Based on Kevin Armento’s Killers, Rachel Lambert’s Sometimes I Think About Dying is a well-acted, meandering fumble. The concept sounds riveting on paper, and the screenplay is fascinating at some points, but it lacks the nuance and information necessary to make us understand far more than what’s on the surface. In truth, Daisy Ridley carries the entire film on her shoulders, bringing to life emotions that authenticate her incomparable range, proving that Hollywood should be casting her in more films.
Still, therein lies the problem because it shouldn’t be up to Ridley to show so much when we, as the audience, know so little. With this approach, the film could’ve benefited as a short film rather than a feature, leaving the ambiguity lingering on the final frame with the haunting emotions necessary for viewers to make their own interpretations. Instead, with the slow beginning that misses a proper introduction or any sort of visual to understand Fran’s mindset, viewers are left in a bizarrely confusing state.
The film starts to pick up when Fran’s new co-worker, Robert (Dave Merheje), strikes up a conversation with her and endeavors to crack her open metaphorically. It’s riveting at first to watch Fran give in to his date ideas and suggestions, but it still leaves many questions in the air. Did the rest of her co-workers never bother getting to know her or inviting her anywhere? Does he remind her of someone else? Are her thoughts about dying due to OCD, whether diagnosed or not? Where and when did it start? With little to no answers, the film almost drags us along to the end, dangling a possible reveal while leaving us wanting with the oddest needle drop in history featuring Snow White’s “A Smile and a Song.”
Ridley consistently shows us plenty—she’s digging into deeply rooted places to bring to our screens a marriage between melancholy, indescribable emptiness, and uncertainties that’s so alluring it should work. Yet, with such a gripping character and performer, it’s unfortunate that we know very little. She has a family, yes, but what about them? Why don’t we see her talk to any of them? It’s one thing for her to leave her co-workers in the dark, but why is the audience also isolated?
At the same time, the most effectively divulging relationship in the film occurs when Fran sees her old co-worker, Carol (Marcia DeBonis), at a bakery while she’s there to buy donuts for the office. The familiar conversation the women have about Carol’s husband’s stroke interfering with their cruise plans thus reveals this notion of why waiting for things to happen isn’t how humans are meant to live. It clearly strikes and awakens something in Fran, allowing Ridley to finalize some of her best performances. DeBonis and Ridley are excellent with their raw honesty and vulnerability, revealing that even though the women didn’t converse much before, this moment is one that will stay with them both.
While the burgeoning romance between Robert and Fran could’ve been something great, there’s an odd wall between them in the shape of vines and plants. As tender as the final moment between the two of them is, the conversation with Carol does the most obvious job of giving us a little insight into the kind of woman Fran wants to be. Daisy Ridley could’ve truly done something totally brilliant if the screenplay included a bit more meat. Sometimes I Think About Dying has its appeal, but it’s certainly the kind of film that could’ve been a lot better. And, if nothing else, Ridley’s performance is more than enough reason to watch the film.
Sometimes I Think About Dying is now playing in select theaters.
First Featured Image | Poster Credit: ©Oscilloscope Laboratories