Danish filmmaker Lone Scherfig built a career on TV dramas and children's films before jumping on the Dogme bandwagon for the one-shot feature Italian For Beginners four years ago. The result was an unpretentious, keenly melancholy relationship comedy that proved how Dogme austerity can lend immediacy to soapy, TV-level material. Schering's new film, Wilbur Wants To Kill Himself, is pretty far removed from Italian For Beginners in style, though not necessarily in quality. Handheld digital video, natural lighting, and found sound has been replaced by smooth tracking shots, subdued color tones, and a lush score by Joachim Holbek, but the story still sticks to audience-friendly melodrama.
Jamie Sives plays the title character, a morose Glaswegian who co-owns a bookshop with his can-do brother, Adrian Rawlins. The two befriend a frequent customer, single mother Shirley Henderson, who eventually marries Rawlins, though she prefers the unstable Sives, who returns her affections. Their collective flaws fit together well, and they're all on the verge of forming a functional family unit when tragedy strikes.
Wilbur Wants To Kill Himself is intended to be shamelessly heart-tugging and even uplifting in an odd way, but it's recommended mainly as an acting showcase. Henderson takes full advantage of a rare chance to break out of her character-actress mold, as she juggles mumbly insecurity and raw need, while Sives makes it plain that his charm and humor mask deep, possibly incurable distress. As for Scherfig, she continues to explore the distance between what people want and what they settle for, but while she creates painfully true and moving moments, Wilbur Wants To Kill Himself comes off a few degrees too warm. It's not fundamentally different from Italian For Beginners, but maybe maudlin human drama just looks better through a dirtier lens.