The Spectator

Edinboro University of Pennsylvania newspaper

November 10, 2006 issue

Writer: Cornell Green

“Wristcutters: A Love Story” opens as the movie’s main character, Zia (Patrick Fugit) had finally reached a point in life at which he decided that it would be better to just end it all, than to keep on living. So, he cleaned his house, positioned himself above his bathroom sink and bade the world farewell with a few quick strokes of a razorblade. As he writhed on the floor during his last few moments of life, his dying breaths latched on to one last dust bunny that he’d missed while cleaning. That small nuance served as foreshadowing for the rest of the film—Just seconds after, he was already realizing that suicide didn’t make things any easier.

After suicide, Zia finds himself in a strange parallel world just for suicide victims.  The darkly humorous tone of the film is summed up in Zia’s line: "After I killed myself, I got this job at Kamikaze Pizza." Zia finds that, after suicide, not only does his existence get a little worse, (rules in the afterworld include no smiling and there are no sunny days) but a little weirder as well. In the strange parallel after world, not only do objects randomly float and change color, but everyone walks around still bearing all their suicide wounds. The stories behind each character and their suicide run a varied gamut of the random and strange. Zia eventually befriends two traveling companions who are with him throughout the film. Eugene,(Shea Whigham) an awkward, but kind-hearted Russian rockstar and Mikal, played by sultry Shannyn Sossaman, a hip, independent firecracker of a woman, who ends up ultimately having a sweet-spot for Zia.

“Wristcutters,” though it drags at times, contains many distinctly special and compelling elements that set it miles apart from what comprises most of the hum-drum norm of contemporary American film. The idea is original and fresh, the cinematography is beautiful and expressive and the script is right in sync with all of its broader elements.

It’s humorous, tragic and dramatic and at its heart is a love story that carries with it, great moral truth. I never got the feeling that this was an artificial, market driven, cookie-cutter film simply shot off an assembly-line like much of the trash we see today. It had a sense of sincerity that I haven’t seen in a film in a long time. It has all the makings of a cult classic. 

Wristcutters is Croatian-born director Goran Dukic’s directorial debut. It’s an adaptation of Israeli writer Etgar Keret's 1998 short story "Kneller's Happy Campers." Its EUP screening on Nov. 1 was a raging success, with nearly 600 in attendance. John Lyons, the event coordinator said that he hates it when people refer to EUP as “Edinboring.”

“It’s our mission to change that and bring premiers and up-and-coming directors and stars.”

Esti Piels, president of the EUP Student Art League, which also helped to bring “Wristcutters” to EUP, said:

“This movie was phenomenal. I love this movie. It’s nice to bring something bigger to a small place like this, to share this. Ultimately this was a rich experience.”

Dukic said that “Wristcutters” may be in theatres as early as 2007.