[Editor's Note: On the Count of Three centers on suicidal characters. If you are considering self-harm, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at (800) 273-8255]A Sundance film that was first seen by select audiences nearly two years ago, On the Count Of Three is finally getting a release this Friday. One of the most audacious yet intriguing directorial debuts of recent memory, it sees the talented stand-up comedian Jerrod Carmichael working behind and in front of the camera in a film about two friends who form a suicide pact. Because they intend to both gun the other down to definitively put an end to their lives when previous attempts to do so have failed, Carmichael as a conflicted Val and an enigmatic Christopher Abbott as the troubled Kevin decide they can do whatever they want without consequence until then. They hope they can set wrongs from their past right, going to dark and absurd places as it all walks a tenuous, tonal tightrope. It is a film that denies easy catharsis, instead shooting for moments that go from being sweet and sentimental to more upsetting without batting an eye. Taking place over a single day that they plan to be their last, it is a slice of life glimpse of all the joys and tragedies to be found in existence.
For some, such an experience can feel out of balance or tonally inconsistent. After all, this is a film centered around suicide and the impending prospect that the two characters we spend all this time with may vanish from existence by the end. To make dark humor such an integral part of the film might not seem like it would fit with the more weighty subject matter at hand. Yet life does not always fit together cleanly and provide consistent tonal progression, an aspect the film replicates precisely. You can go from having the best time of your life, full of laughs and excitement, to being hit by a crisis without any prior warning. There is not a clear delineation as all of these things fold in on each other without you knowing they are coming. Life does not provide foreshadowing to catastrophe or a well-established trajectory. On the Count Of Three understands this, flaunting any typical sense of cohesion or consistency in favor of capturing the mindset of two men at the end of their rope with nowhere to turn.
This approach is certain to catch audiences off guard as it is almost intentionally uncinematic, withholding satisfying answers on the often meandering journey it takes. Yet this is precisely what makes it all work. It is able to define the indefinable, breathing life into the tragic and comedic elements in life without any pretense that can be present in storytelling. This painful sense of poetic absurdity is worth praising precisely because of how it breaks the rules of narrative, not just for the sake of doing so but to create something more prophetic in its place. Both Val and Kevin are in a really bad spot, making their chaotic series of decisions that often turn violent all the more illuminating when portrayed frankly. It doesn’t trivialize or downplay what is happening, instead opting to more fully embrace the internal emotional strife of the characters that gives rise to the film’s unpredictable sequence of events. It most certainly is a film that isn’t for everyone, but it never sets out to be. It eschews typical narrative progression in favor of a more scattershot form of storytelling that is a mirror of our own fraught lives.
This unconventional form of storytelling may explain why it has taken such a long time to reach a wider audience. Despite its strong cast, which also includes darker turns from comedy mainstays like Tiffany Haddish, J.B. Smoove, and Henry Winkler, any news of the film getting picked up for distribution was nowhere to be found. It was thankfully at least announced a few weeks back that it would finally be getting a release. However, there still was the persistent feeling that this was largely unceremonious and lacking in any investment in promoting the film beyond that. Perhaps there was a skittish feeling that it would be dismissed out of hand on its premise and might split general audiences who did end up seeing it. It is unfortunate as a film that challenges our expectations and pushes us out of our comfort zone like On the Count Of Three does can prove to be the hidden gems that far too often go overlooked. That doesn’t make them above criticism, but it is refreshing to see a work so completely distinct that it stands out from a crowded field of films even all this time later.
Yes, the story is messy and hard to pin down where it is going next. Though it never does this for the purpose of superficial shock or in a manner that stretches beyond what it is capable of grappling with. It tactfully becomes an experience that is grounded in a crushing sense of despair that we all have felt. It then uses this as a launching point to something more expansive about the two isolated characters at its center. As the consequences of their actions catch up with them and aspects of the plan to end it all are called into question, you feel every moment of the rather explosive conclusion because of how solid the framework has been established up until that point. It is hilarious and harrowing in equal measure, showing one side of the coin of life before flipping it all over to reveal something unexpected about the other. By threading the needle of humor and heart, it ends up arriving at something surprisingly hopeful that comes when you least expect it. It is still marked by loss, continuing to be true to the complicated tone it struck throughout, though in a way that feels more genuine in its cautious sense of optimism. Life is not an easy path and just as there are moments of joy, they can be ripped away just as quickly. It is in that excavation of an incredibly painful truth that the film climbs its way out of a pit of despair. It is covered head to toe in the muck it took to do so, looking ahead with an enduring, wary, and wacky wisdom.