Sunday Matinee: Just Say Goodbye [Film]

“After enduring years of abuse from his alcoholic father and the school bully Chase, Jesse Peterson tells his best friend Sarah that he plans on committing suicide. After promising to tell no one, Sarah finds it upon herself to try to stop him, taking any means necessary.” – October Coast PR

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2019 is already been shaping up to be a pretty heavy damn year in the world of film showcases here at Trainwreck’d Society. We are entering the second quarter of the year, and we have already had some pretty wild conversations about some very important issues through some of the cinematic adventures we have been going on. And today is absolutely no different. Moving further down the “what makes us sad” path, we have the brilliantly made indie gem of a film Just Say Goodbye as a platform to discuss the seriousness of mental health. Director Matt Walting brings Layla O’Shea’s amazing and dark take on the idea of suicide to the screen in a truly tremendous fashion. This films simply steeps pain into the boiling water of life, and brings in and out of existence throughout every other scene. Much like anyone suffering from mental health issues, the pain comes and goes in severity, but it never truly fades away entirely. And the same can be said for timeline in which this film follows. You see so much love, saddle alongside so much fear. You feel the ups, remain hopeful, but weary all at the same time. The mark of truly great storytelling, if I do say so myself. I and I do.

Featuring a cast of hard working yet relatively unknown performers, Just Say Goodbye is one of those films that is such a well done story in its own right that the level of talent in performances could have been drastically understated. But as it would be, the cast was absolutely incredible, and truly managed to pull you directly into the story and appreciate even more what the folks behind the story where attempting to convey to their audience. Katerina Eichenberger is an absolute star in the making, and somebody I will be watching very closely at in the future. And William Galatis gives an absolutely stunning performance as the crazed emotional wreck of a father. Everyone on the screen is obviously giving it their all, and seem to understand just how important this film could, and will be.

Mental Health has been becoming a more regularly talked about issue these days it seems. Which is definitely a wonderful thing. As a society, it appears as though we may be finally starting to break down that wall of judgement that comes with a person suffering from ailments that can’t always be seen to the untrained eye. The stigma is lessening. It’s not gone, but we the conversations are getting longer and more impactful in certain arenas. One major problem (apologies for the soap box regiment I am about to go on) has been the way we talk about mental health issues in general. It has always been frustrating to me to hear certain lies like “Oh, my ADHD kicked in” or “I’m a little OCD about [insert humble brag bullshit]”. Why do we speak like this? Why do we think this is okay? ADHD and OCD are very real mental health issues that should be taken a whole lot more serious. I know these are two very specific examples, and they don’t entirely have a direct link to depression, but the coalition can obviously be made. Basically, when we use bullshit language like this, we are belittling very real mental issues by even saying that you have even “a little bit” of a real problem. You never hear, “I’m a little fractured femur about cleaning my apartment” or “Oh, my broken foot really kicked in when I was at work”. Sound ridiculous? Well, that’s because it is. And so is claiming to have a mental illness as a simple personality trait. So please, please, knock that shit off. Okay, back to the film at hand.

All ranting aside, Just Say Goodbye is indeed a wonderful film that the world needs to see. And I hope that you all will. Soon. May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and if you are looking to get a conversation started about suicide and the effects that it has on a person and those around them, I implore you to check out this film.

Just Say Goodbye will be in select theaters starting May 10th.