Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself

If movies have been feeling a wee-bit ordinary to you lately, allow this one to throw you for a loop. Jamie Sives plays Wilbur, a cynic who has never gotten over the death of his mother and constantly tries to kill himself. His older brother Harbour (Adrian Rawlins) takes care of him, picking up after each death attempt and trying to make life comfortable for his troubled sibling. A wayward-soul single mom (Shirley Henderson) marries Harbour and has an affair with Wilbur, leading to obvious difficulties. Director Lone Scherfig has put together a most unusual film, one that can make the viewer feel extremely uncomfortable at one instance, and then laugh out loud shortly thereafter. Funny, shocking, sad and remarkably clever, this establishes Sives as a major acting talent, and perhaps gives Rawlins the best role of his career. Henderson, who did an unusual turn in the recent Intermission, is great yet again. This is dark comedy at its darkest. (CR)