On The Edge (2001) – Cillian’s First Leading Role

It’s been a while since my last Cillian Murphy’s movie review, the last one was Red Eye. I have seen almost all his movies but I still haven’t written all the review yet…all in good time

I have been planning to write about On The Edge since early this year but something else always came out and delayed my review to be published. Last night was my third time viewing the movie. I am not crazy about this movie but I won’t say it’s boring either. The movie is quite interesting but honestly, I wouldn’t watch it more than once if the actor is not Cillian Murphy. On The Edge can be considered as Cillian’s first movie as a leading actor. The movie itself wrote ‘Introducing Cillian Murphy’.

On the Edge is a 2001 Irish film directed by John Carney. The story set on a 19 years old Jonathan Breech who was played by Cillian Murphy. It started with Jonathan’s father’s funeral. He acted as if he didn’t care with his father’s death but the truth was he was somehow devastated. Straight of the funeral, he bought cocaine, asked someone’s girlfriend to have sex and stole someone’s car. Instead of taking the girl to a hotel, he went to his brother’s house and took his father’s ashes. He dropped the girl in the middle of nowhere and decided to kill himself by jumping off the cliff with his father’s ashes strapped in the back seat of the stolen car.

However, faith said differently. Jonathan lived to see the next day with only a broken little finger. He was sent to a mental institution or what liked to refer as ‘Mad House’. He met Dr. Figure (Stephan Rea, this is the second time I see Cillian played with Rea) who found it a bit difficult to see through Jonathan’s rebellious act. He tended to contradict Dr.Figures analysis. He was far from being cooperative.

Jonathan: I know more about the business of suicide in my baby finger, than you do in all your years of training and Freud reading. I gurran-fuckin’-tee ya that.

In his therapy group, he met a girl named Rachel (Tricia Vessey) who he thought as cute girl. But Rachel was not as cute as he thought. She showed unusual behavior by getting excited when seeing blood. Jonathan also made friend with Toby (Jonathan Jackson). They often sneaked out of the institution in the middle of the night. Toby blamed himself for his brother’s death. Everyone in the group has tendency to kill themselves, Dr. Figure asked them to make a pledge not to kill themselves before New Year ’s Eve.

Dr. Figure: What would you do if you were allowed home for the afternoon?
Jonathan: [inhales] Get a decent cup of coffee then I’d chop me head off with a chainsaw.
Dr. Figure: Okay. Uh – uh, just one thing. I wanted to propose something. It’s like a pledge between doctor and patient. We nominate a day, like three weeks from now – like New Year’s Day – and you mustn’t harm yourself until that day. You have to stick to it. What do you think about that?
Jonathan: Yeah, I think it’s a fuckin’ ridiculous idea.

Each day, Jonathan seemed to be getting better with friends around him. But…this happy little ‘family’ didn’t last long. Toby did something he wasn’t supposed to.

Rachel Row: Why do you want to die?
Jonathan: I don’t want to die, I just don’t want to be alive.

It was really fun seeing Cillian as a troubled young man, he played his role really well. The story itself, in my opinion, was a typical mad house story with inpatient’s personal problems and somehow friendship helped their recovery. I really like the friendship between Jonathan and Toby. My favorite scene was when Jonathan defended Toby against a man who was so pissed at Toby during their bowling hour. His act of challenging the man to kill him had made him saw live in different way. His relationship with Rachel was not as interesting as his with Toby, in my opinion.

Like I said before, I like the movie but I won’t even watch it more than once if it’s not for Cillian Murphy. This is the kind of movie that has good message, beautiful story, great script and interesting to watch but not to watch over and over again kind of movie.

Cillian Murphy was EXTREMELY GORGEOUS in this movie. He was so young and so gorgeous. I thank God for creating such beautiful man to bring delight upon my eyes I put together some pictures of him below and will upload more in my tumblr account.

There is one thing I REALLY REALLY LIKE about Irish movies, tho I haven’t watch that many, is the music. All Irish movies I have seen have amazing choice of music. They really know how to spoil their audience’s ears. I want to see more Irish movies without Cillian in it but it wasn’t easy finding Irish movies here. I forced myself to find ones with Cillian.

Movie Details

Director : John Carney
Producer : Ed Guiney, Arthur Lappin, and Jim Sheridan
Screenplay : John Carney and Daniel James
Starring : Cillian Murphy, Tricia Vessey, Jonathan Jackson Stephen Rea
Release : 21 September 2001
Rating:

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