‘Sometimes I Think About Dying Review: Daisy Ridley Carries A Poetic Meditation On Isolation
© by The Hollywood ReporterLoneliness is the subject of poetic exploration in Rachel Lambert's novel Sometimes I Think About Death . Premiered at the US Sundance Drama Competition and adapted from the Oscar-nominated short film of the same name (based on Kevin Arment's drama The Killers ), Lambert's film quietly follows the life of Fran (Daisy Ridley), a woman who feels more comfortable with her in life. your dreams
Fran is too well drawn to be just an avatar, but her impression of loneliness is a painful reminder of how terribly isolating modern life can be. Never has this been more apparent than at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, when lockdown measures revealed just how isolated many of us are. As such, Sometimes I Think About Death is an elegant treatise on how difficult yet liberating it can be to make connections.
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Fran, a single woman living in a quiet town in Oregon, has trouble connecting with others. The film opens with scenes that highlight the ghostly existence of our protagonist. At work, in a medium-sized office that mostly deals with spreadsheets, budget reports, and meetings that could have been email. Fran, protected by her three-walled cubicle, sits hunched over a computer, taking notes or imagining how she might die.
His visions are dark, haunting ranges with terrible patterns. In one scene, Fran stands in the basement of her office with a snake wrapped around her ankles. In another, she lies in the mossy bushes of a green forest, blisters crawling over her dull skin. Death is a strange thing for Fran, whose musings are treated without judgment by Lambert and cinematographer Dustin Lane. The duo uses a visual language based on poetic attention to detail. Like Steven Karam's The People, another adaptation, Sometimes I Think About Death , explodes the smallest or most mundane interactions into long strides.
In Lambert and Lane's capable hands, the office (where most of the film takes place) becomes a site of intense social interaction, a space where Fran, an honest but deeply withdrawn man, struggles to fit in. At a party in honor of co-worker Carol (Marcia Debonis), Fran watches nervously before going to the cupcake table, grabbing a piece of cake, and returning to her table. There are a few moments where he is engaged in conversation due to intimacy. But the talk (of putting up stationery, of her days off) that keeps others afloat doesn't feed Fran.
Robert (Dave Merhehe Rami ), the man who replaces Carol, changes her to Fran. His hiring is announced at a team meeting with the familiar awkward introduction, loud jokes and "funny" trivia. In this room with several windows, Fran sneaks a peek at Robert, whose warmth radiates from him. Officially, they meet in the living room, where Fran is busy making Keirig coffee, but in reality it's a quiet conversation.
In the short film, directed by Stephanie Abel Horowitz (credited here as screenwriter), Fran shares her behind-the-scenes thoughts. The feature film did away with that, and Ridley does his thing instead. It's Ridley's eyes that blink nervously or stare deeply, her body language and carefully crafted tone that reveal Fran's inner state. They signal the negotiator to find the connection and retreat to the safety of his mind.
Robert helps Fran by initiating most of their interactions. In the break room, she asks his name. Later, she sends him a Slack message asking how to get the stationery. These small gestures eventually lead to the bigger question: Will Fran want to see the movie? Answer: Of course. Ridley and Merhehe have an easy chemistry that gives their jokes just the right level of silliness and awesomeness. Robert's curiosity about Fran is evident in his patient listening and research.
At times, it would have been too easy for I Think About Death to compensate for some of its gritty, meditative qualities by turning Robert and Fran's relationship into indulgence and salvation. Lambert, along with writers Armento, Horowitz, and Kathie Wright-Mead, wisely avoided this fate by not presenting Fran as a sympathetic vessel. She has the freedom to act when it comes to Robert, whom she learns to care for, but sometimes finds it overwhelming. Fran finds it difficult to relate to others, not because it's uninteresting, although she claims it isn't, but because sometimes the world values individuality more than individuality.
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