[DanaC]

I finally got around to watching a film I've had on my Must See list for several years: Jumping off Bridges. It's full of excellent performances - alas there really aren't many clips available to demonstrate that.

The story centres on a teenaged boy, his small group of friends and his family.

His mum is suffering from depression and some sort of PTSD, with the Dad and two sons trying to cope with her illness and then suicide - we learn that they'd lost one of their three children 8 years earlier.

Most of the film follows the fallout from the mother's suicide, including how the lad's close group of friends and girlfriend cope with his grief and withdrawal.

It's a wonderful little film. Raw and real.

The young actors all do a great job, and the film is really a coming of age film. But for me the star of the show is the father, Michael Emerson. His performance as the husband trying to cope first with his wife's depression, and then his son's and his own grief, while keeping the family together and doing all the normal stuff of going to work and parenting, was incredibly moving.

The title comes from the ritualised little hobby the boy shares with his best friend from early childhood, and into which the girls are then drawn: photographing bridges and then jumping from them into the water late at night.

Like i say, not much in the way of clips.

Trailer for the movie:



Only a couple of other vids available - one is a montage of clips, with the music from the film playing over them - you get a sense of the feel of the movie. Judging by the clip title it's put together by an Emerson fan :p Worth watching, as the song is wonderful.



The only actual clip I could find is this one. It's a very small snippet from a much longer scene. The whole scene is brilliant - it is quite a long scene and the pitch shifts a lot throughout. Both Emerson and the young Chafin do an amazing job.



All the actors do a brilliant job in this film. It's full of scenes that just blew me away. Often some of the quieter, less pointed scenes. These are teenagers I recognise as teenagers - with one foot in the grown-up world and one still in childhood. And the mum's depression at the start of the film is beautifully portrayed - as is the impact of that radiating out into the family.

Obviously, for any dwellar there is an added poignancy - and it gave me pause before pressing play. But I'm glad I did.