A Long Way Down (film)

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Movie
German title A long way down
Original title A long way down
Country of production United Kingdom
original language English
Publishing year 2014
length 96 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
JMK 12
Rod
Director Pascal Chaumeil
script Jack Thorne
production Finola Dwyer ,
Amanda Posey
music Dario Marianelli
camera Ben Davis
cut Barney Pilling ,
Chris Gill
occupation

A Long Way Down is a British tragicomedy from the year 2014 , based on the eponymous book by Nick Hornby is based in 2005. Directed by Pascal Chaumeil , the screenplay was written by Jack Thorne . Pierce Brosnan , Toni Collette , Imogen Poots and Aaron Paul can be seen in the leading roles .

action

Martin decided to kill himself. The former presenter lost his job and family after a brief affair with a minor. On New Year's Eve he wants to jump from the roof of a high-rise building. Shortly before he wants to jump, he is approached by Maureen, who also wants to jump off the roof. Maureen offers to wait until Martin has jumped. Martin doesn't dare to jump after all. As Martin and Maureen introduce themselves, Jess tries to storm past them and throw himself off the roof, but she is held back by Martin. Now the three of them notice that the pizza delivery boy J. J. is also on the roof. In the end none of the four jumps off the roof.

On the way home, Martin picks up Maureen, J. J. and Jess on the roadside. Jess says that her boyfriend abandoned her and wanted to kill herself because of it. J. J. tells that he has inoperable cancer. They drop Jess off at a nightclub where she wants to find her boyfriend. The remaining three decide not to leave Jess alone in this situation and follow her to the club. They eventually find Jess passed out and take her to the hospital.

After Jess regains consciousness in the hospital, she suggests that none of the four kill themselves before Valentine's Day . The four make this pact in writing on the back of Maureen's farewell letter. In the following days, Jess secretly observed the others on the street.

When the pact broke out in the press, Jess's father, a politician, arranged a meeting with Jess and Martin, fearing the media hype could affect the rest of his family and his career. Jess doesn't care about her father's fears, however.

In the following time the four are followed by the press. They meet at Maureen's and her disabled son's and advise how to deal with the press. Instead of being hunted by the press, they decide to capitalize on their story and sell it to the press. In interviews, they tell a decorated version of their meeting on the roof on New Year's Eve - including an angel who looked like Matt Damon . In an interview, Jess is asked about her older sister who disappeared a few years ago, whereupon she leaves the studio crying.

To escape the press, the four of them decide to go on vacation to Tenerife for a week . Shortly before departure, all of this becomes too much for Maureen, but she can persuade the others to come along. The four of them have a lot of fun on the beach. J. J. meets Kathy and tells her that he wanted to kill himself but has no cancer and is now part of a pact of desperate people. It turns out that Kathy is a journalist who wanted to find out more about the four. After J. J. tells everyone that he does not have cancer, there is a fight between J. J. and Martin, who feels exploited.

When they get back from vacation, the four of them go their separate ways. Maureen takes care of her severely disabled son again and only occasionally sees the others from a distance. One night her son had a heart attack while he was sleeping . Martin and Jess assist Maureen at the hospital, and the doctors save Maureen's son.

At the hospital, Jess notices that it's Valentine's Day and that her pact is running out. The three go in search of J. J., and Martin finally finds him on the roof of the skyscraper when he is about to jump. J. J. says that he sees no reason to live and that nothing has changed for him since New Year's Eve. Jess and Maureen also come up on the roof and the three try to persuade J. J. not to jump.

320 days later the four chat with each other. Martin is now looking after his daughter, Maureen is having a New Years Eve party with her son and friends, and Jess and J.J. are a couple.

reception

The film received mostly negative reviews. On Metacritic , the film received a Metascore of 34/100 based on 21 reviews, and on Rotten Tomatoes , 22 percent of the 50 reviews were positive.

The film service believes that A Long Way Down is a "moderate comedy [...] which does not exhaust the potential of its original idea" and "does not find a convincing attitude towards its serious topic". It goes on to say that “neither the actors nor the staging” would “reveal a lot of enthusiasm”.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for A Long Way Down . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , February 2014 (PDF; test number: 143 461 K).
  2. ↑ Age rating for A Long Way Down . Youth Media Commission .
  3. ↑ A Long Way Down - short review . In: Filmdienst.de . Retrieved July 31, 2016.