Wristcutters: - A Love Story
(Avoid the Trailer - It'll Mess with the Movie)
"...I mean, she did say she'd be right back.
Then again, Eugene's old wisdom is when a girl says that, she never does actually come back..."
You'd think a dusty, bleak, baking-desert purgatory, where nobody can smile and all the inhabitants have committed suicide isn't exactly the most obvious setting for an uplifting roadtrip movie. Some crackpot freaks might think it's perfect, but I'd say most people aren't too thrilled at the prospect of gawking at a trio of depressed outcasts roaming semi-hell for an hour or so.
Most people however, would be mistaken.
Unearthing and watching Wristcutters, a good 5 years after it's release was just an indescribably cool find. Immediately you're caught up in this curious barren retrograde scene, where entropy's taken it's toll and almost everything's broken or stuck together with gaffa. Strangely, this downbeat world has shitloads of charm and this weird kind of supernatural 'mystique glaze' which intrigues throughout.
Eugene, Zia and Mikal are the main characters, played by Shea Whigham, Patrick Fugit and Shannyn Sossamon. All three are wayward and lost for some reason or another, but end up thrown together on a disorganised, bumbling quest to track down Desiree, Zia's recently offed-herself ex. Tom Waits makes an excellent and typically croaky appearance as the mysterious Kneller, a commune leader with a few secrets under his belt...
Mixing up downtempo storytelling and borderline insanity is a tricky move to pull off, but Wristcutters works it out gloriously. Any film which brews together the following ingredients: -
Romance +
Blackholes +
Suicidal Families +
Inuit Throatsingers +
Minor Miracles +
Spraypainted Flowers +
Inventive storytelling and genuinely touching scenes is hitting all the right notes for me.
ANYONE WHO READS THIS IS UNDER ORDERS TO WATCH AND ENJOY THE FILM
GET IT HERE £4