Libramedi
Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant
Supelice
Dreadfully Boring
Kaydan Christian
A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
meldavis99
I understand I am a little late to the party on this one, and I'm relatively glad that I didn't see this until 10 years had passed since my own brother took his life (instead of just 4), because I would probably hold a lot more anger in my heart for those that made this film. When you live through something like that, you always have that notion of the hard reality of suicide lurking in the back of your head. A so-called documentary of a man's decision and final journey isn't a voyeuristic journey to you, it is maybe an answer. Maybe a little more understanding about something that blew a hole that will never heal through your family and through your life. You hope for a little more closure than you had before watching. Instead, you get an awfully- acted, completely scripted, contrived, pretentious piece of garbage that feels so good about itself because it tries to bring some kind of awareness to the dark and uncomfortable subject of suicide? I'm guessing that is the point? But it's also why I ask why. Why was this produced? I'm giving a benefit of the doubt here and will go on this: perhaps the director, writer or producer was personally affected by suicide, and this is a coping mechanism (although it seems really unlikely, given the mess they created). If that's the case, I'll give them a pass. Everyone deals with their own demons. If that's what they needed to do, then so be it. I guess maybe it raises some awareness? Doesn't seem like it to me, but maybe it reaches some people. However, if they are trying to bring some kind of awareness to a subject they are pretty clueless about (which kinda seems to be the issue), then they should realize they created an insulting piece of trash that does nothing to even try to create an understanding on such a painful subject, and completely succeed in sucking any kind of substance out of a person who would contemplate such an end to his or her own life. I mean, really. Boo. Hiss. I can't believe this film had such positive reviews. Why?
Oscar Scheepstra
I have a lot of mixed feelings about this film. It really felt as a documentary on the beginning. The characters are really good - and work pretty damn well. I only noticed they were actors on the middle of the film, after the mother's interview. A thing that annoyed me was the part between the mother's interview and his final decision. It just felt off - annoying footage that did not add anything to the story. It felt quite fake and silly, in fact. Some other things start to scream "CHEAP MOVIE". They could have worked more on some of the story lines, such as the sister's reaction. About the ending... Better than I expected. Made me swear quite a bit. But it also made me really like the movie again. I almost gave up on the boxers part (seriously, no movie but American pie should be talking about boxer shorts for more than 1 minute. This movie spend at least 20 on that stupidity). Great mock-documentary, with interesting songs. If it was a bit more polished it would be on my top 10.
Matthew Tilley
Saw this movie in Calagary and it just made me mad that you can have all the talent in the world but if you have no money it's almost impossible to get your work seen. Take "A Necessary Death" for example. These guys have worked on this movie for three years (probably for very little or no money) and have created something that they can confidently show to anyone, while other movies are made for millions and are an embarrassment! I believe they are showing it at AFI next month so I am hoping something happens for them as I will definitely be taking my friends to see it if it ever gets released. These are the type of movies that inspire young film makers to try harder because it proves that if you have what it takes you can create wonderful work with very little resources. And to think I wasn't even meant to see this movie during the festival. I just liked the name!!!
JustCuriosity
A Necessary Death had its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, TX. It's hard to know what to think of a feature film that appears to be intentionally passing itself off to audiences as a documentary about the making of a student film on about a person planning to commit suicide. Much of the audience - myself included - was confused and thought that the film was an actual documentary. As a documentary, the project would be incredibly startling and disturbing.As a feature film, the project is creative, but also a bit of gimmicky and somewhat emotional manipulative, because the audience feels like they are being shown something real which is really a complete work of fiction. If the film opens a wider debate about the ethics of suicide and, in this case, the ethics of the euthanasia, that may be positive, but its more likely to lead to a debate about the ethics of film making. Realistically, the film's approach so off-putting and confusing that it is unlikely to get much theatrical distribution. Also, the last third of the film and especially the ending seems a bit overly melodramatic. It feels like the writer/director made the film in an effort to get himself noticed in film circles by doing something creative and out-of-the-box.Well, he has done that, but I'm not sure if the effort to confuse the line between fact and fiction is a healthy one or not. The film is entertaining, but also a bit disturbing in a way that doesn't necessarily seem particularly constructive. It is asking questions about the ethics of documentary film making, but it is unclear to this observer if they are questions that are particular important ones to ask or to answer.
