Before I Disappear

2014 • 98 minutes

About this movie

A troubled young man and his straight-laced niece embark on a thrilling odyssey through New York City in this heartrending drama based on an Oscar-winning short. As his life hits rock bottom, 20-something Richie (Shawn Christensen) decides to end it all—only to have his half-hearted suicide attempt interrupted by an urgent request from his sister (Emmy Rossum) to babysit her precocious daughter (Fatima Ptacek). So begins a madcap tour of Manhattan after dark, as uncle and niece find unexpected bonds in the unlikeliest of places. Ron Perlman co-stars in this hugely moving adaptation of up-and-coming director/star Christensen's own 2013 Academy Award-winning short, Curfew.

Ratings and reviews

Curfew, the original short version of this movie is the better film. Same basic story without the superfluous gangsters and hallucinations and monologues. More time is spent with Richie and Sophia, watching their relationship develop as the night goes on.

Stays with you and brings you back. Its gritty, though not so much as 21 grams. I'll pay it my highest compliment: rewatchable!

This film has something that many movies don't have: human characters that are awful people, yet hypnotic and endearing. A good movie to make you feel and experience humanity in a raw form.