Had this abandoned morals altogether and ended in a tragedy the family considers a success, like Alan dying/becoming depressed; or had consistent morals and punished the greedy adults who made their living off of misery while also criticising the capitlist system that allowed them to thrive in the first place, it would've been a far better movie. The first option is more fun, and the second option has better lessons.
Even without tweaking the morals, one could've made the movie just... generally make more sense by having the parents NOT be near suicidal themselves. As a person with major depression, just watching this movie made me consider suicide much more heavily as a result of just pondering the subject. I can't imagine running a shop with every possible way to kill oneself, many of which are unbelievably quick and seemingly painless, and not giving in to the temptation of testing one's own merchandise. A cognitive dissonance of the shopkeepers being convinced that life IS worth living, while running a business that sold the opposite idea, would be much more interesting.
It's too middling: not dark enough or kind enough. It hovers between the two concepts and ultimately remains unsatisfactory.
Even without tweaking the morals, one could've made the movie just... generally make more sense by having the parents NOT be near suicidal themselves. As a person with major depression, just watching this movie made me consider suicide much more heavily as a result of just pondering the subject. I can't imagine running a shop with every possible way to kill oneself, many of which are unbelievably quick and seemingly painless, and not giving in to the temptation of testing one's own merchandise. A cognitive dissonance of the shopkeepers being convinced that life IS worth living, while running a business that sold the opposite idea, would be much more interesting.
It's too middling: not dark enough or kind enough. It hovers between the two concepts and ultimately remains unsatisfactory.