This Movie is Rated R – For Language and Disturbing Content Involving Suicide
As you can probably guess a movie with a name liked Wristcutters would have something to do with suicide. The screenplay is based on the short story “Kneller’s Happy Campers” from Etgar Keret’s book “The Bus Driver Who Wanted To Be God”.
Zia (Patrick Fugit) is depressed after breaking up with his girlfriend. So he decides that life is no longer worth living. However, he figures that his apartment needs to be spotless before he ends it all. He thoroughly cleans it, even going so far as to water all his plants. Then he goes into the bathroom and slits his wrists.
Now he finds himself in a new place. One where people that commit suicide end up. It’s a whole lot like his former life, but a bit worse. It’s a barren desert like place and everything is rundown. The people still have visible reminders of how they killed themselves (for example a guy that shot himself in the head has a big old whole in the top of it where the bullet came out). Oh, and one other thing, no one is capable of smiling.
Zia meets a guy in a bar, Eugene (Shea Shigham) and they become friends. Their method of killing time when they are not working is hanging out at the bar and drinking a whole lot of beer. As it turns out, all of Eugene’s family had committed suicide also (mother, father and little brother). So now they all live together in this very strange afterlife.
Zia continues to be depressed and contemplates trying suicide again. However, he’s afraid he will end up in a place even worse. Then he finds out his former girlfriend Desiree “offed” herself about a month after he did. He then decides what he really needs to do is go find her. It takes a bit of convincing, but Eugene is talked into going with him.
Along the road they come across a hitchhiker, Mikal (Shannyn Sossamon). She is searching for the “People in Charge” since she thinks she is there by mistake and wants to find a way home. They decide to give her a lift. As they travel along looking for Desiree and the “People in Charge” they meet some rather unusual people and find a camp run by a guy named Kneller (Tom Waits), where unusual things tend to occur.
I really enjoyed this movie. It’s a dark comedy with an interesting premise. The three main actors were great. It must have been tough to make their characters interesting and portray emotion without ever breaking a smile. You felt a real sense of friendship between Zia and Eugene. Shea’s Russian accent was amazing, you would never guess he is American.
A couple of my favorite scenes (without being too spoilery):
Under the passenger seat of Eugene’s car is basically the equivalent of a black hole. Anything you drop under there disappears forever. Zia keeps accidentally dropping Eugene’s sunglasses and guess where they go, yup under the seat. I love their bickering afterwards; it’s a funny scene.
When Eugene drives away from the pump at the gas station not realizing that Zia hadn’t taken the nozzle out of the gas tank. Which results in the nozzle and hose being ripped off the pump. Apparently that type of thing happens all the time, they even have a form you have to fill out. Giving personal info and also explaining what you were thinking about that caused you to forget to remove it. I guess bureaucracy exists everywhere.
Some of my favorite quotes:
Zia – “Soon after I killed myself, I found a job here at Kamikaze Pizza.”
Zia – “Who could think of a better punishment, really? Everything’s the same here. It’s just a little worse.”
Eugene – “Then why is he looking at me like that?”
Zia – “’Cause you’re staring at him like you need a f*cking taxicab.”
Eugene – “Afternoon Lady.”
Mikal – “Where you guys going?”
Zia – “East-ish.”
Mikal – “Who the hell likes being stuck in a place where you can’t even smile?”
Eugene – “Man, are you doing that intentionally to hurt me?”
Mikal – “Didn’t he already talk to his mom this morning?”
Zia – “Yeah, but, supposedly, that’s, uh, normal in Russia.”
Mikal – “I don’t think that’s normal anywhere.”
Zia – “Eugene, you know, I love you, man, but you can be an @sshole.”
Eugene – “What the f*ck was that? Oh, man. You didn’t take out the nozzle?”
Eugene – “No sh*t. What other color could someone named Desiree like but turquoise?”
Eugene – “In-f*cking-credible!”
Kneller – “I think I slept on my ear wrong. Do I look asymmetrical to you at all?”
Kneller – “You haven’t seen a dog? His name’s Freddy.”
Zia – “You looked for him while laying in the middle of the road?”
By the way, the character of Eugene is partly based on Eugene Hutz the singer for “Gogol Bordello”. In fact three of their songs can be heard during the movie. One of which is the song they are all singing along to in the car “Through the Roof n’ Underground”.
Three of the musicians on the movie soundtrack committed suicide; Ian Curtis (singer for Joy Division), Del Shannon and David Edward Sutch (aka Screaming Lord Sutch). A fourth died from a lethal combination of drugs and alcohol; Gram Parsons.
Jan
Following is additional information about the movie that contains spoilers. If you don’t want to be spoiled don’t read any further.
Mikal was right all along; she didn’t belong there. I liked how Kneller helped Zia out by stealing his file so he could go back home. The smile at the end was so appropriate. No words were needed; their smiles said it all.
