OMG, this was one of the saddest, most depressing movies I've ever seen.
That's not to say that it wasn't a good movie, or even that I didn't like it, but this movie is definitely not for everyone.
John May is a nebbish, a cipher, an anonymous clerk in a ministry office whose job it is to settle the affairs of those poor souls who die without family or anyone to see them off to the great hereafter. I suppose his job might be considered to be the equivalent of the American public administrator. But John goes beyond the bare necessities of his job. If he is unable to track down any family members of the deceased, he sees to it himself that the deceased has a decent funeral and burial, even if that means that he and he alone is in attendance at the service. And if no family is found, John makes that individual part of his own (seemingly non-existent) family, painstakingly and reverentially placing photographs of the deceased in his own family album.
Seeing John in his daily life I could not help but call to mind Henry David Thoreau's famous quote to the effect that "the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." John May personifies that quote. We see him every day at work in the same drab office, and then going home to the same drab house and eating the same drab meal. His only interactions are with those in his job capacity, as there are no family members of friends in sight. He is quite well on the way to becoming one of the lost individuals he himself serves on the job.
He is a male Eleanor Rigby.
After John is terminated from his position (for being too "slow" and "inefficient") and things begin to look even bleaker for him, there is one ambiguous scene where it appears that he may even be contemplating suicide.
Toward the end of the film, one of his cases brings him together with a possible love interest and John – someone who appears never to have taken a chance or risk in his life – reaches out his hand (and his heart) and tries to forge a connection with this person. But just when it looks like his life may turn around for him ..Wham! Well, I won't give away the ending, but there is one scene that literally made me gasp "Oh no!".
I saw life in this movie: the absurdity and unfairness of life. It certainly does not present an optimistic point of view. And if you're looking for a happy ending, this is not the movie for you.
Although this is a quiet, slow -some (not I) might even say boring - movie, the final scene brought everything to a head, calling to mind the final scenes in both "Titanic" and "Schindler's List." Extremely moving. Extremely poignant. Bring your hankies, folks.
That's not to say that it wasn't a good movie, or even that I didn't like it, but this movie is definitely not for everyone.
John May is a nebbish, a cipher, an anonymous clerk in a ministry office whose job it is to settle the affairs of those poor souls who die without family or anyone to see them off to the great hereafter. I suppose his job might be considered to be the equivalent of the American public administrator. But John goes beyond the bare necessities of his job. If he is unable to track down any family members of the deceased, he sees to it himself that the deceased has a decent funeral and burial, even if that means that he and he alone is in attendance at the service. And if no family is found, John makes that individual part of his own (seemingly non-existent) family, painstakingly and reverentially placing photographs of the deceased in his own family album.
Seeing John in his daily life I could not help but call to mind Henry David Thoreau's famous quote to the effect that "the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." John May personifies that quote. We see him every day at work in the same drab office, and then going home to the same drab house and eating the same drab meal. His only interactions are with those in his job capacity, as there are no family members of friends in sight. He is quite well on the way to becoming one of the lost individuals he himself serves on the job.
He is a male Eleanor Rigby.
After John is terminated from his position (for being too "slow" and "inefficient") and things begin to look even bleaker for him, there is one ambiguous scene where it appears that he may even be contemplating suicide.
Toward the end of the film, one of his cases brings him together with a possible love interest and John – someone who appears never to have taken a chance or risk in his life – reaches out his hand (and his heart) and tries to forge a connection with this person. But just when it looks like his life may turn around for him ..Wham! Well, I won't give away the ending, but there is one scene that literally made me gasp "Oh no!".
I saw life in this movie: the absurdity and unfairness of life. It certainly does not present an optimistic point of view. And if you're looking for a happy ending, this is not the movie for you.
Although this is a quiet, slow -some (not I) might even say boring - movie, the final scene brought everything to a head, calling to mind the final scenes in both "Titanic" and "Schindler's List." Extremely moving. Extremely poignant. Bring your hankies, folks.