‘Love & Suicide,’ A Painful Depiction of Past Catching Up to Choke the Present

 

Love & Suicide film poster. 

“Being in Cuba has allowed me to live in a society that is not at war with itself. There is a sense of community. It’s a given in Cuba that, if you fall down, the person next to you is going to help you get up.”—Assata Shakur

Sometimes film has the ability to remind a person not to deny the authenticity of their truest selves, their purposes among life’s heaviest burdens.

Lisa France’s history making Love & Suicide left me strangled by the threads of challenging inner turmoils partially steeped by an upbringing damaged by parental absence. I remember once wanting to flee America and drown in Ghana’s people, disappear into a country no one knew me. Furthermore, there are family members drifting away, permanently living off grid. Thus, when the New Yorker character of Puerto Rican and Cuban heritage Tomas (calling himself Tom) seeks a real death in Cuba, the place where his absentee father was born. The fictional parallels spoke an alarmingly unexpected kinship to my reality. 

Tomas (Kamar de los Reyes) is in a dilemma. DP: Demian Lichtenstein. 

Path of self-destruction. DP: Demian Lichtenstein. 

An isolated Tomas descends into disparity, an unkempt man drinking and smoking cigarettes heavily, popping pills, and wielding a gun to his temple, wandering without purpose against Havana’s impoverished landscape, leaving desperate, sporadic voicemails to the unknown caller on the receiving end. The dreary, depressing scenes are extremely sensitive content to those conflicted by the very thoughts Tomas struggles to come to terms with.

Yet, two unconventional strangers pull Tomas out of his misery, revealing a whole beautiful, honest side of him— Alberto, the man with a heart of a gold and the other central figure and Nina, a Los Angeles woman wandering about in a culture that is not her own. 

Tomas is a grouchy grouch to sweet, sensible Alberto who demonstrates diligent patience with his passenger. DP: Demian Lichtenstein.  

The first American film made in Cuba post Fidel Castro’s revolution and without permission by both the United States and Cuban governments, Love & Suicide also symbolizes the film industry in a nutshell, one of many not listed on Letterboxd because so few no of existence, or think it of worthwhile note. It’s as though for all its effortless craft in storytelling— screenplay, acting, and direction— that it deserves burial beneath millions of other works, that it’s not valid enough to be archived, operating surely in a Tomas circumstance. 

Tomas is in a New York State of mind. DP: Demian Lichtenstein. 

Lisa Prince directed a timeless city that looked caught up in the past, a place that seemed outdated yet held a fierce vitality due to its diligent community that thrives in more heartfelt ways. It’s low budget and looks it. At the same time, this grainy abstract piece is effective, poignant, and sentimental. The late Kamar de los Reyes portrayed such a commendable, capable lead, an incredible actor whom I only saw for several years, a few minutes per day, playing a supporting role in the long gone One Life to Live— once my favorite soap opera. As Tomas, de los Reyes provides a strong, multifaceted range into the complexities of a character desiring escape despite having success— achieving the American dream with blood tied to two specific realms tainted by the very country. Luis Moro— producer and co-writer of the script— stars as the humble cab driver Alberto, the beneficial aid who deeply loves his heritage, giving respect, decency, and kindness to Tomas.

Alberto receives a thoughtful parting gift. DP: Demian Lichtenstein. 

The Capital Building holds similarity to the U. S. version yet you cannot help see it’s against the ravaged circumstances of the people. DP: Demian Lichtenstein. 

After Love & Suicide ended, Park Chan-wook’s Decision to Leave came to mind mainly because of the similar triggered emotions. It’s a different cinematic picture and whole other genre, but the deeper story dissects a meaningful predicament for the foreigner overwhelmed by complicated moral sensibilities. The tragic Seo-rae has ancestral ties to Korea, eventually chooses an explicit way out of the messes she causes. Although we know how her story concludes, Tomas leaves us on an ambiguous note, confessing to Alberto rather significant truths that seem both heartbreaking, reflective, and optimistic. 

Thus, Love & Suicide encourages profound reflection on what flows in our blood, the undeniable traits we set to diminish or forget entirely. Sometimes, many can mirror Tomas’s outlook, wanting to drown out certain truths impacted by shame or an unnamed grief. Family and friends can go astray, losing themselves to the jarring temptations that loneliness brings. The harder parts of life’s journey deals with the consequences, those fragile feelings of abandonment, of not being properly loved— especially detrimental if by a parent. Yet, an effervescent light can arise in the darkest hours, often by compassionate strangers who would rather see golden blessings than people haunted by shadows. 

Love & Suicide is available here on YouTube.