I agree with some of the points other reviewers have made, but I wanted to offer an opinion from inside the subject matter of the film. Has a member of your family chosen to die by their own hand because they face the rest of their lives in an ill and endlessly declining body? Or do you currently know someone who is now, or has been, terribly ill and now faces an unknown quantity of time on Earth with a seriously altered body that no longer looks or functions normally? From both of these perspectives, I watched this film, hoping to see something with which I could identify. I ended up feeling a bit ripped off - which really made me think. As others have said, what you think should be the vital points of the topic feel buried under heavy-handed drama that grates on the nerves rather than lending a sense of "the real stuff people have to deal with when they're alive." And yes, it feels like a screwball comedy that had all of the humor erased from the script. An artistic choice? I don't know. Yes, people get angry when faced with the possibility or the reality of a loved-one's suicide. Anger, resentment, guilt, it is all there. But there is no "voice of reason" in this film, and I suspect that's what most viewers feel cheated of. We want a magical ending, a sense of completion, catharsis, or at least a sense of dramatic satisfaction (the ending may not be the one we hoped for, but it felt 'right'). What was Roy thinking, sitting in the room with his friend Pete? To me, in retrospect, that was the climax of the film - the point where a decision was made and now everyone in the story has to figure out how to deal with it (and with all the things they've said to each other throughout the film). This movie may not be what we wanted, but it is what it is and we have to choose how to deal with it and with its subject matter (which isn't what we were hoping for, let's face it). People make choices. There are cumulative consequences for every one of those choices, and there is no "easy" out. Death is never an "easy" out. That stings, both in art and in life.
Review of Youth in Oregon
