The Last Time I Committed Suicide

There is a common thread in a number of the recent movies I've watched, guess what it is. This movie, The Last Time I Committed Suicide, written and directed by Stephen Kay, was released in 1997, and is 1 hour 32 minutes long.
The movie is about the early adulthood of a real person, who was the model for Dean Moriarty, Jack Kerouac's central character in the seminal novel "On the Road". Neal Cassady was an frenetic inspiring man who inspired Beat Generation writers such as Kerouac and Allen Ginsburg. Later in life Cassady became the bus driver for Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters and was a central character for Thomas Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.
The characters are...

• Keanu Reeves as Harry, the drunken 30 something friend of Cassady, lecherous for young women and always looking for someone to buy him a drink. Reeves is very good in this role, but not a character you will like. Late in the movie he causes Cassady to miss a chance at lifetime love. Harry is the devil on Neal's shoulder suggesting all the bad choices and begging for his involvement.
• Thomas Jane as Neal Cassady, the lead in a few movies that aren't exactly first grade, best example being the Punisher.
• Adrien Brody as Ben, the openly homosexual writer friend. A small part but I believe meant to represent Allen Ginsburg.
• Claire Forlani as Joan, the object of Neal's love and the suicidal character. Forlani is most memorable to me as Anthony Hopkins daughter in Meet Joe Black.
• Gretchen Mol as Mary Greeway or "Cherry Mary" the sixteen year old beauty and former girlfriend of Neal's. Gretchen Mol can be seen in Rounders and 3:10 to Yuma.
  Marg Helgenberger as Lizzy, Marg is best known from television's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation series.

This movie is set in the late nineteen-forties, when Neal was a young man of twenty something. Neal's girlfriend attempts suicide and is hospitalized. His frenetic personality draws him first to make long very personal visits but in the ends causes him to avoid the hospital entirely. In the void Harry steps in and they go back in time to relive experiences with Cherry Merry and the hone their bar scene, pool playing vices. After a while Neal is fooled into a visit with Joan by Lizzy. The deep love is rekindled instantly. Neal in the context of setting his life right sets out to get a suit for job a interview, promising to return immediately to Joan. Then Neal is side tracked by Harry who draws him into a local bar begging for a date with Cherry Mary. Cherry Mary's mother calls the cops and Neal is arrested delaying his return to Joan. Two weeks later Neal is released and Joan is gone, to this is what Neal refers to as "The Last Time I Committed Suicide", he feels deep loss.

Score 39 of 50, a high score for me but a movie that fits my reading interests. If you have read and enjoyed "On the Road", you must watch this movie.

• Character Development 10 out of 10. The main character is involved in moral issues will have consequence on the rest of his life.
• Acting 6 out of 10. Reeves is good, the rest of an intensity that fits the Beat generation.
• Photography, cinematography 8 of 10. I very much enjoyed the city scenes juxtaposed against the Rocky Mountains, the bar scenes as smokey and foreboding, and women while tragic.
• Writing, script 6 out of 10. Fits the subject.
• Concept 9 out of 10. For me it matched the stream of consciousness the Beats embodied.