Lance Around Orlando

Archie Has a Wide Array of Complex Movie Editing Equipment

Through the creative use of live action, animation and visual effects, My Suicide is a narrative feature that realistically explores the complex world of teen suicide.  High school student Archie, played by the talented and energetic  Gabriel Sunday, announces to his film class that his project will be to film his own suicide.  When popular class president Sierra,  skillfully portrayed by Brooke Nevin, reveals her intention to join him in his suicide pact, Archie’s journey through a myriad of mental health counselors, drug parties and family crises is all captured using the technique of home filmed movies supplemented with extremely creative animation and special effects.  David Lee Miller, the director, did a masterful job with this film.

The result is a very realistic and very disturbing film that plumbs the depth of teenage despair.  At first, the movie appears to be as much of a shallow treatment of suicidal ideation as the “Pie” movies were a shallow rendition of teenage sex.  My Suicide, however, manages to go deeper while at the same time avoiding trite platitudes or easy answers.

By the end of the movie, the audience is left feeling dazed and affected as if they had been the subject of the multiple camera shots and artistic editing and special effects so expertly interwoven throughout the movie.

This is not a movie to be taken lightly.  If you want to bring your teenager, be prepared to have a serious conversation afterwards.  If a conversation is not possible, I do not recommend this movie for teenagers.  It’s a great film that realistically portrays the idiosyncrasies and challenges faced by teens.  It’s not something I would want my teenager to see without the opportunity to have an open dialogue about the many real issues portrayed in the film.

On the other hand, the ability to honestly explore these weighty issues through the medium of independent film is what makes attending a film festival an opportunity for personal growth and retrospection.  This movie challenges the audience.  It makes you think.  No, it makes you feel–and that feeling is quite uncomfortable.

Perhaps there is no better example of this than watching David Carradine play the role of a poet obsessed with suicide and death.  As you watch, you realize that his realistic portrayal may have been a foreshadowing of his own personal demons that led to his death by asphyxiation (which may have been suicidal or autoerotic) shortly after this movie was filmed.

It really makes you contemplate, and feel, the intense issues at hand.

My Suicide plays at the Regal Theatre B in Winter Park on Saturday, April 10 at 4:15pm and Thursday, April 15 at 9:30pm.

This entry was posted on April 3, 2010 at 3:15 pm and is filed under Art Community. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.