Wristcutters (2006)

Wristcutters (2006)

Director: Goran Dukic
Writer: Goran Dukic and Etgar Keret
Genre: Comedy/Romance/Drama

Story

Zia (Patrick Fugit) and his girlfriend Desiree (Leslie Bibb) breakup and Zia decides to end it all by slitting his wrists. He ends up in a strange after life world designed for people who have killed themselves. As he learns to deal with the new misery he experiences in this world he learns that Desiree actually committed suicide as well and was looking for him. He and his new friend Eugene (Shea Whigham) set out to find Desiree in the vast world they are in. Along the way they find Mikal (Shannyn Sossamon) and she joins the group so she can hopefully find the “people in charge” because she feels she is there by mistake.


Everything Else

The directing of Wristcutters was solid in almost all respects. Although this movie was one which is not likely to have a wide audience, it was quite surprisingly good. The music is very fitting with most of the music made by bands that experienced suicide in one form or another at some point. This seems all to appropriate considering the world the story is set in is for people who have “offed” themselves.


The camera moves gracefully and the scenery is good, but there is not a lot to really stand out in those respects; it is just good clean camera work and location use. The real genius comes form the script and the directing of the character interactions. The dialogue is witty and made me laugh out loud a few times. The interactions between the characters is odd in a good way as they are not allowed to smile in the world they are in and everything is a little off. The flow of the humor with the romance and drama of the film works well.


The acting was great from Patrick Fugit especially. I liked him in Almost Famous and think he needs to start getting larger roles like this in more mainstream movies. Tom Waits makes an appearance as Kneller; he always does a good job and provides a little bit of humor himself. Shea Whigham holds his own as Eugene and makes for an interesting supporting role along with Shannyn Sossamon throughout most of the film. The acting was quirky, but fit the script and directing perfectly which is all you can really ask for.

The Real Deal

I did not expect Wristcutters to be any good to be honest, but I was pleasantly surprised. The story feels fresh and original and the dialogue stood out as being quite good. I also enjoyed the music how it was mixed in and the dry humor delivered flawlessly by the acting. There is enough language to get the R rating without the violence, but there was also some of that to go around. You have to see the comedy in it early on or the suicides may be a bit gruesome for you. Wristcutters was a refreshing comedy with enough romance and drama to make it more serious and yet keep enough humor to have me laughing throughout. This may be more of an artsy film than a mainstream one, but in my book that is a good thing.


The Short Version

Raw Score: 802,303
Sharon Movie? No

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