Wristcutters: A Love Story

Suicide is no ordinary death, but in Wristcutters: A Love Story, it provides entry into a quirky, quotidian universe that's both strangely familiar and full of surprises. It's an afterlife of menial jobs, dingy bars, and jukeboxes that play only suicide heroes like Kurt Cobain or Nick Drake. And as Zia, a depressed but amiable young man, discovers after he slits his wrists, it's populated solely by unsmiling souls who have voluntarily plunged to the other side. Soon after his arrival, Zia learns that his ex -- the inspiration for his own fatal gesture -- has also joined the hari-kari club. Still heartsick, he sets out to find her. With him on this Oz-like quest are an eccentric Russian rocker lusting for love and a melancholic, hitchhiking ingenue seeking a way out. In a rickety red station wagon held together with tape, this impromptu family hit greasy diners and decrepit salvage yards until they encounter odd, wonderful Kneller (a deliciously crusty Tom Waits), who shepherds them to his utopia and small, unexpected miracles. Every turn in the road holds witty and poignant revelations for the lovable characters in Goran Dukic's clever, irresistible, and wildly original debut feature. He transplants his Eastern European absurdist humor and existential worldview to the dusty American West and comes up with a small miracle of his own.