This Is Your Death

Maybe I've watched this on the wrong day. Or possibly the right day. I have the closing credits still on, it's that raw. Just 10 hours ago I contemplated suicide. Not for the first time, but I had reasons. Strong reasons.

I didn't go through with it because of my family. Because of my future. But I've come home low, and obviously didn't tell my wife how close I came. So watching this... quite accidentally, actually. I didn't twig what it was about and how ironic it was until I was some way in.

It's helped. Helped me see that as down as you can get, it's such a final solution. I've always thought I've not gone through with it because the way I'd prefer to do it with a gun. Being English, I can't just walk into a store and buy one. I don't even know how to get one illegally - I guess I'm one of the good guys.

So as someone suicidal, this film totally resonates. Would I go on it? Quite possibly, yes. Not for the money, we're not in trouble. But because it legitimises the act. It makes it less personal, as I'm sure you'd feel a purpose to it. And suicide is about losing your purpose.

I know I'm not at that stage. Hopefully, I never will be. But this film, whilst I wouldn't say "it's saved my life" it's a help. Today of all days.

Thank you to all involved, if any of you ever read this.

4/10 - decent social commentary, but not one that I need to ever see again

A sad look at the reality of reality tv. How far is too far, when it comes to the truths of peoples lives? If you want to watch a film that pushes the boundaries of the possibility of where entertainment can go in the not so distant future, then this film is for you. It has strong remnants of Black Mirror. It's scary how close to this reality we are every day.

When I read the synopsis I thought it must be a satire, so it shocked the heck outta me to discover just how seriously this film treats it's premise of a network television program that presents people killing themselves for money. It plays everything one hundred per cent straight; gives characters believable motivations; tries to navigate around the tricky issues of how it could be allowed on the air and how people might react to it, etc. Performances are sincere and credible; the direction is serviceable - primarily to be commended for the emphasis on making everything as real as possible; for the most part the script is intelligent and astute. And for the majority of the film my only complaint was that it could have delved even deeper into the moral, ethical and social implications even as it was clearly telegraphing where the movie was headed. The inevitable connection of plot threads which otherwise might seem a little heavy-handed seemed the perfect opportunity to really explore the complex issues being addressed. Sadly the film stumbled hard towards the finale in a desperate attempt to end on a positive note, even if that meant suddenly hurling the carefully established reality out the window and becoming stock, shallow and predictable. It sold itself out for a "happy-ish" ending. In that context what had earlier seemed simply a bit too obvious (you can clearly guess which characters are going to end up on the program) suddenly becomes more manipulatively pedestrian. I understand the urge to present a positive, hopeful message, but the switch from dark to light needs to be handled with more finesse and caution otherwise - as happens here - you simply spoil what was otherwise an excellent little film. It felt like a desperate alteration instead of something being built towards - perhaps it was imposed on the filmmakers during postproduction? Yeah, I'll choose to think that, rather than the filmmakers simply lost the courage to be true to their tale: which, in a nutshell, is the difference between something like Network, and what we have here.

Reality TV has gone too far and it should not move any further. Also society might derail if it continues this path. So let's watch out for that. The predictable preachy plot of the movie is one thing and at least it doesn't take any prisoners. But the message is being hammered so hard, that any subtlety is being lost entirely which is a shame.

The game show concept we see here and the blood lust of the viewing public is almost comical. Not because of the consequences, but because of the cliches it serves to. So the inciting incident at the beginning will spin the whole thing out of control, but with a very easy to spot goal/target. If you shut out the obvious, you may be able to "enjoy" the movie ... if not you may stay clear from this