Wristcutters: A Love Story (2007)
Runtime: 1 hr 31 mins
Theatrical Release: Oct 19, 2007 Limited
Box Office: $231,512
Synopsis: If a film begins with a suicide, chances are, it won't be the feel-good movie of the year. But WRISTCUTTERS: A LOVE STORY is surprisingly sweet and funny even as it proudly features a dark streak that lives up to its title. After a rough breakup, Zia (Patrick Fugit) decides to off himself by... If a film begins with a suicide, chances are, it won't be the feel-good movie of the year. But WRISTCUTTERS: A LOVE STORY is surprisingly sweet and funny even as it proudly features a dark streak that lives up to its title. After a rough breakup, Zia (Patrick Fugit) decides to off himself by slashing open his wrists. Instead of waking up in heaven or hell, Zia arrives in a bland world that looks a lot like the one he just left, though with far less color, life, and--obviously--happiness. In this afterlife reserved for suicides, no one can smile, and the sky is a starless void. But when Zia hears that his ex-girlfriend (Leslie Bibb) has killed herself and lives in his world, he sets out on a road trip to find her. Joined by Russian musician Eugene (Shea Whigham) and pretty hitchhiker Mikal (Shannyn Sossamon), Zia crosses the desolate landscape and encounters a variety of strange characters. With the help of Mikal, Zia realizes that maybe his ex-girlfriend isn't really what he's looking for. Most films don't stray from prescribed genres or simple plots, but this dark comedy from director Goran Dukic is audacious in its originality. Dukic adapted Etgar Keret's short story "Kneller's Happy Campers" into a film that succeeds on every level. His cast, particularly Fugit and a brilliant Tom Waits in a supporting role, is worthy of the excellent material and blackly comic dialogue. Though it could be described as a romantic comedy, this film is far closer to ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND than SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE. WRISTCUTTERS's soundtrack is also something to sing about with several infectious tracks from Gogol Bordello and a pitch-perfect score from Bobby Johnston. [More]
Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy
Starring: Patrick Fugit, Shea Whigham, Shannyn Sossamon, Tom Waits, Will Arnett
Screenwriter: Goran Dukic
Producer: Adam Sherman, Tatiana Kelly, Mikal P. Lazarev, Chris Coen
Composer: Bobby Johnston
DVD Info
Release:
Mar 25, 2008
DVD Features:
- Keep Case
- Widescreen
Audio:
- Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
Additional Release Material:
- Audio Commentary - Goran Dukic, Director
- Deleted Scenes
- Featurette - Making WRISTCUTTERS
- Storyboard Comparisons
Buy It On DVD
Reviews
It's certainly melancholic, occasionally funny, and ultimately life-affirming. But overall, it feels as if writer-director Goran Dukic dropped a rather promising ball.
It is a staggeringly awful road movie, not much enlivened by the presence of Tom Waits as a wizened participant.
The purgatorial premise is pleasingly eccentric but, in the end, Wristcutters falls victim to its washed-out mood, and limps bloodlessly to a close.
A dreary, self-consciously quirky indie flick that seems to go on forever, despite an economical running time.
Veering from witty to occasionally trite, Wristcutters: A Love Story has plenty of originality on its side, but never manages to be more than the sum of its self-consciously quirky parts.
A little self-consciously kooky but with an ace soundtrack that combines gypsy punksters Gogol Bordello with real-life plug-pullers this sure beats putting your head in the oven.
Dark subject matter, but Goran Dukic's film is whimsical and determinedly optimistic about life.
For the better part of the journey this a bizarrely uplifting yarn - razor sharp, you might say.
Opportunities to comment on the ethical grey areas of suicide are mostly squandered and, as the pointless digressions begin to pile up, your mind begins to drift from the action on screen.
Enjoyably quirky black comedy that's clearly destined to become a cult movie amongst the Gothic contingent.
Despite being occasionally hilarious, director Goran Dukic should have toned down the wackiness.
it is, like the limbo it portrays, a peculiar hybrid of recognisable, second-hand elements that somehow add up to something entirely sui generis - an idiosyncratic piece of magical realism whose characters are literally on the road to nowhere.
If you’re going to make a comedy about suicide, you’d better make sure the jokes land. There are people out there who could use a laugh.
Writer-director Goran Dukic, adapting an Etgar Keret novel, may be too successful in establishing suicideland as a fate worse than death. It really is an empty, dreadful place.
This director plies a sweetly humanistic art in potentially ghoulish circumstances. He achieves a minimalism that's equally touching and rib-tickling.
There are problems here, but they're of the good-natured variety -- the flaws of a smart film that aims high.
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