ON THE COUNT OF THREE
US, 2021, 86 minutes, Colour.
Jerrod Carmichael, Christopher Abbott, Tiffany had issued, Lavelle Crawford, J.B.Smooth, Henry Winkler.
Directed by Jerrod Carmichael.
The title has the dynamic touch about it. What will happen on the count of three? Taking off for a race? Or, weapons drawn? Face- off?
This is a brief film which had success at the Sundance Festival. And it has been directed by its star, Jerrod Carmichael, best known for comedy television and video films. And he plays the central character.
On the one hand, because it is about weapons drawn at the count of three, the themes are very serious. In fact, the initial focus is mutual suicide. However, there are many comic touches throughout, in the portrayal of the characters, some absurd situations, eccentric behaviour. Which makes the whole film a strange mixture of the disturbing and the entertaining.
In fact, it opens with the count of three situation, two men facing each other, pointing guns at each other – then a shot heard. Then flashbacks to explain the background of each of the characters.
And, they prove very interesting in themselves. Val, African-American, works in a garage, is depressed, rebuked for taking too much time for smokes, goes to the toilet, takes out his belt and attempts to hang himself. He is stopped by one of the coworkers. By contrast, Kevin, is in a mental institution, in therapy, abrasive to the therapist, yet apologising, a mixture of depression and courtesy, but who has attempted suicide. He and Val have been best friends for years – and Val comes to help him escape and to lead back to that count of three sequence.
Val is played by Jerrod Carmichael and Kevin by Christopher Abbott, who has appeared in a number of films with different character performances, his Kevin indicating how versatile he can be.
No secret that, at the beginning of the day, the count of three goes awry. The decision is then as to how they would spend their last day, leaving the suicide until the end of the day. They have a vehicle so this is a variation on a road movie: time spent at a diner where Kevin encounters someone from school days who bullied him, an attempt to visit a doctor from the past but who is absent from his surgery, the decision to go motorcycle riding as they did in the past, Val visiting is father after many years, a confrontation and a demand for the money that his father stole from him, a fight, Val wounded and the couple going to the store to get bandages, ignored by the man at the counter who is trying to get his accounts in order, Kevin threatening him with the gun, taking the supplies but leaving money for payment.
The money Val wanted and took from his father’s draw was for his wife whom he visits, who rejects him.
It is a highly dramatic sequence when Kevin goes back to find the doctor, a flashback to his childhood, Henry Winkler cameo as the seemingly sympathetic doctor until he asks a predatory question.
Ultimately, there is a police chase, the police converging, the two men talking on the edge of a cliff (and our wondering whether they will do a Thelma and Louise exit).
It doesn’t work out exactly as we might have anticipated which means that we will have to see the film to understand the two better and to discover their final decisions.
Brief but telling.
- Serious themes? Comic themes? Serious and comic treatment?
- The settings, the mental institution, the workplace, on the road, diners and meals, holidays at lakes, the motorcycle course, the doctor’s waiting room, the visit to the home and wife, the blend of real and surreal? The musical score, the songs, some of the lyrics echoing suicide?
- The title, the picture of Val and Kevin, the guns, counting, hearing the shot?
- Going back in time, Kevin in the institution, his mental state, suicide attempts, his insulting the therapist, apology, confused state, with the inmates?
- Val, at work, depressed, fellow workers and conversations, smoking time and the criticism, in the toilet, his belt, attempting to hang himself?
- Val coming to see Kevin, the discussions, the escape, driving away? Val and his proposal, mutual suicide, the guns, Kevin’s attitude, Val serious, the repetition of the scene, count of three, Kevin ducking, neither dying?
- The consequence, the decision to die at the end of the day, their last day and what they would decide to do? Kevin’s character, the flashbacks to his childhood, with the doctor, urging him on, heroic, then the abuse question? Age, depressed, his hair and dye? Cheerful, singing, sad? The contrast with the Val, morose, eventually visiting his wife, leaving the money, her refusal, pregnant? The effect on him?
- The various episodes during the day, the driving, singing, the diner, Kevin seeing the boy from school, the joking about the bullying at school, the man and his wife, baby, going for the break, and Kevin later taking the vehicle and going out, the gun, watching, going away? Going to the doctor’s waiting room, the cheerful assistant, his not being there? Going to the friend with the motorcycles, racing as they did in the past? The visit to Val’s father, his attitude, confrontation, asking for the money, the fight, Kevin hitting the father, Val taking the money?
- Val and his change of heart, wanting to leave, wanting to be a father? The wound from his father, going to the store, the assistant counting the money, Kevin putting the gun, taking the bag, paying for it?
- And then his visit to the doctor, the gun, the impact of the flashbacks, the doctor on the defensive, Kevin denouncing him, leaving the safety catch on, the doctor overpowering him, Val arriving and shooting the doctor?
- Driving quickly, the getaway, the pursuit by the police, the chase? Going to Donnie, the bikes, the police pursuit?
- The final talk, Val wanting to live, Kevin shooting himself?
- The aftermath, Val in prison, the visit to the wife and child, playing with them, the tracking shot tracking through the groups of prisoners?
- A blend of pessimism and optimism?
