Non buttiamoci giù

A comedy about 4 people who are suicidal, sounds like an oxymoron doesn't it? Well, this is the issue dealt in this light hearted comedy & drama.

It was a New Year's Eve at the top of a building, the ideal suicide spot that these four individuals encountered one another. Somehow their presence provided a barrier to their urge and since they survived that night, they kept in touch and tried to encourage one another...in life.

The makers of this film must have faced a challenge in how to deal with a dramatic issue (suicide) but convey it in a semi comical tone without appearing to ridicule such a serious issue.

Thus, through the chance encounter our characters realised slowly that they have something to live for and that beauty can be found in purpose and togetherness and in that problems can be faced rather than avoided taking the easy way out.

Whilst I stand by my 'light-hearted' remark earlier, this is not to say that it is shallow. It deals with a very sombre matter but even such matters can be approached from a humorous angle.

While a story about 4 suicidal strangers meeting on a rooftop about to jump sounds interesting, this movie was not all that interesting.

There were times when scenes felt too long and equally many scenes that could and perhaps should have been longer. Some potentially interesting plot threads were brought up in a scene and hardly mentioned again (same with some characters). The emotional scenes weren't that effective either and I didn't laugh much during the movie either. The characters aren't that great either. None of them felt believable for me.

In the end, felt that the movie was predictable, cheesy and not that entertaining. The ending of the movie didn't do much to change that either. Not the best movie this year.

Had no idea what this film was when I decided to watch it on Netflix and was pleasantly surprised by how attached I became to the subject matter, the characters and the story.

Brosnan is a disgraced TV personalty and decides to commit suicide by jumping off the top of a building on New Year's Eve. While up there, he meets 3 other people, played by Toni Collette, Aaron Paul and Imogen Poots, all there to do the same thing. None of them commit the act and instead form a weird bond between each other. A pact is made not to commit suicide until the next "popular" suicide date, which is Valentine's Day. Dark subject matter, I know.

Despite the content of the film involving topics such as cancer, suicide, underage sex and other questionable character choices, the film balances this topics interestingly enough to keep it rather light. It never became too dark, nor too comedic. It walked a fine line of genuine trust in the characters. I found myself attached to each one, their faults, their quirks and liked them all. Imogen Poots has the hardest task of playing the "wild card" character. This character can sometimes become irritatingly annoying and I can see some people thinking her performance here is just that, but I found it oddly charming and real. She's a young girl who yearns to be loved and can't find it. She's lost, she feels alone and she turns to uncomfortable humour as a shield to hide her true feelings. I felt that her character had the most demons and she came off as the most interesting.

The film is broken up into four segments and each segment is from one of the characters POV. At first I was afraid that it was going to be one of those films that played the same event multiple times from different character perspectives, but was relieved when that was not the case.

The film fails to use the supporting cast effectively. Sam Neil is only in a few select scenes and Rosamund Pike is in one very uncomfortable one. Couldn't help but feel that their talents were slightly wasted here. I had no idea this film was based on a book, thus had nothing to hold it against. There seems to be a lot of hate towards it, but I was genuinely interested from start to finish.

Pierce Brosnan stars with Toni Collette, Imogen Poots, and Aaron Paul in "A Long Way Down" from 2014.

Brosnan plays a television celebrity, Martin, who was in prison for taking up with a woman who turned out to be a girl and not 25 as he thought. He was left with nothing, no career and no family.

On New Year's Eve, he goes to a tall building, a well-known suicide place, to jump. While he's struggling with his decision to make the leap, he realizes he's not alone. Maureen (Collette) is waiting for him to finish so she can take her turn. Two other people, Jess (Poots) and JJ (Paul) show up. Popular place, popular time of year to kill oneself.

Rather than do that, the four of them decide to support one another in what they're going through. When discussing when the next big suicide day is, they decide it's probably Valentine's Day.

Martin wants to kill himself for obvious reasons, Maureen has a physically challenged son and she thinks if she kills herself, he will get better care. JJ says he has cancer. Jess has been rejected by her boyfriend.

This is a funny, warm, uplifting comedy/drama. The acting is wonderful. It was so great to see Aaron Paul again after "Breaking Bad." Imogen Poots, the fragile Jess, is gorgeous and gives a poignant performance. As an added treat, her father is played by Sam Neill. Toni Collette is always good, and her scenes with her son were especially sweet. The scene at the hospital was very touching.

You care about the characters finding their way. Highly recommended. The power of love - hard to beat it as a theme.

22 March 2014 Film of Choice at The Plaza Tonight - A Long Way Down. From the best selling book by Nick Hornby (as usual unread by me), this film charts the lives for four would be suicide victims one New Year's Eve. Meeting on the roof of a building they rescue each other and form a pact to stay alive until Valentine's Day! This looked good from the trailer. Starring Pierce Brosnan, Toni Collette, Imogen Poots and Aaron Paul it promised to be an amusing yet touching story of how these four completely different lives came together and although I didn't find it terribly amusing, I didn't feel I'd wasted an evening. I rather felt that I'd been reading a book that although wasn't the most gripping, was however a book I was unable to put down. It's the sort of film you would probably watch on a rainy day with a nice hot cup of cocoa. Always nice to see Pierce Brosnan on the big screen!