After watching ‘Crossing That Bridge‘ we can surely agree with John Lennon that ‘life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans’. For John, a young Londoner, life starts after finding out that he has cancer. From that moment on, he is interested in delaying the treatment only to have some more time to make what is left of his life worthwhile. Meeting Paula very soon after he got diagnosed, and also Justin – Paula’s crazy boyfriend, John embarks on a mission that seems impossible.
At first, the movie may be tricky, this kind of subject being very common in today’s world, where cancer in different forms is the main death cause. Even when the spotlight turns to the diseases every character suffers from, again it seems like something you may have seen in other movies. John meets Justin in the waiting room at a cancer research centre, where they spend almost 5 minutes together every week in an atmosphere taken out from Chuck Palahniuk’s novels. Also, speaking of Palahniuk, Paula, the female character of the movie resembles very much Fight Club’s Marla Singer in scenes like the suicidal attempt or the graveyard one. Also, Paula suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder and bipolar disorder, which makes her character even more interesting.
Even though it is a tragic event, the atmosphere in the film is rather satirical. The French-like music in the background dispels the tragic mood given by the general theme. In our opinion this is the smartest move Nevares could make to lower the pressure from the characters.
Another thing that we really appreciated in this film was the long steady shots. The background is quite offering and Nevares takes advantage of it, providing the viewer with some exquisite images.
We weren’t sure how to feel about ‘Crossing That Bridge’ until the end. Roger Nevares turns everything upside down, creating one of the most emotional endings we have seen in our feature competition so far. One thing you learn at the end of this movie is that, when time comes to cross that bridge, be sure not to leave others alone.
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