Ten Dollar Ticket: Wristcutters: A Love Story

by James Tynion

Thursday November 29, 2007

Wristcutters: A Love Story is truly bizarre in a wonderful sort of way. The concept that shapes the film is that when any person commits suicide he or she wakes up in a world that is almost like the one they left behind, only everything is a little bit worse.
Nobody can smile in this purgatory, there are no stars in the sky, and all the landscapes are barren and dying, if not entirely lifeless. It’s a depressing place, and is mentioned offhand as punishment repeatedly throughout the course of the movie. What the film goes to show is that even in such an awful place, a person can find peace with himself, and (as the title suggests) even find a little love.

Our leading man, Zia, portrayed by Patrick Fugit, committed suicide after a break-up with his girlfriend and lingers in the big, purgatory city for a few months before finding out that she had killed herself only a short while after he did. He persuades his friend, the eccentric Russian immigrant Eugene, played by Shea Whigham, to go with him on a road trip out of the city to try to find the girl he loves. When he resists, Zia reminds him that in this world, is there honestly anything better to do?

Eugene owns the car they ride in across the plains of the afterlife, and the car is somewhat a character in and of itself, with a literal black hole under the passenger’s seat that eats anything dropped, whether it’s a pair of sunglasses or a bouquet of dead spray-painted flowers. Along the way the two pick up a girl, Mikal, who believes she wound up in this world by mistake, and help her on her quest to find the P.I.C. (People in Charge).

Surprisingly enough, Tom Waits also makes an appearance as an odd man who runs a camp for lost souls out on the open road. I always enjoy seeing Waits in these sorts of roles, because you can just imagine running into the man in the middle of nowhere, ready to set your life back on track, even if it is not the way you were expecting.

The main cast is small, but they get the job done. They make the film unsettling, heart-warming, and oftentimes hilarious.
The ending is beautiful, and I won’t explain it here, because I think people need to see it for themselves. You might think it is a little bit clichéd, but it was probably the most fitting way they could have ended this film. It’s certainly not a movie for everybody, certainly not for people who aren’t willing to suspend their disbelief for ninety-one minutes, but for those of you who enjoy seeking off-beat comedies about suicide, I suggest you hop a train to the city and check it out.