Sundance Review: Sometimes I Think About Dying

Since the pandemic there has been a large amount of griping over the state of cinema. Larger releases are drowning out theatrical space (see Avatar: The Way of Water with its over three hour runtime on at least four screens at local theaters) and blocking out room for smaller budget movies to have the opportunity to find their audience. Alongside films that are entirely independent productions that come from obscurity are smaller movies made with people who are relatively household names. Palm Springs with Andy Samberg was a selection a few years back as was Cha Cha Real Smooth with Dakota Johnson last year. While there were a number of movies filling this role, Sometimes I Think About Dying is one of the more obscure ones though deserves more attention for its treatment of social anxiety and loneliness.

Sometimes I Think About Dying follows Fran (Daisy Ridley) who works in an office, is socially awkward, and lives a kind of lonely existence. She does not feel at home with the pageantry and social politics of her office life (though she does love her job because she is good at it) and does not have much of a life outside of her job. This all changes for her when one of her coworkers retires and she is introduced to her replacement Robert (Dave Merheje) who helps her come into her own.

Much like The Whale last year, Sometimes I Think About Dying is very much contingent on the acting performance of the lead, in this case Daisy Ridley who audiences will probably recognize as Rey from Episodes VII-IX of Star Wars. That said, her acting performance in this is fantastic as she nails all aspects of the character from speech patterns to physical mannerisms and body movements. If one was unfamiliar with her work, they would probably assume that is how she acts which is a testament to her abilities. This is compounded with a script that does not take how she feels and trivializes it or makes her into something that needs to be fixed because she’s broken makes the movie into something unique when compared to other explorations of depression, anxiety, and loneliness.

The splashes of Fran fantasizing about her death are an interesting throughline for the movie because they are never framed in a way that makes the viewer think that she is actively suicidal. The fantasies are more designed to make her seem like she’s a passenger in her life and allowing it to go by without actively engaging in it. This is not grappled with as a negative and more as a statement of fact which does a lot to allow the viewer to project their own feelings of the matter onto Fran which provides for an interesting viewing experience.

If there is a downside to the movie, it is that the impending third act fight and resolution comes too quickly within the last 20 minutes of the film. It’s not so much that the fight is out of the blue because if someone has seen any movie at any point in their life they will anticipate that it is coming, however it is the fact that what Fran says is so out of character and just means to an extent that the reconciliation does not feel earned. Still, if that’s the worst thing about the movie it is still a solid use of an hour and a half. As of writing this article, Sometimes I Think About Dying has not yet found a distributor and there is no word yet on when it will be available to stream.

Final Rating: 9/10