Owen Lowery has problems. After a troubled childhood and bouts of alcoholism led to a suicide attempt, Lowery found himself committed to a hospital, having been declared a danger to himself.
While he sat in the hospital, Lowery pondered the events that brought him to that point and decided the best way to be happy was to be distracted. To help with this goal, Lowery created a list of 52 things – one for every week of a year – he’d always wanted to do but never tried.
The documentary “An Alternative to Slitting Your Wrist” follows Lowery’s attempts to complete the list and, in some way, make sense of his life.
The title is not a joke. As the documentary unfolds, viewers can see Lowery is using the filming as a reason to keep living. Watching him in his daily life, it becomes clear he bears a large amount of pain.
The film slowly reveals the sources of these pains, as well as Lowery’s attempts to come to terms with the events that shaped him. When the final card is turned over and the most horrific aspect of Lowery’s past is revealed, it becomes clear to the viewer how Lowery can be so troubled as to repeatedly bash his head into the wall, if only to come to terms with what is going on with his life at the moment.
The film begins on as light a tone a movie about suicidal thoughts can be. We witness Lowery attempting such absurd activities as squirrel fishing – think peanuts tied in string attached to a stick – and fire breathing.
Before too long, tales of Lowery’s commitment and troubled family history begin to bring the film back to a somber tone.
It’s in these more serious moments that the film has the greatest effect. It’s disturbing to watch friends joking about pressuring Lowery – who admits to alcoholism – to drink every day following the completion of his goal of avoiding alcohol for a year.
The film also brings up the idea of a quarter-life crisis, supposedly brought on during the time of a person’s life in which they are finally forced to put away childish things and truly become adults.
Toward the second half of the film, the structure begins to fall apart as Lowery puts the list aside, realizing it was simply a crutch. His life wasn’t truly improving.
Watching him edit the movie, the viewer is given glimpses of events that might have been interesting to watch, bringing a sense of regret that you never see or hear exactly what was occurring.
There’s also a sense of unfinished business during the sequence when Lowery finally confronts the greatest tormentor of his childhood. Details are understandably scant considering what had happened, but it’s still frustrating to watch.
The ending is somewhat anti-climatic, with no real conclusion or epiphany reached.
Still, that’s almost the point of the film. Lowery’s realization that nothing he does will instantly improve his life reminds the viewer this is reality – not some scripted movie.
The film’s honest look at suicide and the thoughts of a person who would attempt it drive the film. The extreme method Lowery had planned on using, and the way in which he recounts his mind-set, provide a window into how low a person can fall.
Don’t expect to walk out of the film with a fuzzy feeling. While it might seem to be an uplifting film about a person’s triumph over depression, it’s best used as a form of self-examination.
It’s a film you might not want to go see, but you’ll probably be happy if you do take the time to watch it. Perhaps it can help you realize a person needs help.
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