Jumping Off Bridges

Starring Michael Emerson, Bryan Chafin, Glenn Powell Jr., Savannah Welch, Katie Lemon

            If the South by Southwest Film Festival is a showcase for underground, independent films, then Kat Candler’s “Jumping Off Bridges” should feel right at home with the rest of this year’s entries. While there is no denying the pure entertainment found in watching a bald Natalie Portman in “V for Vendetta” or Aaron Eckhart as a tobacco lobbyist in “Thank You for Smoking,” it’s always refreshing to spend time with films without major stars or a particularly large budget. Candler has formed a movie that is more frank and honest than most big-budget melodramas these days, creating characters that feel real and act real simply because they are real. There are no explosions and no battle sequences – just an effective story told with the right pace, and filled with dialogue that, like the aforementioned characters, seems real. I have a feeling this is the type of film that SXSW was born to present; a challenging movie with difficult subject matter that any Hollywood studio would likely shy away from.

            “Jumping Off Bridges” opens in 1992, where Zak Nelson (Bryan Chafin) is living a life of teenage confusion. His father, Frank (Michael Emerson) is a math teacher, while his mother Charlotte (Anne Nabors) suffers from severe depression from a family tragedy years earlier. Zak and his friends Eric (Glen Powell Jr.), Grove (Savannah Welch), and Lindsay (Katie Lemon) have a hobby of jumping off local bridges, keeping a scrapbook of Polaroid photos of each bridge they have conquered.

Zak’s mother eventually commits suicide, leaving his family and friends in a state of shock. Zak becomes a recluse, alienating himself from the outside world, and leaving his friends unable and in some cases unwilling to help him. The process of grief is deftly examined from all perspectives; from Zak’s father, who painfully breaks down with tears during his math class; to Eric, who avoids Zak at all costs in fear of speaking about the suicide. When Zak does decide to reconnect to the outside world, things may never be the same. Will the four friends ever be able to jump off a bridge again with the same youthful spirit? And will Zak be able to forgive himself for an everlasting guilt?

“Jumping Off Bridges” is a powerful study of how one event affects an entire group of people, and the way in which grief is expressed through everyone involved. This is not a movie with direct solutions toward suicide, but rather a glimpse of youths dealing with pain they can’t even comprehend. For Candler, this is a personal success, giving her a chance to spread a true-life event that impacted her as a teenager, and the product is a film that has the power to question teenagers and present problems that may not have an easy answer, but are worth discussing and debating about. “Jumping Off Bridges” is one of the brightest spots at this year’s SXSW film festival.

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