A Necessary Death (2008)

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The acting in this movie is really good.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

I came across this movie while looking for a movie with my husband. I have struggled with the thought of killing myself if something happened to my mother my whole life. My mom has now had 3 strokes and a heart attack and has vascular dementia. I'm agoraphobic and I can't handle seeing her now. I also have Borderline Personality Disorder which has a suicide rate of 15%. I have been dealing with this for 6 months and going over in my mind whether I will indeed kill myself. When I saw this movie I thought maybe seeing other people will show me that it is not the right choice for me. Imagine my surprise when I find out at the end that it is not a documentary and it breaks my heart that someone would make a movie like this that people like me might watch for help and then you find out it's not real. I feel like an idiot and a fool and it actually has swayed me to try for the 3rd time in my life to commit suicide. So I hope you made a lot of money off this film that will play on the weak. Kudos on controlling the "mental" population in the world

A Necessary Death had its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, TX. It's hard to know what to think of a feature film that appears to be intentionally passing itself off to audiences as a documentary about the making of a student film on about a person planning to commit suicide. Much of the audience - myself included - was confused and thought that the film was an actual documentary. As a documentary, the project would be incredibly startling and disturbing.As a feature film, the project is creative, but also a bit of gimmicky and somewhat emotional manipulative, because the audience feels like they are being shown something real which is really a complete work of fiction. If the film opens a wider debate about the ethics of suicide and, in this case, the ethics of the euthanasia, that may be positive, but its more likely to lead to a debate about the ethics of film making. Realistically, the film's approach so off-putting and confusing that it is unlikely to get much theatrical distribution. Also, the last third of the film and especially the ending seems a bit overly melodramatic. It feels like the writer/director made the film in an effort to get himself noticed in film circles by doing something creative and out-of-the-box.Well, he has done that, but I'm not sure if the effort to confuse the line between fact and fiction is a healthy one or not. The film is entertaining, but also a bit disturbing in a way that doesn't necessarily seem particularly constructive. It is asking questions about the ethics of documentary film making, but it is unclear to this observer if they are questions that are particular important ones to ask or to answer.

I attended the World Premiere of "A Necessary Death" at the 2008 SXSW Film Festival. This is a shocking and controversial feature from director Daniel Stamm.To say that "A Necessary Death" defies description is an understatement. In fact, it's so unique that to say much more would spoil it. In "A Necessary Death," we follow a young filmmaker as he shoots a documentary about suicide. The kicker is that he actively solicits a subject who has already made plans to off himself and is willing to do it on camera.For me, it's intensely personal. I lost a close friend to suicide about nine months ago and haven't really struggled with it as much as I'd expected to. I think I understand why he did what he did and the notion that someone taking their own life might be "justified" is something that is taboo in this society. This film breaks that taboo, and, in so doing, sheds some light on an issue which is so foreign to most people that they look at me with a mixture of disgust and wonder when I bring it up.Needless to say, the film addresses issues of ethics, legality, and responsibility for the actions of others. The viewer's comfort level is tested as the film pushes the envelope of what's acceptable in cinema. The question is posed, "If it isn't disturbing, is it art?" "A Necessary Death" surely disturbs.

I saw this movie at the SXSW film festival, and I found it to be a fascinating, nuanced examination of many interesting issues: the relationship between filmmaker and subject, the ethics of suicide, and much more...however, one thing about this film really makes me angry: It is essentially being marketed as a documentary, a la "Blair Witch Project", but it is in fact a work of fiction. This movie is good enough to stand on its own, but I guess for publicity purposes, they are trying to fool people into going to this movie thinking it is real--which cheapens the movie significantly.I would recommend the film, but I hope that people realize going in that it is not a documentary--it is emotionally powerful enough without resorting to such cheap shock tactics.