Having been left by his girlfriend, Desiree, Zia slits his wrists, only to wake up dead in a world much like this one, except it is populated exclusively by suicides and everything is that little bit worse. Resolving to make the best of it, he gets a job, a place to stay and generally tries to adjust…
Some time later, he meets an old acquintance, Brian, who informs him that Desiree is here as well – apparently she killed herself after realising the depth of her true feelings for him. Overjoyed by the news, Zia enlists the help of Eugene, a Russian emigrant whose father, mother and brother all also committed suicide, and whose broken-down car contains a kind of black hole in its floor into which things have a habit of disappearing to who knows where, and sets out to find her…
Soon after, they pick up Mikal, who swears that she didn't kill herself and is desperately trying to find the mysterious People in Control who can send her back to where she belongs…
Though suffering from a less effective final act in which the fantasy element becomes increasingly prominent against the initial vaguely Alphaville -style low-key, realist rendition of an afterlife, in the lead up to a somewhat predictable resolution that proves more A Matter of Life and Death type crowd-pleaser than Huis Clos (or Devil in Miss Jones ) downer, Wristcutters: A Love Story is a lot more fun than its subject matter might suggest, with strong performances, effective direction and an especially nice line in understated dark humour, like the bar that's playing Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart.
Not quite kill (yourself) for a ticket, but definitely worth a look…
Copyright © K H Brown 2002-2005
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