Film Reviews: July/August 2007

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Suicide remains an enormous taboo, rarely discussed publicly and widely forbidden--which is what makes Eric Steel's elegiac documentary The Bridge all the more engrossing. During 2004, Steel and his crew propped up their cameras on or near San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge and captured nearly all of the 24 fatal leaps that took place that year. Imagine enjoying a pristine, picture-postcard view of the famous bay when, all of a sudden, you witness a distant splash beneath the bridge: Instantly, the landscape goes from tranquil to macabre. Is it unethical for the film crew to observe people killing themselves? Does the movie perpetuate the bridge's status as the world's most popular suicide destination? Maybe. But The Bridge is laudable for its sensitive examination of human anguish, interspersing stories of survivors, friends, and family members who have experienced this most sorrowful of killers. -Anthony Kaufman

L'ICEBERG

(First Run Features; on DVD)

L'Iceberg tells the tale of Fiona, a haggard fast-food employee who deserts her family in search of an iceberg after a chance encounter with a walk-in freezer. By way of refrigerated truck, she lands in a European port town and boards the aptly named Le Titanique to sail toward fate--an icy undersea mountain and an Inuit coast guard" named Nattikuttuk. Despite the fanciful plot, L'Iceberg is an exercise in restraint. The camera never zooms, swoops, or pans. Dialogue is sparse. The actors' theatrical antics--parting the air as if it were ocean waves while they perch on a boat's bow, rolling themselves up in tinfoil like baked potatoes express more than mere words could while humorously punctuating this fantastic flight from normalcy. -Kristen Mueller

DANIELSON: A Family Movie

(Creative Arson Productions; on DVD)

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