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Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself (2004)
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Reviews Counted:76
Fresh:66
Rotten:10
Average Rating:7.1/10
Consensus: Despite its morbid subject matter, Wilbur is a charming and often funny film.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for language and some disturbing images
Runtime: 1 hr 51 mins
Genre: Comedies
Theatrical Release:Mar 12, 2004 Limited
Synopsis: The chronically suicidal Wilbur (JAMIE SIVES 'Glasgow Kiss') and his good-hearted big brother Harbour (ADRIAN RAWLINS - Breaking The Waves) are in their thirties, when their father dies, leaving... The chronically suicidal Wilbur (JAMIE SIVES 'Glasgow Kiss') and his good-hearted big brother Harbour (ADRIAN RAWLINS - Breaking The Waves) are in their thirties, when their father dies, leaving them with nothing but a worn down second-hand bookshop in Glasgow. Wilbur survives yet another suicide attempt and goes to hospital, where he meets Horst (MADS MIKKELSEN - Open Hearts), a cynical psychologist and his empathic head nurse, Moira (JULIA DAVIS 'Big Train'). Like Harbour, they believe that Wilbur needs a girlfriend. But even though women fall for Wilbur all the time, they can't get close to him. In fact, it is Harbour who falls in love when a shy and intense woman, Alice (SHIRLEY HENDERSON - 24 Hour Party People, Bridget Jones's Diary), enters the lives of the brothers. Alice lives a life in isolation with her little daughter, Mary. She supplements her job as a cleaning lady at the hospital's surgical ward, selling books that the patients have left behind. Little by little, Wilbur, Harbour and Alice become inseparable. Wilbur starts regaining his lust for life, Alice starts to come out of her shell, and Mary starts reading the thousands of books in the second-hand bookshop. Harbour has never been happier, but he carries a deep secret, that threatens to surface. -- Icon Film Distribution Pty Ltd [More]
Starring: Jamie Sives, Adrian Rawlins, Shirley Henderson, Julia Davis
Starring: Jamie Sives, Adrian Rawlins, Shirley Henderson, Julia Davis, Mads Mikkelsen, Susan Vidler, Lisa McKinlay
Director: Lone Scherfig
Director: Lone Scherfig
Screenwriter: Anders Thomas Jensen, Lone Scherfig
Producer: Sisse Graum Olsen
Studio: ThinkFilm
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Reviews for Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself
The new film by the Danish director Lone Scherfig, which begins with a suicide attempt and ends in a graveyard, makes you glad to be alive.
Ms. Scherfig and Mr. Jenson have fashioned one of the most exquisitely life-affirming and love-affirming cinematic experiences of the year.
Even the most minor character is endowed with the dignity of a back story that respects their influence on the lives of Wilbur, Harbour and Alice.
This vivid examination of brotherly love and its consequences never stints on the complexities of the heart or the fascinating ambiguities of life.
Wilbur has the ability to suck you in, to make you cheer on the strangest of indulgent families.
Henderson saves the weird, adorable project with one of her patented portrayals of a passive loser who learns to assert herself in a unique, subversive way.
More plainly dreary than morosely captivating... a movie that seems rather irresolute about exactly what sort of feelings its hypothetically meant to be conjuring up.
Lone Scherfig has masterfully combined rather dark, serious topics with a little humor and a lot of humanity.
Latest News for Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself
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