Monday, March 24, 2008

SXSW movie review: A Necessary Death

It's pro-choice - at the other end of the life-and-death spectrum.

By John P. Meyer

Daniel Stamm's A Necessary Death is a rare and disturbing variety of movie bird - kind of like a turkey vulture that's plucked its own feathers and settled into a cooking pot set to simmer.

Part of the gut-punch delivered by the movie comes from the viewer's initial uncertainty over just what sort of a film this is - is it a real documentary? Or a fake one? Is the advertisement placed by the documentarist (Gilbert) for real, and are the people responding to it genuine - or only actors?

Director Stamm forwarded a screener copy of his production to our attention prior to SXSW (where it was selected to appear as part of the Emerging Visions lineup), and when I popped the DVD into the player - having read only a brief synopsis of the plot - I was soon asking myself just these sorts of questions. Because, you see, the scenario envisioned in the film is just a small conceptual step beyond the sort of ambitious project that a struggling young film student might seek to undertake in order to make a name for himself. To put it as Gilbert does, "If you don't cross a line, no one's going to pay attention."

Gilbert John (Gilbert): the filmmaker within the film

The line our protagonist filmmaker undertakes to cross is the well-drawn one separating the practice of suicide from polite society. The advertisement referenced earlier states: "Suicidal individual wanted for documentary. Project will follow individual from first preparations to final act."

Gilbert is completing a film program at a Southern California university. His grandfather, we learn, killed himself when Gilbert was a kid, and thus the subject matter hits close to home. Before running the ad in the newspaper classifieds, he's posted it to a website, whose administrators have pulled it. Why?

As his roommate - reading from the site rules - speculates, it's because the ad is either "abusive, defamatory, unlawful or pornographic."

Unlawful? Maybe not. In the early planning stages, we listen in as Gilbert consults with a lawyer, who assures him that "suicide is not against the law." Bring on the applicants.

These include (as we meet them in person during the interview process) a disaffected Iranian man, an Englishman with a malignant brain tumor, a woman who's become alienated from her (formerly) loving husband, a mom who's outlived her child and a pair of sisters with serious parental issues.

Gilbert's selected film crew have reservations - particularly the sound recordist, Valerie. Nevertheless, they eventually commit to the project and participate in a brainstorming session during which Gilbert posts Polaroids of the candidates on a story board while everyone weighs in on their dramatic potential. There's a macabre display of enthusiasm over the large number of responses to the ad, while the clear front-runner and eventual "winner" turns out to be Matt, the charming brain tumor chap. Not only does his grim medical diagnosis seem to validate his selection as the documentary's subject from an ethical standpoint, Matt turns out to be both charming and forthcoming, and he possesses the screen appeal of a young (and unselfconscious) Tom Cruise.

Having decided upon a subject for the doc, Gilbert takes the details to his film school thesis advisor - who rejects the project out of hand on the basis of its controversial subject matter. Outraged, Gilbert persists, betting everything (including his stretched consumer credit and his good standing with supportive parents) on completion and acceptance of the film. After reading a treatment synopsis, an edgy independent film festival buys into the concept, and Gilbert and crew forge ahead.

There follows an extended series of taped interviews during which Gilbert, Valerie and Michael (the camera guy) grow increasingly closer to Matt, who opens himself up in a way that he's resisted doing within his own family. We follow Matt to a mortuary where he selects his coffin and weighs the options of refrigeration versus embalming; on the paperwork, under "name of deceased," he enters "self."

Matt Tilley (Matt) and filmmaker Daniel Stamm on the set

In a manner hauntingly familiar to mavens of the documentary form, the separation between the filmmakers and their subject becomes ever more gossamer. Will Matt's increasing intimacy with Valerie lead to a lessening of his resolve? How far will Gilbert go to ensure the completion of his breakthrough film project? Will Matt's suicide end up being a necessary death, though no longer a mutually agreeable one?

Thankfully, the conceit of the narrative - our initial confusion over just how much of the story is real and how much of it is fiction - soon breaks down. Otherwise, the events portrayed would be unbearable to watch, since the very real human traits in question (ambition; frailty; jealousy; affection; obsession) are all too real.

QUESTIONABLE QUESTION: "Where do you see Matt in ten years?" - Gilbert, to Matt's mom (who's unaware that her son has only days to live).

MORE THAN YOU KNOW: "Thank you for coming. It shows that you all care." - Matt to film crew, on the day of his death.

Related stories

• Week in View: No Fooling Edition (March 27, 2008)

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