Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006)

Wristcutters: A Love Story (released in some places as Pizzeria Kamikaze) is a 2006 darkly comic, bittersweet fantasy about love, loss and the strange rules of the afterlife. The film takes place in a barren, surreal “Beyond” reserved for people who have committed suicide — a high-desert landscape littered with burned-out cars, old tires and abandoned sofas — where life continues in muted, absurd ways. Zia, newly dead after slashing his wrists over a breakup with Desiree, wakes up disoriented, takes a job at the titular pizzeria and tries to make sense of this sideways world. When Zia learns that Desiree killed herself months after he did, he and Eugene — an electrocuted Russian rocker with a deadpan charm — set off on a road-trip across this off-kilter afterlife to find her. They pick up Mikal, a blunt hitchhiker convinced she was a victim of an overdose rather than a suicide and determined to find the People in Charge. Along the way they encounter Kneller, who runs a strange campground where small, inexplicable miracles occur, and a gallery of quirky, mournful characters who make the Beyond feel lived-in and oddly familiar. Watching this film, you’ll experience a tone that mixes deadpan humor, surreal visuals and genuine tenderness. The movie balances comic set pieces and bizarre world-building with poignant meditations on regret, connection and second chances. The performances are eccentric and heartfelt, and the journey unfolds as a road movie in miniature — often funny, sometimes melancholic, and ultimately hopeful without becoming saccharine. If you like offbeat indie films that combine fantasy elements with dark comedy and emotional honesty, Wristcutters: A Love Story/Pizzeria Kamikaze offers a unique, emotionally satisfying ride through an imaginative afterlife where grief and hope coexist.

Actors: Patrick Fugit, Shea Whigham, Tom Waits

Director: Goran Dukic

Runtime: 88 min

Genres: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy

6.9 /10 62 /100 7.2 /10 6.8 /10