deadend.com (2003)

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deadend.com (2003)

So in wake of Wristcutters: A Love Story, I bring to you a Canadian independent film I doubt ANY of you have ever heard of, let alone seen. You can download the movie at the link above, and I welcome any of your thoughts or opinions about it.

Here is a film that tries desperately to address the issue of teen suicide without being heavy handed in preachy detail. You have three teens that for a variety of reasons never fully explained or understood, set out on a road trip across Canada so that they can end their lives on the beautiful coasts of British Columbia.

Now I won't get into my views on suicide again (see the Wristcutter's review for that) but I definitely support any and all attempts to reach out to troubled kids who may entertain suicide as an option, and give them the help they need. And that is what I believe is at the core of this film. A tale that resonates with most troubled youth in a variety of ways. Does it entirely succeed? I don't know. There's a lot going on here. It seems like it wants to be a road trip movie, but it doesn't have a destination in mind (figuratively speaking). The trio of teens stop at a variety of places, and experience a variety of situations (both good and bad) and it gets progressively more bleak as it reaches BC. We are expected to believe that the progression of the tale takes 11 days, in which we see an escalation towards hardcore drug use, violence, crime and worse. I suppose it's all in an effort to go out with a bang, but are we really convinced these kids have it in them to do it when the time comes?

At the heart though, the film is good at convincing us that these kids are inherently good kids, that have simply gone awry. They aren't beyond hope and yet their self-destructive ways literally take them as far away from the potential for help as they could be, and the self-reliance of the teens is all that we are left with when we get to the proverbial zero hour.

The film gets points from not shying away from dark material, being very blunt and graphic in some depictions of the shadier side of life, however the situations at times are borderline ridiculous. The style of film is documentary-like with handheld footage like a camera crew follows the trio around, but without addressing it, it becomes a jarring device that removes the viewer from the seriousness of the material. Why is there an invisible film crew following this trio around who are never addressed, and why do the characters seemingly act like the camera is there, while other times we are to believe it is meant to not be there? Even in the beginning one of the characters explains a handheld camera that he stole from school, but then we simultaneously see the scene from another handheld camera perspective like someone else is taping the teen with the tape.

So when really critical moments occur, it removes us from the seriousness of the situation which is ultimately a detriment because it feels staged when we need it to feel live and dangerous.

That being said, the film doesn't glorify suicide and though the story is muddled, it gets a message across. It is an ambitious effort with obviously a lot of heart behind it.

The good: The initiative to try and tell a story about something no one really wants to address.

The bad: The indie film aspect doesn't always work for the story. As well the story gets muddled, not always certain of what it wants to do.

Final Thoughts: An ambitious movie, perhaps too ambitious but decent enough to not be written off as some pretentious independent film.

Add to the vault? Not mine. It is a specific audience for the film and I am not the target audience obviously. But if the film or the efforts behind the film can aid youth in trouble then by all means.

As an added thing, because it is pertinent in the media today, I want to add the following video.