Raindance Festival 2009: A NECESSARY DEATH Review

Gilbert wants to film the lead up to a suicide for his final film school thesis, and so with the help of his college buddies, Val (his ex), Michael and Daniel (all playing themselves) he sets about searching for a suitably depressed specimen to be his subject. When they come across the meek but endearing Englishman Matt, they decide he's perfect for the job. A less morally dubious prospect than the others, Matt has a brain tumour that means he's certain to die, so suicide is merely preventing a slow and painful death. Told through the camera of Daniel (the film's actual director), who records every step of the project from idea to morbid conclusion, the film itself plays out like an actual student documentary, giving the illusion that events are truth.

To the credit of all involved, much of A Necessary Death is remarkably realistic in its emulation of a genuine documentary and there are sections near the start where it's easy to forget that this is fiction. There's a thoroughly convincing whiff of amateurishness in the way they approach the endeavour - a mix of naivety and youthful exuberance. The weak link is Val, whose teen soap performance is at odds with the vérité style Stamm is going for. Representing something of a moral core to the film, her involvement becomes the crux of the later narrative arc, where the film falters. As a rather more sensational and overwrought plot development lends a more conventional momentum to proceedings, so too it dulls the emotional pull of Matt's plight, and undermines the credibility. It's a shame, as when the film stays focused on the core premise it's a surprisingly affecting piece, with a superb performance from Matthew Tilley anchoring the rest of the cast. Childish, sensitive and eerily at peace with his impending demise, Tilley manages to beguile both the fictional crew and the audience.

There is, though, a nagging feeling that the film somehow doesn't have the courage of its convictions. In choosing Matt, the characters (and the director) are able to side step many of the more challenging decisions that would be presented should they have chosen a subject without a terminal illness. Assuaging much of the documentarian's guilt also paves the way for a more 'dramatic' conclusion as we're never really forced to confront a healthy but depressed suicidal person, rather someone who's made a thoroughly troubling but ultimately logical decision. However, much like Gilbert's team, Stamm has made a brave and intelligent film, that despite some hiccups manages at its best to be funny, tragic and endearing - often at the same time.