“The Death of Dick Long” is one of those films that is definitely not for everyone. On the surface, this film seems to be a dark comedy whodunit that has layers upon layers as its story unfolds, but upon seeing this film that was directed by the man responsible for co-directing “Swiss Army Man” in Daniel Scheinert (who also plays the title character) and written by first-time writer Billy Chew, the “dark” part of “dark comedy” goes a LOT further.
Zeke Olson (Michael Abbott, Jr.), Earl Wyeth (Andre Hyland), and Dick are in a garage band, and one night after practice, an unfortunate series of events leads to Dick’s death, and as his cohorts do their best to cover it up in a small Alabama town, their lies and coverups get more and more twisted as everyone tries to simply find out what happened to Dick Long.
Conveyed though use of light, settings, script, and situations, this kind of film is definitely a strong example of this genre, with a strong cast that pulled me into the story. Despite this, I am having a difficult time with the writing of the review because there is one plot point that simply takes this film too far. Without spoiling it, I will say that this item is inspired by a real life case that I cannot even give the words to beyond saying that was simply too much for me to get past. Everything about “The Death of Dick Long” would have me raving about different well executed portions, but this one thing bothers me on such a basic human level to where I feel like less of a person for having seen it. Given the level of talent I saw in this film, I hope there will be another film from this writer-director combo that doesn’t cross such a line.