Kill Me Later

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kill Me Later is a 2001 film starring Selma Blair and Max Beesley; it also features Brendan Fehr.

[edit] Synopsis

- Main plot: Blair plays Shawn, a suicidally-depressed loan officer at a bank. She is having an affair with the bank vice-president, who is married; after discovering that his wife is pregnant, she goes to the roof to kill herself. In the meantime bank robbers hijack an armored car. When the police arrive to break up the robbery, one of the robbers—Charlie Anders (played by Beesley)—takes Shawn hostage. They make a deal: she will help him escape if he promises to kill her afterwards. As poetic justice, the bank vice-president was a collaborator in the robbery but is brought to justice.

- Side plot #1 Two detectives: young Agent Reed, played by Lochlyn Munro and the older Agent McGinley, played by O'Neal Compton. Agent McGinley is trying to solve the case so he can leave for vacation. His wife keeps calling to nag. It is a recurring gag similar to Falling Down. The Agent Reed is extremely knowledgeable about suicide because his sister committed suicide.

- Side plot #2: Two robbers: young Billy, played by Brendan Fehr and the older Jason Thompson, played by Tom Heaton. Jason Thompson is expecting to die, either from a life of debauchery or a bad prostate. Billy is a fool for love.

Other paralleling themes in the film: The origin of Shawn's depression is her feelings of abandonment by her father following his divorcing her mother. Charlie's own feelings towards the robbery and towards Shawn are deeply informed by his own involuntary separation from his family.

Commentary on the cinematography: A large number of filter effects, shutter effects, and jump cuts are used to make long dialog scences (particularly between the two cop and between the two lovers) more visually interesting, although the audio itself on both is done as a single long take. Stylistically it has a similar feel to "All The Real Girls".