Rated: R
STARS: Oscar Isaac, Olivia Wilde, Antonio Banderas, Annette Bening, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, Laia Costa
DIRECTOR: Dan Fogelman
GENRE: Drama
If I had to distill Life Itself down to one sentence, I'd say: It's a big, ambitious film filled with the small moments of life. A multi-generational saga that can seem, at times, like it's abandoned the entire narrative you were following and started up a different film altogether. Then just when you think what movie am I watching, anyway...what does this have to do with anything?...it connects the dots and there you have your AHA! moment.
Brilliant.
The plot revolves around Will Dempsey (Oscar Isaac), a mentally unstable screenwriter and his young and very pregnant wife, Abby (Olivia Wilde). Will had been committed to an institution, but he's out now and trying to piece his reality back together with the help of his therapist (Annette Bening). Twists and turns and unanticipated moments of high drama ensue as we are placed on alert to expect the unexpected, journeying through the multiple spin-off lives that follow. To give you more would reveal too many spoilers.
I never quote Rotten Tomatoes, but I had a feeling that Life Itself was going to get panned by a lot of critics, and I was right. When I checked the site, the film had an approval rating of just 12 percent among critics. But get this--it had a full 80 percent audience approval rating! Well, that tells you that critics are pretty much full of shit, aren't they? Yes, I said it. Why? Because critics are cynics. They think their job is to dissect something and tear it apart, when oftentimes it would serve them better just to get in touch with some genuine human emotion. And that is just what Life Itself is imploring you to do.
Director Dan Fogelman has gotten his impressive cast to buy into this one all the way--as evidenced by the many sincere and powerful performances.
Whether your response to Life Itself is positive or negative...whether you think it's brilliant or corny as hell...I'm betting you'll come away thinking, like I did, that you've never seen anything quite like it.
Grade: A
JILL'S TAKE
I hate to be such a copycat but I couldn't agree more with Tim on Life Itself. It is an extremely unique film. Shocking at times, sentimental at others. What I loved was that it gives audiences a chance to eavesdrop on, and identify with, different characters' situations. Tragic as some of their lives turn out to be, we still walk away feeling hopeful. (An emotion that is sadly lacking in today's topsy turvy world.)
There are definitely some Oscar-worty performances in this one. First on my list would be Barcelona native Laila Costa whose final speech to her young son will bring even the most hard-hearted movie-goer to tears. Once I realized that her words were scripted by writer/director Dan Fogelman who also created the hit TV series This Is Us, I knew why they struck such a meaningful chord. Fogelman knows how to bring real people with real problems to the screen. Kudos to you, Dan!
Another Oscar contender, who is also from Spain, is Sergio Peris-Mencheta. He plays a simple man whose life gets complicated – as lives tend to do. A man of few words, he uses his eyes to express all kinds of feelings. Felicitaciones, Sergio!
When a film deals with various story lines, there's always a risk that one story will overtake the others. Not so with Life Itself.There's a kind of flow that carries you along from story to story, accepting the premise that life itself is never neat and tidy. I must admit that the first chapter with Oscar Isaac and Annette Benning dragged a bit for me. But not for long.
Grade : B+
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