'State's Evidence' trivializes teen suicide
“State's Evidence” may be a dangerous film for vulnerable teens to watch, in the way it normalizes — if not trivializes — suicide.
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Directed by Benjamin Louis from a screenplay by Mark Louis, it lends itself to a "Blair Witch" style of filmmaking.
Douglas Smith, best known as the older son in HBO's "Big Love," plays 15-year-old Scott Myers, an intelligent California high school student who reads Emanuel Kant and for reasons never explained, decides to kill himself.
His father is a bit of an idiot, but his mother seems warm and loving. Scott seems to have genuine affection for his mother. His sister can barely tolerate him, by hey, that's what sisters are for.
He narrates into a camcorder so after he kills himself with a gun at school, he reasons the police and psychiatrists and psychologists can examine the recording and try to explain his actions. Thus, it becomes part of “state's evidence.”
Off to school he goes where he appears cooler than usual. That's cuz he's going to kill himself, right?
After letting one friend know about his plans, word spreads to many others, including the hot chick who gets hotter and his lunch-table buddies.
The hot chick gets turned on by the plans and nerdy Scott gets lucky. As happens in Hollywood movies (especially those that take place in California high schools) his friends all decide it would be cool to kill themselves as well.
Reasons they agree to this bizarre pact vary. A girl played by Majandra Delfino decides to kill herself because her mother is sleeping with her old boyfriend.
Kris Lemche plays a quiet, unassuming kid at the beginning, but creates real tragedy when his inhibitions go away because he will soon be dead.
The first part of the film is intriguing, the second part sort of wanders. The kids decide they can't really kill themselves that day. They need to go out and get more camcorders, collect more states evidence and kill themselves the next day.
In the meantime, the Lemche character gets bullied and decides he wants to seek revenge on those who did him wrong. He also wants to videotape up girls' dresses. Do high school girls wear dresses anymore?
And what the heck, while he's at it, why not rape and murder a little girl at a convenience store?
Yes, this film's final third turns dark and bloody. It goes over the top, the way another teen film, "Heathers," did years ago.
I suppose to most people, including teens, the conclusion would be met with disbelief and eye-rolling. But a few could relate to these kids and get ideas. That's where the danger of this film lies.
It is definitely not the feel-good film of the year and the plot fails the logic test. Characters make abrupt changes in their personalities. The last few seconds, while implausible, are pretty strong. Watch it if you are not easily offended STATE'S EVIDENCE • Directed by Benjamin Lewis from a screenplay by Mark Brown • Runtime: 89 minutes • Rated R for strong disturbing violent content including a graphic killing rampage, child rape/murder, suicidal behavior, pervasive language and some sexual content - all involving teens. • 3 stars out of 5
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