Before I Disappear

I stumbled across it on Netflix, not expecting much, and was wildly surprised. It's beautiful and very well written and executed. A gorgeously poignant mood permeates the piece throughout, creating a near perfect setting. What could be a timeless story has just the right amount of contemporary sheen and grime and it delivers charm, heart, tears and pain all in enveloping beauty. Well directed, well shot and acted; just lovely really. If you can relate to equal amounts of hopelessness, depression and the blissful joy of life, you'll love this. What a gem by this new filmmaker. No gunfights, no car chases and no explosions, true. It was all done with an engaging story, cast and setting. Nicely sprinkled doses of subtle dark humor are also used just when they're needed. I love this film.

Firstly, I came to this movie without having seen "Curfew". Several commentators have pointed out that that is important in the way you see this movie so I'll get that out of the way to start with. I checked out the user score (7.2 at time of writing) and the Meta score (47/100 at time of writing). A bit of a mismatch I thought and maybe it was down to the film being "upped" by users. (We all know it happens right? Reviewers who come out of nowhere and submit one review giving a film 10 / 10 and then disappear as quickly as they appeared. All's fair in love and marketing). Anyway, as a result I decided to take a chance on it but with some reservations at the back of my mind and not really expecting anything that would really get me. What followed was rare, the realisation that the users had nailed it and the critics had really come down way too hard on this movie for all the wrong reasons. "Underwhelming, inconsistent, superfluous, bloated, meandering, posey, abrasive, over amped" to mention a few of the words used. I really don't know what film they were watching. Shawn Christensen, the writer, director and star of this film has already picked up an Oscar in 2013 for best Live Action Short but this film is dismissed as "not a bad freshman effort"? Ignore the critics and take a chance on this one. If you go in with an open mind and let yourself go with it's unusual flow you might really enjoy it. Finally, the cast were uniformly good. Fatima Ptacek, who I hadn't come across before, was brilliant, certainly one to watch, and Ron Perlman was Ron Perlman, nobody does that better than him.

"Before I Disappear" was birthed from director Shawn Christensen's 2013 short film "Curfew," which won Best Live Action Short Film at the Academy Awards that year. I remember watching the short film and simply being captivated by its portrayal of ugly yet realistic characters in a seamy environment, so much so that I called it "a wonderful exercise in style, emotion, human interaction, and existential purpose." With the accolades and recognition "Curfew" received, it was only a matter of time before the short would be adapted into a feature-length project, and, thankfully, the core focus of the film and its characters didn't find themselves lost in translation.

This is a film of tone, realism and germane surrealism, and companionship, four ideas that one would assume would make for an awkward, uneven film but mesh so well together thanks to Christensen's carefulness that the end product is something to behold. The film concerns Ritchie (Christensen), an aimless and depressed twentysomething working for a seedy nightclub run by Bill (Ron Perlman). His will to live is waning day-by-day after his girlfriend Vista has mysteriously disappeared, and, upon finding the corpse of a young female in the nightclub bathroom, Ritchie is ready to call it quits.

He goes home, fills a bathtub full of water, and proceeds to take a sharp razor and slit his wrists, ending his miserable existence. His suicide attempt is interrupted by Maggie ("Shameless"'s Emmy Rossum), who phones him asking to pick up her eleven-year-old daughter Sophia (Fátima Ptacek, who voices Dora on "Dora the Explorer") from school and look after her while she takes care of other things. Reluctantly, Richie exits hit bloody bathtub, bandages his wrists, throws on old clothes, lights a cigarette and heads off to pick Sophia up. Sophia is exactly the kind of precocious tot that Richie needs in his life, regardless of whether or not he knows it. Sophia is meticulous, organized, and grounded in a world where all there is is homework and poetry. She's drawn realistically and not conjured up from the barrage of clichés one expect from this character. She's sensitively played by Ptacek, who is only fourteen-years-old, and just when you think her character is a caricature, she surprises and comes to be a wonderful addition to not only the story but Richie's life.

Richie and Sophia wander the streets, with Richie being hunted by loansharks and mob bosses for his failure to pay back old debts, going from several seedy locations before finding some sort of solace and connection at a bowling alley. This scene is almost identical in structure and setup as "Curfew," but with it being bookended by more familiarity and involvement with the characters, it takes on a greater significance. It provides for a momentary discourse in Richie's miserable existence, as he watches Sophia freely dance down the lane of the alley, with people shaking their hips with bowling balls in their hands at the front of each lane. This adds to the surrealism aspect I mentioned earlier, in that while "Before I Disappear" explores realistically-drawn characters with serious problems and shortcomings, it also welcomes intriguing surrealism into the mix, bending the reality our disillusioned character lives in. Consider when Richie takes a handful of menopause pills (which he believes are sleeping pills that will turn fatal if he takes enough) and hallucinates one of his collectors coming after him; it's one of the greatest surrealist scenes in a film predicated off of being human and realistic.

"Before I Disappear" has received the most flak from people who saw "Curfew," weren't a big fan of it to begin with, and then cringed at the thought of watching the short stretched out for ninety-three minutes. Those who enter blindly, and have never seen "Curfew," will likely get the most enjoyment out of it, or those, like me, who enjoy stories about believable and real characters, will find several things to appreciate.

Shawn Christensen's Oscar Winning Curfew was a wonderful piece of filmmaking, and I was worried that the feature version "Before I Disappear" would be just more of the same. I was pleasantly surprised and this expanded version took wonderful to extraordinary.

One of Shawn's many accomplishments in this film was his deft transition of the Sophia character from precocious little girl to self-realized adolescent, who has it together a hell of a lot more than her uncle.

It took me a little time to warm up to Emmy Rossum's character -- as in how could she have a child that old -- but a few lines to clear that up -- and boom, all taken care of. Emmy's vulnerability and willingness to go to a very raw place near the end of the film was beautiful to watch.

Shawn's expanding the characters I loved in the short and adding new characters, played by Paul Wesley and Ron Perlman was terrific. Who knew that Wesley could bring such depth to a character that could have come off as horribly one-note?

The cinematography was brilliant. The choice of color was truly inspired.

This is definitely a virtuoso piece of indie filmmaking, and deserving of every award it has picked up on the film festival circuit. My only regret is that this film should be opening in a hell of a lot more theaters this awards season.

If you love indie filmmaking, you need to see this film as soon as possible,

I saw this film at NorthEast Film Festival in NJ and from the moment this film started I was swept up and there is not a second that your mind wanders, every second of this film is visually stunning and diverse. You can't help but root and fall in love with Richie (Shawn Christensen) as he struggles through the evening's events. The dynamic between him and Sophia (Fatima Ptacek) is like catching lightning in a bottle, they make a fantastic duo. Fatima does a wonderful job of transitioning the younger Sophia from 'Curfew' to a more mature Sophia in 'Before I Disappear'. Even though the story is about a lot struggles and heartache, there are moments that have you laughing out loud. Each supporting character to Richie and Sophia's journey is so well cast. Paul Wesley as Gideon is simply phenomenal, as he creates a very diverse character within only a few appearances on screen. He manages to create so many subtle undertones with a performance that doesn't hit over the head with it, but leaves you with a deeper understanding of the character. Emmy Rossum as Maggie does an outstanding job of creating a real and emotional counterpart as the mother to Sophia's character. Ron Perlman is as fantastic as always and creates a very chilling presence on screen. Hats off to the multi talented Shawn, for directing, starring, writing and composing for this beautiful surprise of a film.