This Is Your Death

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.

I was primed for a cheap schocks, bad taste kind of movie and this was definitely more thoughtful and considered than that. What I couldn't get my head round for the entire running time (and what really dulled my enjoyment of the film) was how the host could at any point believe he was doing the show for the betterment of people (be they relatives/individuals/audience). It just wasn't a rational conclusion for a non- seriously mentally ill person to draw (as illustrated by the fact that everyone else in the movie thought the direct opposite). On a positive note I was impressed by the bombast of the ending even if it did get a little (more) ridiculous.

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.

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.

This movie was so deep I need to watch something happy *puts nemo in dvd player