Love & Suicide

It's fair to say that most people have suffered from some from of torture at the hands of their classmates and this film not only brings back those awful feelings, but gives an all encompassed view as to what pressures keep people from expressing who they truly are.

At the start I honestly thought it'd end up a stale B rated drama but as it went on I fell more and more in love with the characters. Through the writing and directing Em, in particular, became very real and you feel you have met girls just like her and Kaye as well. It was written convincingly even down to the arguments with overbearing parental units. I am sure I've had some of those conversations before.

All in all I say stick with the film even though the acting, from a good portion of the of the cast, and musical score leaves something to be desired. The quality of the story shines through and the directing is great. Both love and suicide scenes in the film are tasteful and well done and may just tug at your emotions a bit. I loved the ending because it was unexpected and so true to life.

Mia Salsi did an awesome job and I can't wait to see more from her. I have to give this 8/10 stars.

This movie obviously had good intentions. At the end there is a dedication to someone named Kellie who, as a viewer, I can only assume found herself in a situation similar to the one the movie depicts. Perhaps she made the "wrong" choice. That dedication is the ONLY redeeming quality of Love & Suicide.

The movie becomes unbearable from the opening sequence. Once the viewer is already that irritated only about five minutes into the film, it's pretty much going to be downhill after that...which it was. I know the film was low budget and the camera shots were actually pretty good...unfortunately, everything else was horrid. The acting, the plot, the sound quality, the picture quality...the acting. I'm sorry but the acting is horrible. Beyond horrible. It's as if the actors are trying to act like people acting. That's the only way I can think to describe it. As I watched, I actually pictured the script with the stage direction in my mind. None of the movements were natural and none of the characters' reactions to one another fit. In short: the timing is WAY off. The timing of the entire film is way off. I'm no director so I know the limits of my knowledge but I really feel there had to be SOME way to convey the passing of time...until they explained about graduation not being too far away I was under the impression that the first portion of the movie had taken place over the span of a week...a month at most.

All that being said, it's really a shame. This movie truly could have been powerful with a little tweaking. All the moments in the film in which we are supposed to feel something are obvious but only because the set-up is obvious (which is a bad thing). The moving scenes totally fell flat. For instance, when Kaye's brother takes his hat of his head and puts it on hers, we should feel the understanding he has for her, the innocence and protectiveness of the love of her brother...somehow it just doesn't come off that way. There are so many more scenes like this (for example: ALL of the fight scenes) and all they do is take away from the movie. All these things put together, Love & Suicide comes off as one long, cheesy, low-budget commercial.

I loved Heavenly Creatures and make it a point to catch it whenever it is on.

So, imagine my delight when I discovered Love & Suicide while browsing NetFlix. Echoing Heavenly Creatures, an easy choice, to the top of my queue it went.

I watched it last, made myself comfy, and waited. What I thought was some crappy preview of a stoned high school student's prank film project (I laughed out loud once or twice, thinking "that just lowered the bar of straight to video") turned out to be the movie. Horrible acting, amateur direction, weak dialog. I usually enjoy low budget films, there is something tangible and real about them because they cannot afford the superficial stuff to distract from the "meat" ––the acting, the direction, the plot, the story. I would liken it to a student who hasn't studied for an exam goes in knowing he is going to fail and just puts his head on the desk and sleeps.

In someone else's hands the plot would have serious potential.

Do not expect magic or even a cult classics like, say, Divine's Polyester, or Showgirls, at least there you learn to expect bad acting.

Love & Suicide went from bad, to worse, to the WORST movie I have ever seen.

some reviews have said it was bits total crap. the chubby ugly annoying girl trying to woo the pretty girl who is in emotional distress and take advantage of is bull s. she is a very pretty new girl at school so would get a lot of attention, and not pal around some delinquent freak who is ugly and hangs around older low class chumps. the older guy who is in love with the fat chubby girl isn't believable either. shes too fat, dorky, unattractive, and uncool for guys like that to fall in love with. thats just the storyline. the acting was worse than in porno flicks. the production, directing, dialog, and music did not work at all. the only positive thing i can say about this movie is te other rmain character was very pleasing to look at. shes pretty and sort of a gril next door type.

the only believable thing in the story was the fat obnoxious girl getting dumped and then making a big selfish scene about it and sor tof attempting suicide for attention. I did know a lot of fat annoying girls who dod things like that for attention in high school.

It is quite clear that "Love and Suicide" is an amateurish film. One could compare it to a student film. The cinematography violates rules of perspective. The acting is flawed, to the extent that you can tell the dialog is scripted.

And yet: It is a very touching film. For me, the story hit very close to home. The story of a lesbian high school student, living in a conservative religious family, may not have been portrayed on film often, but is not that uncommon in the real world.

This film makes you take a look at how painful this situation can be. It really makes you think about the issues, and how one can choose what is right vs. wrong (to which there is no clear answer).

But it's not a depressing film. It has several touching, heart warming, and just plain fun, scenes. It was certainly my pleasure to watch.

Granted, the film is imperfect. But if you can overlook the production standards and immerse yourself in the story (which I found easy to do), you will certainly enjoy the film and be touched deeply.