Juno and Wristcutters: A semi-independent world

I always imagined that when you die, that’s it; it’s the oblivion show. This isn’t the case according to the semi-indie film Wristcutters: A Love Story. Like the name suggests, suicide whisks you to a world where, “everything is the same, only worse.” No drifting in the ether or eternal hellfire, instead a stark landscape reminiscent of the more arid parts of California where you still need somewhere to call home and therefore need a Mc-job to pay for it. There’s no smiling either, instead you while away eternity by going to bars and playing the ‘how do you think they offed themselves’ game.


Our protagonist, Zia, has his hope for something better rekindled when he learns that the ex-girlfriend, who he killed himself for, has, in turn, offed herself. He embarks on a journey of reunion accompanied by his alcoholic, Russian musician friend, Eugene. Eugene has a black hole under the passenger seat of his car by the way. This and many other small anomalies make up the washed out world of Wristcutters.

In that same evening, which in hindsight can only be described as Indiethon ’08 I also viddied Juno. No bizarre after life planes of existence here but instead the equally strange Suburbia Americana. Juno (the name of Zeus’ only wife, apparently) is a sixteen-year-old girl who through an act of boredom/charity/and genuine affection for a long time best friend becomes pregnant.


Juno is exactly the kind of friend you’d want in real life, full of quick-witted barbs and pop culture references. She determines early on, that the best course of action for her unborn ‘sea monkey’ is adoption and the film progresses around this eventuality. It’s great when a film isn’t predictable and as a viewer you can retract your jaded, media saturated, gland for the duration.

Juno and Wristcutters: youngish casts, unusual stories and semi-Indies. I’ll just summarise like that next time…