ReelBob: ‘Before I’m Dead’ ★★
Trauma, regret and guilt are the forces that drive “Before I’m Dead.” But its presentation nearly stops the movie in its tracks.
Trauma, regret and guilt are the forces that drive “Before I’m Dead.”
But its presentation nearly stops the movie in its tracks.
Co-writer-director J.R. Sawyers, who also stars as Nolan, is basically a one-man show. His Nolan suffers from Agoraphobia, brought on the trauma of seeing his wife — and others — killed during a mass shooting at a restaurant.
Nolan is so overcome by the horror of the event that he refuses to leave his apartment. A vise of fear anchors him to his home.
Some sort of inexplicable phenomena changes the laws of time and space in the apartment. Nolan begins experiencing visions of the past, in which he talks with his dead wife, Carla (Camille Montgomery), and the future in which he sees his own corpse.
His bathroom holds the key to this havoc, as every time he opens the door and turns on the light, it acts as a time portal.
“Before I’m Dead” offers an intriguing premise, but this odd tale about one man’s time-space continuum is obscure and boring.
The movie is like “Groundhog Day” for the mentally disturbed.
Sawyers as director spends too much time lingering Sawyer the actor’s emotional turmoil. It soon becomes needlessly repetitious. “Before I’m Dead,” even at 83 minutes, feels as if it is going round-and-round in an endless, interminable loop.
The relationship between Nolan and Carla is superficially explored. Sawyers makes it obvious that they were a young and successful couple in love — but that’s about it.
We really don’t learn much about them.
“Before I’m Dead” needed more spark, more verve. Even the sequences in which Nolan confronts his future self, lack conflict.
The film’s editing is solid as it helps create a sense of Nolan’s displacement from the outside world. The cinematography also abets Sawyer’s vision of the overwhelming apprehension that grips Nolan.
Throughout the movie, Nolan can’t distinguish between what is real and what is imaginary. We, simultaneously, also become momentarily confounded.
Nolan’s mental state after surviving such a horrific experience is something the vast majority of us cannot — and hopefully never will — experience.
“Before I’m Dead’s” science-fiction overtone, diminish Nolan’s journey, making it too muddled and convoluted for us to really appreciate.
I am a founding member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. I review movies, 4K UHD, Blu-rays and DVDs for ReelBob (ReelBob.com), The Film Yap and other print and online publications. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com. You also can follow me on Twitter @ReelBobBloom and on Facebook at ReelBob.com or the Indiana Film Journalists Association. My movie reviews also can be found at Rotten Tomatoes: www.rottentomatoes.com.
BEFORE I’M DEAD
2 stars out of 4
Not rated, violence, language
