A novel film, without doubt, On the Edge is a story of a young man literally on the edge of his own mind. Attending his father’s funeral he steals the ashes and a car and speeds over a cliff with both to his doom below.

However, he awakes in one piece with but a broken finger and is sent to a mental asylum for three months. Herein he finds the meaning of his life as he brings faith to his fellow inmates and even finds love among the white walls of the sanitarium. And all the while his own reasons for his choices are being dragged from him...

Cillian Murphy, the raging crazy from Disco Pigs plays the messed up Jonathan here and is again convincingly manic and mentally troubled in the role. However, in this film shot before Disco Pigs, it could be said he is finding his feet among the insane. Those of us who know better, though, know he played the manic Pig onstage for several years, so psychosis is nothing new to this blue-eyed Irish feller.

Overall it’s a bittersweet story as Jonathan realises how good he actually has it, but he had to go crazy to find that out. In his search for self he manages to learn those important lessons the rest of us already know from watching Disney movies, but it is told in an amusing manner with some excellent and honest performances. Our other standout here is Jonathan’s love interest, played by Tricia Vessey who brings true anguish to her role and is wholly convincing.

The picture quality is good here, though the whole feeling is of a washed out atmosphere with plenty of wet earth tones and greys. Flesh tones are truly pallid, but it is Ireland, so it’s just the way people look over there. Shadow detail is fine and blacks are good, although there is a faint grain in some of the darker night scenes. Otherwise a pretty good picture overall.

John Carney’s musical score here is great, though it is wholly underscored by the simply awesome soundtrack. Carney, as director, has chosen some truly memorable music from bigger and lesser-known artists and has compiled a truly superb soundtrack. Some of the bands you may be more familiar with appear in the form of Smashing Pumpkins, The Jam, Therapy?, Supergrass and The Pixies, while those lesser-knowns do no less by way of support. Killer stuff.

Dialogue gets the tiniest bit cluttered by accents occasionally, but this is mostly okay. Sound effects are fine as well with no synch issues in this dual choice audio of DTS 5.1 or Dolby Digital 5.1. Thankfully this great soundtrack has been given the deep and resonant treatment it deserves here with both versions sounding spectacular.

As to extras we are granted a couple here, though not all that much. The trailer stops by for 2:00 in 1.85:1 with 16:9 enhancement, though it is soft-edged and videoish. Production notes have been included and these number ten informative pages. There are some nice backstories, film discussion, making of and casting anecdotes here. Finally, we are given five cast and filmmaker’s biographies that include filmographies as well. Interesting and useful with such a wide cast of semi-familiar faces.

Overall, this is an interesting film and one well worth checking out. I’d certainly recommend it for rental, although I’ve seen this available at leading variety stores for around fifteen bucks, if that helps. Performances are more than decent here and the story has been well written without dipping too much into sentimentality.

Go nuts!