The Last Time I Committed Suicide

This is an excellent film which really captures the feeling and atmosphere of the Beat Generation. The film is based around a letter Neal Cassady (seen as Dean Moriarty in Jack Kerouac's seminal 'On The Road') wrote to Jack Kerouac about his 16 year old girl friend Cherry Mary. I won't go into anymore details as I think the less you know about a film before seeing it the better - but suffice to say that if you have any interest in the beat generation, or enjoyed any of Kerouacs books you'll like this film. Cinematography and music are both also exceptional.

The best thing about this movie is the opening scene, where Neal Cassady is doing more daydreaming and dancing then he is working on his writing. The beginning of the movie screams to Cassady's life, and shows the audience a Marlon Brando type character that had strong ties with folks like, Allen Ginsberg and Jake Kerouac. Cassady, a forgotten literary figure with more passion for creativity then progress in writing, would later become the character to drive the bus in Ken Kesey's, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. It is important to note, that while Cassady had only one decent literary publication, his zealous outlook on life was borrowed by some of the "great literary beat writers" in America.

The Actor Keanu Reeves, who I have never been a huge fan of, does an excellent job of shedding light on Cassady's constant dissonance about leaving the life of a beat writer, for the life of a 9-5 working man with a stable house, beautiful wife, and loving family.

The movie overall, is about this dissonance, is about the passion that Cassady had for both the creative life and the more stable environment of the family life. Sadly, Cassady was unable to find balance between the two.

Do not expect, watching this movie that it will touch your life with a "wow-effect" forever. It is not some type of magical-beat-generation-movie that you can philosophize about for hours, it is just a pretty good movie.

What you can keep with you forever, however, is the soundtrack to this movie, The Last Time I Committed Suicide. With scores of music from folks like, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Tyler Bates, Ella Fitzgerald and Charles Mingus, this soundtrack is sure visit any jazz lovers CD player often.

"The Last Time I Committed Suicide" is an excellent description of live of a beatnick in the 50s. Thomas Jane does a good performance in a quaint leading roll, but he is duly overshadowed by the young rising Godesses of Hollywood; namely Claire Forlani and Gretchen Mol. These two girls have seen their careers boom as of late much due to their looks and screen sensuality. This bunch of new talent has one advantage over Keanu Reeves, who takes on a minor part in this movie. They are not yet typecast. Keanu did well for himself considering. However, what struck me the most was the mood portrayed in the movie. It was calm yet restless, poetic yet true to life. When we add the excellent choice of music we have a movie worthy a life at the top shelf.

Anyone who has actually read any of the beat narratives, in particular Kerouac and Cassady prose, would agree that the film comes as close to encapsulating the language and overall style onto film as possible. I agree the film does adhere to a certain MTV aesthetic, but whose to say that the aesthetic didn't already exist before it was given that name? One could argue that Neal Cassady himself was one of the more well known ADD characters of late fifties literature, if not all literature, with his penchant for the next free drink of booze, the next broad, jumping from stolen car to stolen car, even ditching his friends (in Mexico in On the Road) if the need arose. While you may have problems with the narrative structure, those of us who are great beat literature enthusiasts recognize that the jump cut style of the narrative already existed and was brought to life in this film in a fantastic manner.

You know, normally when you have a good script and excellent

actors on your project, you can turn out something decent, good or

great...even when you, as the director, believe you're talented and

think you know what you're doing. But so far as "The Last Time I

Committed Suicide" is concerned, Stephen T. Kay flat out ruined

this movie, and it is damn near unforgivable.

Here we have a screenplay filled with some of the most wonderful

dialog you can imagine being delivered by a troupe of wonderful

actors. Thomas Jane gives a star making turn as Neal Cassady,

and he is backed up with a startlingly naturalistic and cozy turn by

Keanu Reeves as his drunk buddy, Harry. But could you enjoy the

beautiful rhythm of their work? Noooooooooo. By God, Mr. Kay

was going to remind you every step of the way that he is

DIRECTING this film and you are going to pay attention to that fact,

come hell or high water.

I mean, here we have a quiet intense drama about a charismatic

man who inspired people like Jack Kerouac and Alan Ginsberg,

and the director uses every trick in "The MTV Bible of Pseudo

Filmography" to hide that fact and (supposedly) make it palatable

for the ADD generation. You got your jump cuts and edits every .9

seconds and odd angles and pretty inserts and on and on and on

until I finally wanted to scream at the screen, "Take a F*****G

valium!" Drama has to unfold; it cannot be force fed down your

gullet because the man making the movie thinks you're too easily

distracted to give a damn about the characters.

I've only seen one other movie where the director completely

destroyed a wonderful script -- "A Chorus of Disapproval"

(although if "While You Were Sleeping" had had any other actress

in the lead besides Sandra Bullock, it would also fit in this cursed

category).

So...if you like your drama spit out in food fight fashion, then this is

the movie for you. But if you want anything approaching reality,

check out something like "La Dolce Vita" by Federico Fellini, who

has more style in his right pinkie than in all of Stephen T. Kay's

body.