A Long Way Down

2014 "Life is looking up."
6.3| 1h36m| R| en| More Info
Released: 11 July 2014 Released
Producted By: BBC Film
Country: United Kingdom
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.alongwaydownmovie.co.uk
Info

Four lost souls—a disgraced TV presenter, a foul-mouthed teen, an isolated single mother, and a solipsistic muso—decide to end their lives on the same night, New Year's Eve. When this disillusioned quartet of strangers meet unintentionally at the same suicide hotspot, a London high-rise with the well-earned nickname Topper's Tower, they mutually agree to call off their plans for six weeks, forming an unconventional, dysfunctional family. They become media sensations as the Topper House Four and search together for the reasons to keep on living.

Genre

Drama, Comedy

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A Long Way Down (2014) is now streaming with subscription on Prime Video

Director

Pascal Chaumeil

Production Companies

BBC Film

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A Long Way Down Audience Reviews

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film
Listonixio Fresh and Exciting
Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.
MichaelMRamey You'd think and film that is heavily wouldn't be as inspiring or funny, but this film managed to walk the line nicely. The cast is great first of all and the way these characters feel connected right away is really an accomplishment for the writer and director. I came out of this film feeling good and glad that I stumbled upon it.
SnoopyStyle It's New Year's Eve in London. Martin Sharp (Pierce Brosnan) was a successful TV morning host until an affair with an underage girl and prison time. He goes up to the roof of the Toppers Building to kill himself. He is interrupted by Maureen Thompson (Toni Collette) who waits for her turn. She has the sole caregiver of a disabled son. They are struggling and unstable heart-broken Jess Crichton (Imogen Poots) comes running to jump. Then pizza delivery boy J.J. Maguire (Aaron Paul) appear claiming to be dying from brain cancer. It starts raining and Martin drives the quartet home. Jess comes up with the idea not to kill themselves before the coming Valentine's Day.The opening is so manufactured that it takes awhile to work it off. The audience has to surrender to its premise. It needs to be more of a truly dark comedy. Imogen Poots takes full advantage with her performance. She really gets to stretch out. Brosnan is fine. Collette is reserved. Aaron Paul needs to be weirder. In a group of dysfunction, he functions too well. It's not until the end that he lets go. Then there is the jarring tone changes. Just as it gets comfortable with a direction, it takes a sharp turn. I don't know much about the Nick Hornby novel but maybe it works better on the page.
Matt_Layden Had no idea what this film was when I decided to watch it on Netflix and was pleasantly surprised by how attached I became to the subject matter, the characters and the story. Brosnan is a disgraced TV personalty and decides to commit suicide by jumping off the top of a building on New Year's Eve. While up there, he meets 3 other people, played by Toni Collette, Aaron Paul and Imogen Poots, all there to do the same thing. None of them commit the act and instead form a weird bond between each other. A pact is made not to commit suicide until the next "popular" suicide date, which is Valentine's Day. Dark subject matter, I know. Despite the content of the film involving topics such as cancer, suicide, underage sex and other questionable character choices, the film balances this topics interestingly enough to keep it rather light. It never became too dark, nor too comedic. It walked a fine line of genuine trust in the characters. I found myself attached to each one, their faults, their quirks and liked them all. Imogen Poots has the hardest task of playing the "wild card" character. This character can sometimes become irritatingly annoying and I can see some people thinking her performance here is just that, but I found it oddly charming and real. She's a young girl who yearns to be loved and can't find it. She's lost, she feels alone and she turns to uncomfortable humour as a shield to hide her true feelings. I felt that her character had the most demons and she came off as the most interesting. The film is broken up into four segments and each segment is from one of the characters POV. At first I was afraid that it was going to be one of those films that played the same event multiple times from different character perspectives, but was relieved when that was not the case. The film fails to use the supporting cast effectively. Sam Neil is only in a few select scenes and Rosamund Pike is in one very uncomfortable one. Couldn't help but feel that their talents were slightly wasted here. I had no idea this film was based on a book, thus had nothing to hold it against. There seems to be a lot of hate towards it, but I was genuinely interested from start to finish.
Prismark10 A Long Way Down is a black comedy drama about suicide. It is an adaptation of a novel by Nick Hornby. Pierce Brosnan plays a disgraced television personality who plans to end it all from a popular London suicide spot on New Year's Eve only to find out there are others planning the same thing.Imogen Poots is a young lady who feels ignored by her politician father (Sam Neill). Toni Collette is a mother with her hands full with a severe disabled adult son. Aaron Paul is an American musician with a terminal disease.The four decide to make a pact that they would not do anything drastic until Valentine's day and in that time bond, be there for each other, become notorious celebrities in the media and decide to get away from it all on holiday abroad where certain truths emerge which causes disruption.A film about suicide has to be sensitive and the characters are certainly warm led by Brosnan who puts in along with Collette a strong performance. Paul and Poots who also appeared in Need for Speed provide able support and there is a nice turn from Sam Neill who at one time was touted for the role of James Bond along with Brosnan.However its not the strongest of story, not actually that black or humorous but its the performances of the leads that carry the film and makes it enjoyable.