Sleeper Cell: Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006)

Ok, quick and to the point: I love this movie so much I want to buy it jewelry and ask it to move in. Yeah‚Ķ But I really didn‚Äôt have a choice from the very first thirty seconds. Patrick Fugit (the dude from Almost Famous) leans over and puts on a record. Tom Waits‚Äô “Dead and Lovely.” SOLD. Immediately.

Here’s what I mean.

Top 5 Songs Played in Their Entirety in a Movie:

5 – Name of the Game (Blade II)

4 – Swingin on a Star (Hudson Hawk)

3 – The Blue Danube Waltz (2001: A Space Odyssey)

2 – So Happy Together (Adaptation)

King Jareth

1 – Magic Dance (Labyrinth)

Wristcutters is written and directed by Goran Dukic (who didn‚Äôt catch on in the business) and based on a short story called “Kneller‚Äôs Happy Campers” by Etgar Keret‚Ķ which I haven‚Äôt read. And I‚Äôll be honest and say that I didn‚Äôt discover this movie because I‚Äôm plugged into the Austin indie movie scene. I don‚Äôt even know what that scene is. I was browsing through movies that I was supposed to love. Netflix recommended it to me because I like Futurama, The Machinist and The Virgin Suicides. Whatever ‚Äì it had a cool title, so I checked it out. And I gotta say, I see the Futuramaness about its happy go lucky romance, but The Machinist? What? And I‚Äôm guessing The Virgin Suicides because it‚Äôs about suicide. But it stops there. Not only that, but the trailers opening for this sweet, semi-innocent romanticomedy are as follows (don‚Äôt worry, I‚Äôll start actually talking about the movie in a minute):

* the rock and roll trailer for The Eye (which features no voice-over and is actually pretty awesome)

*a commercial for fearnet.com (the Ring ripoff with the girl who looks like she’s got a bar of soap *wedged in her mouth)

*the first Afterdark Films horrorfest event from 2007

*and Fido, the zombie comedy with Billy Connolly and Carrie-Anne Moss

The action opens on young Zia prepping himself to do the do with the amazing song you should be listening to right now playing in the background. Then he bleeds himself out in the bathroom sink and imagines his girlfriend getting on with her life. It’s an atypical starting point for a movie. So after Zia dies, he gets a job at Kamikaze Pizza as a cook and rooms with an incredibly large Austrian who sits when he pees. It’s kind of a rule of the house. It’s sweet, but they don’t get along too well. And I swear to god, Patrick Fugit has got to be the son of Harvey Keitel.

Fugit Keitel

The short explanation is that the afterlife (for suicides) is just like regular life, only everything sucks a little more. No smiling. No stars. That kind of thing. And the deterrence to committing suicide again is the risk that that place might suck even more. So Zia makes a friend, Eugene, a Russian guy who’s pretty cool, and is in the afterlife with his mother (who missed Russia), his gay brother (who had a generally teen-age malaise), and his father (who couldn’t live with a gay son). The plot centers around Zia and his recently suicided ex-girlfriend. Zia meets an old friend (Jake Busey) who tells Zia his girlfriend killed herself. So Zia, who’s missed her more and more ever since his death, enlists the help of his new friend to go on a road trip to find her and fall in love all over again.

Underappreciated actor of the week: Jake Busey
The Frighteners, Starship Troopers, Contact, Home Fries, Road House 2. All this guy does is steal scenes. The coolest acto to be a son of an actor since Lon Chaney, Jr., and he squeezes everything out of every second he gets in Wristcutters. We love you Jake.

Super Taranta!

But no romanticomedy is complete without the girl who gets in the way. Shannyn Sossamon (the cute girl from the Heath Ledger two-pack, A Knight’s Tale and The Order) is Mikal- who recently-deceased, is hitchhiking her way around the Elysian Plains looking for some people in charge, all the while defacing prohibitive signs. Zia and Eugene pick her up and become fast friends and bump into a few other incredible actors along the way, headlined by:

Tom Waits

Tom Waits as Kneller – a friendly, crackpot running a camp commune in the middle of nowhere.

and

Will Arnett

Will Arnett as King Messiah – a nutjob, crackpot claiming to be the savior of all suicides.

I’m gonna be honest – I don’t really have any idea where to take this review. I don’t have any grander topic of conversation I want to explore here – there’re no ideas on the business of movie-making or the duty of filmmakers in any larger sense. I’ve got nothing really except to say that I really love this movie, and I want to recommend it to you. There’s a real tone here that’s hard to find in movies. Dark comedies have a thin line to walk, and I’ve honestly haven’t found another that feels so tragic (but in an it’s-ok-really kind of way) and has the upbeatness you find in great romances (like Amelie or The Princess Bride).

Zia, Eugene and Mikal

Honestly,¬†I love this movie too much, and¬†just can’t seem to explain why but it’s ok.¬†I’ve found a solution. Next week: a movie I hate:

Sleeper Cell is a weekly column that will reflect movies that you perhaps missed or have always been meaning to watch but are too much of an asshole to place into your Netflix queue. ¬†This could be a movie from 50 years ago or a movie from last year. ¬†Bottom line, these are choice flicks and you missed out so Zack and our other writers are going to tell you what’s up.

Recent posts by Zack

• Zack says, "Go see The Avengers." - May 4th, 2012
• Zack's Take on: The Mite Peckish Games - April 12th, 2012
• Sleeper Cell is Late to the Party for: The Woman in Black - March 25th, 2012
• Review: Another Earth (2011) - August 14th, 2011
• Sleeper Cell: Haute Tension (2003) - June 23rd, 2011

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