Synopsis
A great place to quit life!
A young man meets a 23-year-old cancer patient on the way to the park and disrupts her plan to commit suicide.
Sequoia
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Alternative Title
Sequoia National Park
Releases by Date
Theatrical
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USA
01 Nov 2014
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Netherlands
Releases by Country
Netherlands
01 Nov 2014
- Theatrical
USA
09 Mar 2014
- Theatrical
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“nobody asked me if i wanted to die. the only choice i got was where, and when, and how.”
a movie about terminal illness and suicide that is more about life than it is about death, more about hope than it is about regret, and more about the future than it is about the past. there are several absolutely breathtaking moments in this film: the story of the healing tree and the settlers, followed by the haunting close-up of riley’s reaction, stand out to me in particular.
this scene is made even more impactful as it follows a scene in which a different tree falls in the forest in time for riley to see and catch it on camera, just…
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Listen right, I like a meandering and heartfelt indie as much as the next person but this was just kinda...dull. A really unlikable main character being selfish and reading off a script seemingly written by some sixth form philosophy student, it wasn't great. It was pretty though and maybe now I'll finally be able to spell 'sequoia' first time without looking.
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Written by my best friend. I suspect Ogden's based on me.
But even without my bias, the script is one of my favorite things I've ever ever read. It's worth seeking out.
The director and producers tweaked a lot when they filmed it -- and they outright changed the ending -- and none of their changes were for the better, which is a goddamn tragedy.
Still worth a watch. You can get a taste of how good it could've been.
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"a man lifts me up. he brings me to the shade. i can tell it's not you. you don't wear these shoes. and i'm calling out your name. don't go. (help me.) i'm calling out your name. don't go. (help me.)"
(i did not think of the implications when i decided to watch a movie about aly's character having a near death experience... while waiting on a song about aj having a near death experience... so, needless to say, it is currently destroying me.)
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Half of Sequoia works really well, the other half doesn't work at all. The Aly Michalka and Dustin Milligan bonding over life, love, sex and religion whilst she is slowly dying and he is trying to expand his world-view showcases solid writing and performances. These scenes are cut-up between scenes of a squabling awkward family racing to save Michalka from committing suicide. The family scenes don't work due to the forced comedy between the cliched bickering parents, the awful new boyfriend (Martin needs to stop taking acting gigs) and a boring moody teenage. These scenes seem to exist to pad the run-time and add quirk, but then the director betrays the strong work of the leads by focusing on the…
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road trip suicide flick of the authentic teen romance variety. (edit: they're in their early 20's so it's not teens, tomatoe tomato)
it's no fault in our stars (heyyy, show yourselves) but i felt it was a somewhat fresh and somewhat risque take on the genre. it starts right off with our cancer diagnosed lead drinking the koolaid in form of a big cup of a lethal overdose, which then gives her bout 7 hours to live, enough time to make it to this special park/tree where she plans on dying. of course she meets this guy who happens to work for a christian organization along the way so theres a lil religious sprinkle on it too, but theres no…
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So, I'm in bed sick and I really enjoy watching random movie's I've never heard of, but this one had Aly (ya know, Aly & Aj?) and also that one guy from Ghost Facers on Supernatural, so I was like "HEY Why not?" And it was really good! I don't know how I can articulate how good it was. It was just beautiful, in that I liked the characters (even if there was really only one likable one), and the music was beautiful and I'm jealous that they filmed it in such a beautiful location because the farthest west I've ever been is Madison, Wisconsin, and that's really sad.
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A film that didn't hide where it was going in the slightest, but threw me for a loop emotionally regardless. Really well done, and performed soundly by a cast that I knew every one of from the weirdest places. Nothing groundbreaking in terms of storytelling here, but I loved it.
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Something about the way some indie films meander really strikes a personal note with me. The way they can feel like a slice of life—or a window into another person’s— feels very intimate. It’s like an odyssey of emotions, with no clear path for the characters to follow so they’re allowed to roam freely and create their own story. To me this is the most authentic way to create an intimate space for the audience to connect with a story’s characters, and it works for these kinds of movies because the characters aren’t constrained to some overarching plot structure.
So how do these characters use their freedom from story conventions? Like any good odyssey, there is a central set of…
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Aly Michalka (who honestly should be a bigger star, because she's charming as shit) plays a girl who, justifiably, wants to kill herself because she's about to die of cancer anyway. The film tries to play itself as a dramedy, but it works way better as a straight drama. The performances are all great, and the movie balances two storylines--Michalka killing herself and meeting a guy, and her family trying to reach her and working on their own problems--really well, giving each story the time and emotional connection it deserves.
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You can call it "Smoke Break at Hanging Rock".
Not to be confused with the celebrated actress Johnny Sequoyah, who obviously spells her name differently.
An interesting take on the road trip romantic dramedy finds Aly Michalka playing a sarcastic cancer patient who plans to kill herself but romance with "90210" star Dustin Milligan as a guy named Ogden, and her overbearing family (mom Joey Lauren Adams, sister Sophi Bairley) get in the way.
Surprisingly not very heavy handed for the subject matter. This was great.