A quietly charming indie film based on Israeli writer Etgar Keret’s novella
Kneller’s Happy Campers,
''Wristcutters: A Love Story''
follows recent suicide Zia and his journey through a limbo set aside for those who kill themselves. This world is only slightly different from life,
except the color is muted, there are no flowers or stars, and no one can smile. After spending some time in this world, Zia meets Eugene, a Russian rock star, and Mikal, who claims she didn't kill herself and is trying to get back to the living world. The three of them set off into this depressing dimension in order to find Zia's ex-girlfriend, who has also killed herself, and the People In Charge, who have the power to send Mikal back.
Despite what you think, it's definitely not an emo film.
This film contains examples of:- Ate His Gun: The cop.
- Black Comedy: Very much so.
- Celestial Bureaucracy: The PIC.
- Chekhovs Fun:
- "If a girl says she'll just be five minutes, she's not coming back". Later, Mikal says she'll be just five minutes to Zia when she goes off with the PIC, but then everything gets sorted out and she leaves without having said goodbye to Zia
- The black hole under the seats of Eugene's car.
- Comic Book Adaptation: Pizzeria Kamikaze, itself based on "Kneller's Happy Campers."
- Council of Angels: The PIC also have shades of this.
- Crapsack World: Crosses over with Mundane Afterlife and Scenery Gorn, as the cinematography shows how drab and lifeless this limbo is.
- Dead To Begin With
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The protagonists get mixed up with a cult, whose leader claims that they must kill themselves again in order to reach the afterlife.
- Dream Apocalypse: After his trip down the Rabbit Hole, Zia wakes up in a hospital bed sometime after he offed himself, the adventure in limbo seemingly a figment of his imagination. Subverted when he notices Mikal on the bed next to him, and they both smile at each other.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Something of a Deus ex Machina since Zia, who deliberately killed himself, gets returned to life via Kneller's status as a PIC.
- Electrified Bathtub: While not exactly this, Eugene pouring his beer onto his guitar runs on the same principle.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The PIC stands for People In Charge.
- Gainax Ending
- Goodbye Cruel World: The Juliet in the bar.
- Instrument of Murder: Eugene electrocutes himself with an electric guitar and a bottle of beer.
- Interrupted Suicide: The soccer meltdown.
- Percussive Prevention: How Eugene handles his little brother's post-soccer meltdown.
- Powers That Be: Again, the PIC.
- Race Lift: From Israeli to generically American. Especially noticeable with the Arab taxi driver.
- Road Movie
- Running Gag: Zia keeps dropping things under his seat in Eugene's car.
- Shout Out: Eugene is based on Eugene Hütz, the lead singer of Gogol Bordello. Indeed, the music that Eugene's band "recorded" is actually Gogol Bordello.
- Shrug Take: Zia seems to take the whole idea of a black hole in his friend's car pretty well.
- Spurned Into Suicide
- Starts With A Suicide: Well, duh.
- Suicide Attack: Eugene thinks this is how the Arab taxi driver got there.
- Swirly Energy Thingy: One exists as a pocket black hole under the seats of Eugene's car.
- Tag Team Suicide:
- Tom Waits: As Kneller.
- Unnaturally Blue Lighting
- Urban Fantasy: It takes place in an afterlife that's the Crapsack World version of ours, but small miracles do happen, line fish changing colour and a match floating up the sky and becoming a star. You just have to not care about it...
Ooohoohooh/Through the roof/ Underground
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