters: A Love Story" is a quirky, interesting comedy that makes the audience think. Goran Dukic does a great job of creating this alternate universe where suicide victims go when they die. Every little nuisance about the world is perfect, from the no smiling to the lack of stars in the sky, each choice he made in tone was terrific. Even the dull grey tones in most of the locations helped the audience to get a grasp of the setting.

The interesting thing in this movie is that they don't show any signs of a" woe is me" attitude from the inhabitants. They are mostly pissed off that they are stuck there but they know it's because of their own doing. This is why Mikal (Sossamon) is an outlier; she doesn't believe she belongs there. As the story progresses, we eventually find out why: She OD'd, which technically isn't suicide.

Zia (Fugit) -- Ok, slight tangent here, I know writers hate to use generic names, but why do we have to go to the extreme sometimes. Honestly, how many Zia's do you know? At least make it a name that I've heard before. -- Zia has settled into his mundane life in this purgatory with his Russian friend, Eugene (Whigham). That is until a chance encounter with Jake Busey (I know that's not the character's name, but I imagine it was really Jake Busey), and finds out his ex-girlfriend, Desiree (Bibb), killed her self, too. Thus, begins the road trip portion of the movie which culminates with a great performance by Will Arnett as Messiah.

Along the way Mikal and Zia fall in love, which wasn't really obvious to me until the final scenes. I don't know if I completely missed it or they were so subtle with it that it was genius. Maybe it was because their relationship felt right, and I wasn't forced to accept it. It was just one part of a good script that didn't need to oversell the concept because it made the world feel real. Even the ridiculous ending with the PIC (People in Charge) breaking up a camp was well integrated into the narrative.

Fugit and Whigman's chemistry was the most important aspect of the movie because half of it is pretty much a road movie. Zia and Eugene travel on the road and get into all kinds of high-jinks. Their timing and ability to show emotion with just a look needed to be spot on because two guys talking in a car non-stop for 40-minutes is boring to watch. The device of the black hole under the car's passenger seat was used just enough to avoid reaching beating a dead horse level. The credit for that has to belong to Fugit and Whigman as they kept each scene involving the hole new and refreshing.

"Wristcutters" is a movie I'd put in a category with "Idocracy", in the sense that it introduced this high-concept alternate word that was interesting and didn't feel rehashed. It was a film the engaged me and gave me some some hope that I may find some hidden gems during this project.

Rating: 7.5/10 -- Well written and well thought out concept. May cause me to search out the short story on which it was based. Good example of a well acted movie that didn't have any A-list actors, and I hope more people give it a chance.