In “normal” middle-class suburban families, kids grow up, move out, and visit only on special occasions. But Morrie Tanager never got to leave. His parents died and left him, and he became the parent, raising two siblings, Ida and Jay, in the home he now shares with his wife, Betty. So it’s not surprising this family is a bit askew. Ida is a promiscuous, broke, itinerant artist; Jay, an odd duck prone to antisocial experiments; and Morrie, a chronically constipated pleaser, who hasn’t had a bowel movement in ages. When Jay goes completely off the deep end and Ida drops in unannounced, the motley clan is thrust under one roof, and childhood dynamics reemerge. The big problem is that Ida and Jay’s recklessness could upend a delicate social ritual Morrie and Betty are masterminding to secure his tenure.

Birds of America is about socialization and growing up when there are no grown-ups. For Jay it means living within social boundaries and telling an occasional lie; for Ida it’s accountability for her actions, whereas Morrie must learn to loosen codes, assert the naked truth, and release responsibility to others. What’s so satisfying and moving in Craig Lucas’s eccentric, yet lyrical, comedy—besides the stellar cast— is the way the siblings’ transformations adjust the geometry of interdependence, and that genuine tenderness is the familial glue that ultimately bolsters each in the world.
- Sundance Film Guide

ExP: Ed Hart, Bruce Lunsford
Pr: Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Jana Edelbaum, Celine Rattray, Galt Niederhoffer
CoP: Hollise Gersh, Ed Gersh
Ci: Yaron Orbach
Ed: Eric Kissack
PrD: John Nyomarkay

Sundance movies have suicidal tendencies

By Gregg Goldstein

PARK CITY, Utah (Hollywood Reporter) - A weekend of slow Sundance sales might not be enough to drive film executives to suicide, but several films they're watching could. More than 15 entries at this year's festival have characters contemplating, attempting or actually killing themselves.

Right off the bat, Sundance presented two films centered on suicidal hitmen: Martin McDonagh's opening-night film "In Bruges," starring Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes, and actor Michael Keaton's directing debut "The Merry Gentleman," which premiered Friday.

Geoff Haley's "The Last Word" looks at a writer (Wes Bentley) whose business is drafting people's suicide notes, including one for a despondent Ray Romano. In "I Always Wanted to Be a Gangster," an already suicidal teenage girl tries to kill herself while being held hostage. And in "The Wackness," one character attempts to re-create James Mason's famous walk into the ocean in "A Star Is Born."

And those are just the funny films.

"Comedies with suicide are just a phenomenon this year," director of programming John Cooper said. "In 'Birds of America,' one of the brothers once attempted suicide. His siblings are always saying they should check up on him to see if he committed suicide. It's all very matter-of-fact with deadpan humor."

In Barry Levinson's Hollywood tale "What Just Happened?" an agent's suicide is played for laughs. Cooper also pointed to slapstick used in "Gentleman" (a character falls backwards while standing on a ledge), "Bruges" (an assassin tries to prevent his intended target's suicide) and "Gangster" (a botched hanging).

Killing oneself might be a popular idea among this year's crop of emerging artists, but it is not altogether new. "Every year, the programmers post a list of the number of films with suicide in them, and it's always the biggest list of all the themes," festival director Geoff Gilmore said, acknowledging the gallows humor in his programming department. "Talk about a staple of independent cinema."

But why do so many of this year's death-obsessed films also contain humor? "I think a lot of filmmakers are depressed, but they're responding to it in different ways, not just by trying to solve the world's problems," Gilmore said. And as a result, suicide -- if not exactly painless, as the song goes -- is a lot easier to watch. "What's different is that in most cases the characters recover or take another path," he said.

Suicide comedies are becoming a growing subgenre, tracing their lineage through the 2006 Sundance debut "Wristcutters: A Love Story" to director-star Burt Reynolds' underrated 1978 film "The End" and Blake Edwards' 1981 film "S.O.B.," in which a Hollywood executive's frequent suicide attempts echo this year's slapstick scenes.

And lest anyone forget, one of the most popular and uplifting films of all time, "It's a Wonderful Life," started with a man about to jump off a bridge.

The bottom line for film executives is how such a downbeat subject plays at the box office.

Despite great reviews and a clever, controversial marketing campaign featuring figures on caution signs committing suicide, "Wristcutters" grossed just a little more than $350,000. On the other hand, Steve Carell's suicidal character didn't scare audiences away from "Little Miss Sunshine," which took in nearly $60 million domestically.

Whether the indie world's current fascination with suicide hits a dead end will depend on the eventual life -- or box office death -- of such films as "King of Ping Pong" (which includes another attempted suicide), "Momma's Man" (in which the lead character bizarrely throws himself down a flight of stairs) or "Henry Poole Is Here" (which follows a very ill character who wants to drink himself to death).

Perhaps marketers could take a lesson from the famous National Lampoon magazine cover that threatened, "If you don't buy this magazine, we'll kill this dog."

If you don't see these films, an indie filmmaker could kill himself -- metaphorically, at least.