A Long Way Down [2014]

August 9, 2014

Suicide is a nasty thing. But we have to talk about the nasty things, and the best approach is humor. Black humor. British Black Humor. Fuck BBW, we should celebrate BBH (that came out wrong). After this pretty pumped up intro, I have to tone down the whole thing. I don’t know if it’s me or something else but lately, I prefer “driven by characters” movies instead of “driven by situations”. Driven by characters movies start with a different set of characters and then work forwards imagining and projecting their reactions and clashes and Driven by situations movies start with few key ideas, situations, and rough one or two characters and then work backward to make up a reasonable explanation. This time this process failed a couple of times, but there are also some very interesting ideas and situations that make up for that. An experienced cast led by Pierce and Tony casually walked through the script. This is Aaron Paul’s second movie after Breaking Bad and for the first time, we see the glimpses of him outside the BB universe. Although the first steps were very shaky. And the young guard was awesome too, so expect great things from Imogen Poots and Joe Cole.

It’s New Year’s Eve in London. A time when everybody is drunk and happy, well almost everybody. Some of us have problems, big problems, and larger than life problems. And how do you solve larger than life problems? By eliminating life from the equation. Martin is a failed man who decided to end his life by jumping from a Toppers Building, overlooking the city. He soon finds out that he’s not the only one who decided this. Four people decided to end their lives that evening and their fate was sealed. Or was it?

Earlier this week I read a story about a man who lives near a lighthouse and prevents people from killing themselves there. He saved 151 lives if I remember correctly. Dealing with real-life problems, A Long Way Down has a deeper meaning. If just one person remembers the lessons from this movie and decides to keep on living, can we call it a mediocre black humor comedy? The cause vibe prevents us from doing so, that and the sheer quality of the material that we are left to think about after the movie. Lightly packed it’s a slow burner easy to watch. It sort of disarms you with style and relatively easygoing atmosphere, slowly drawing you in.

Loosely based on Nick Hornby’s novel of the same name, A Long Way Down explores how all these different people, with different lives and personalities, ended up in the same place. It’s basically saying that you can be successful and rich and still end up contemplating suicide. Mental health is a serious issue and we need to talk about it more, but in this tribal society, this is seen as a sign of weakness. Just shows you how far we have come from those berry picking apes…

And another thing. Since I already mentioned how being rich doesn’t prevent you from being depressed or suicidal I have to clarify a few things. And while this statement is true, it also lies half of the solution. If you were rich you would be able to afford the care you need and also you would be able to afford a vacation or anything else that would help you feel like a fucking person. The other half of the solution is the system of values that encompasses your perception of other people, world, and finally, yourself. We are trying to break out of the system that has been in place for thousands of years, so it’s no wonder there’s a huge resistance to this move. In the end, the thing that usually prevents us from breaking free are the emotions that we get too embroiled into.