Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: KILL ME [SXSW Film - Austin, Texas]

City but the setting was changed to Utah to give it an every city feel...and probably help with financing. Like with anything circumstances change a film while hopefully the gist and context of the narrative stays intact. This is what anchors this film and is buoyed by this unique cast which benefits back and forth from those strengths. Charlie Day plays Jimmy, a man who wakes up in a bathtub of blood and calls 911 where he is connected to Margot (Allison Williams), an emergency coordinator in a call center. He tells her he doesn't know how he got there. What follows is an unpacking of mental health but done in a way of a genre mystery mixed with a tinge of romance. Because of Day's background as well as Williams, there are certain expectations of what characters they might play but this, to Warren's credit -- under a tight budget -- really turns it on his head. Day brings his signature manicness to the role but the unhinged blends between confusion, empathy and ADHD. Day never goes too much over the line but his delivery at times also makes it swing a different way in trying to lean into it. Only at one scene at a table when he himself is interviewed does it completely click. Williams is completely there with him, playing almost a more heartbreaking figure because she knows what is going on.

Jessica Harper plays Day's mom and Aya Cash, his sister, and again Warren really knows down to a pinpoint how to approach this in terms of the acting pitch. He obviously cares a lot about this subject but it is about balance but also creating a piece of entertainment that empathizes. What is interesting is that the film has a pizzazz to it while approaching a really difficult subject and is also able to make itself into a would be genre picture. Adding Giancarlo Esposito (as Jimmy's therapist) is a plus because again the misdirects keep coming...and he is definitely part of that. Keeping all these balls in the air while still questioning everyone's motivations is well structured and fashioned...and yet many of the instances come from a place of goodness which again is a revelation in this kind of film. It never feels dark, until it does. And even when it does, it is about sparking questions. Again mental health depends on perspective and this one works on Jimmy's which can both be reliable and unreliable. But what Warren does as a writer is create scenes where something is just slightly off that makes the audience question what is happening. Warren also said in the Q&A that he took jokes out of the original draft to give Day the chance to riff a bit but that the ending was a key part that Day pushed for (which makes sense once you see it). The tone in that way where the balance of all enters in, gives the film a distinct energy and voice with a subject hard to approach. There are some extraneous details that don't quite connect but that is part of what this kind of storyline is meant to do: encourage discussion. B+

By Tim Wassberg