The Best Film that You've Never Heard Of

As soon as you know that I’m a Film Person, capital letters and all, I feel as though my favourite films never come as any particular surprise.

In fact, you could go so far as to say they’re boring.

Downright predictable.

As cliché as you can get.

The Social Network, Inception, hell, even Juno, they’re all known for being critically and commercially well received. They all did well in the box office. If you talk about one now, people have generally seen it. None are exactly darlings of the indie scene. Fuck, to claim as such would be like saying that Pulp Fiction is Tarantino’s lesser known work.

I like eighties movies (could you tell by the title of my blog?) I've seen so many of them: Back to the Future and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off are particular stand outs for me, but I love others, too. I like Guillemero Del Toro’s Pacific Rim. I like Alfonso Cuaron’s version of the Harry Potter universe (Prisoner of Azkaban to this day is still one of the only Harry Potter films I'll rewatch willingly.)

Again, you’re reading all of this and you’re thinking: So?! So what! We get it, Seren. You like movies. We. Get. It!

But I don’t think you really get it yet, so I’m going to give you some more examples of how much of a Basic Film Bitch I really am.

I’ve seen every Studio Ghibli film - but that was only impressive back in 2010, when sourcing The Cat Returns in anything but it’s original Japanese was near impossible. Now, they’re all on Netflix, English dubbing and all. Your mum has seen every Studio Ghibli film. (Ponyo is her favourite.)

Even some of the more obscure films I’ve seen (and enjoyed) - Richard Ayoade’s The Double and Submarine, Stephen Bereford’s 2014 Pride - all have their place in the British film landscape. Sure, they’re not MARVEL blockbusters, but it doesn’t really take much digging to find someone who’s seen at least one, if not all of them.

The point of all this is to show that I'm not special, I'm not unique. I rarely go to foreign language films and I'm terrible at getting to film festivals on time.

So, with all that in mind: Who am I to claim that there’s a brilliant film out there that you’ve never seen. A brilliant film that you’ve probably not even heard of? Who am I?

Who am I, someone who’s favourite director is as predictable and as expected as David-fucking-Fincher, to tell you that one of my favourite movies is a Sundance release, filmed in 2006 with the ridiculously low budget of only one million dollars?

Well, I hope you’re sitting comfortably, because I’m about to tell you the story of the best film I ever took a risk on.

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In 2014, I got deep into the realms of online film theorists. Scrolling through forums, I started to realise that my taste in films was woefully undeveloped, and so I subsequently started trying to source films that would make me sound pretentious and well informed in conversations. It was no longer enough for me to talk about the way Fincher used clean lines and a lack of handheld cameras, no longer enough for me to discuss the way that Tarantino utilises dialogue.

Essentially, it was no longer enough to be obnoxious about movies that people had seen anymore. Instead, I wanted to be so obnoxious I was telling you facts about films you hadn't even heard of.

This led me down into the deep depths of film tumblr; a small subsection of blogs run by people who cut their own fringes and exclusively smoke skinny cigarettes. The sort of people who do stick'n'poke tattoos on weekends.

The sort of people who have spent their lives entirely dedicated to film.

These are the people who keep independent cinemas in business. These are the people who’ve watched the subtitled version of a film before it’s even gained prestige. These are the people who’ve seen every film currently out in the cinema, and when you ask them how they blow a smoke ring in your face and ask how the fuck you HAVEN’T.

Film tumblr is, I believe, the origin of those lists that span thousands of films long and are always titled: FILMS YOU NEED TO WATCH BEFORE YOU DIE; or FILMS THAT YOU NEED TO HAVE SEEN TO TALK ABOUT FILM; or IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THESE FILMS THEN SUCK MY DICK, BABY BOY, BECAUSE YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT!

(Okay, so maybe the last one is a bit of a reach, but you get the gist.)

And in all of these lists of films? Well, one bad boy kept cropping up.

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I should state, just for the record: at this point in my life I was obnoxious about films. I liked gore. I liked a bit of psychological trauma. I was the sort of person who watched Requiem for a Dream and claimed that I could sit through it again. (For the record: I could not sit through it again, and do not want to.)

So, at this point in my life seeing a film called “WRISTCUTTERS: A LOVE STORY” didn’t feel like a warning.

It felt like a sign.

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The premise of Wristcutters is, at its core, simple: if you die by suicide, you go to a specific purgatory, filled with every other person who has also died by suicide.

Now, I can see it in your eyes, here. I’m already losing you.

“It’s called Wristcutters?” You’re saying, “It’s about a purgatory filled with nothing but people who died of suicide?” You’re saying, “Are you fucked in your tiny little mind? Are you stupid? Why would I watch something like that!”

To which I say: No, it’s not just called Wristcutters. It’s called Wristcutters: A Love Story.

Because it is. Wristcutters: A Love Story is actually a love story. It’s a life story. It’s actually a road trip movie.

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I will now, for the purposes of making my rambling more worthwhile, briefly summarise the plot of Wristcutters, trying to keep the spoilers to a minimum (but still spoiling it a bit, because this is the internet, and what the hell did you expect?!):

Wristcutters follows the story of Zia, a man who dies by suicide and finds himself somewhere that resembles our current world, except it's just that bit slightly worse. In this purgatory, people are unable to smile, there are no stars, colours are washed out and pale in comparison to the Living World. In this purgatory, miracles can happen, but only if you don't want them to.

Here, in this strange space, Zia is informed that his ex-girlfriend also recently died by suicide. Knowing this, he realises that she must be somewhere in this afterlife - so he embarks on a road trip with his friend Eugene to try and find her.

On their travels, they meet a woman called Mikal. Someone who insists that she's in this realm by mistake: Mikal did not actually intend to die by suicide.

And -

This is where I'll stop my explanations so that I don't spoil everything. I just want to reinforce once more: this film is a road trip movie, a love story, and it is really, really good.

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I do not normally take much stock in negative reviews of things I enjoy, because I am used to enjoying bad things (I love the first five series of the American television show Supernatural; I desperately enjoy One Direction; etc, etc.)

Despite this, I was curious to see what people were saying about Wristcutters.

Because, you see, Wristcutters: A Love Story is an interesting phenomenon. Despite everything that the film has going against it: it's name; it's low budget; it's relative obscurity, the fact remains that I found it on not one, not two, but multiple film lists. Essentially, this film has gained a cult following. There are people - myself included - who will stand on their rooftops and yell, "Wristcutters: a Love Story is good, actually," and the rest of the world will hear them and ignore it, because it's a film that deals frankly with suicide, and depression, and for God's sake -

It's called Wristcutters.

I mean, one of the negative reviews that I found said, simply: it’s just jokes about suicide.

Which, look. I have never once denied that Wristcutters makes jokes about suicide within its story. In fact, methods of death are shown on screen in horrible detail. This is a black comedy, and it's not a comedy that is shy about its premise: people are in this afterlife, because they chose to die at their own hands.

But, to the person who dismissed because of that premise, I say: I know so many people who have tried to take their own life. I say: I know people who have succeeded in taking their own life.

I say: I know people that wake up every day and battle with the idea that they should keep on living. I say: I have sat in a hospital overnight, chewing on my nails at four in the morning, waiting to find out whether or not my friend is still alive.

Do you know what I did, sat in that waiting room?

I made jokes.

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Humanity is messy. People are loud and obnoxious, and sometimes people play music on the bus without headphones. Sometimes people put potatoes in mayonnaise and call it a salad. Sometimes people fight, and sometimes people kill.

Sometimes people kill themselves.

But you know what else? People have been painting pictures on walls since we could move our hands. We've been singing and dancing for just as long. People have art, and culture, and laughter. We're pack animals, we live in groups of families, of friends. We share jokes and food and we wanted to stay connected so badly we invented the internet so that someone on the other side of the world can appear on a screen in front of us.

People will look at one of the worst things in existence, one of the saddest moments in our history, and we will turn it into something beautiful.

Humans are messy. They’re loud and obnoxious and they listen to music out loud on the bus sometimes. They put potatoes in mayonnaise and call it ‘salad’. Humans are messy. They’ve created atom bombs and guns and trains and -

Humans have been painting pictures since we could stand on two feet. We have art, and music, and culture. Humans are pack animals. We live in families, in groups of friends. We have shared jokes and shared laughs and we wanted to stay connected so badly we created a way of talking to someone even on the other side of the world.

Humans will look at the worst thing in existence, and turn it into something beautiful.

Throughout the film, there is a song that continues to play. It's Gogol Bordello's Through the Roof n' Underground. It's a song that's all about finding an alternative path, all about taking an unusual route.

This is because finding an alternative path is, at its core, what Wristcutters: a Love Story is all about. It's a small look at humanity, a glance at our base urges: connections; laughter; jokes in the face of chaos.

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I thought that it was appropriate to explore this film right now, because currently we're in the midst of a life changing situation. Right now, there's a global pandemic going on. Right now, people are dying in the hundreds every day. Right now, healthcare workers are standing at the front lines in an attempt to battle this whole thing out. Shop workers; cleaners; the working class. Right now, we're proving who is really essential to keeping a country going.

Yet, despite all the tragedy, if you go online right now you'll be faced with a hundred jokes online about how people are feeling. About how the world is going to keep on going in the face of everything that's happened.

You see, finding an alternative path isn't just what Wristcutters is about.

Finding an alternative path is what humanity is all about.

It’s all about how even in the shit bits, even in the worst bits, even when you’re terrified, when it feels like there’s no point in going on. Even when the colour is washed out, when it looks like there are no stars in the sky. Even when you can’t even smile -

Maybe, just maybe.

There will still be a love story.