MRMOVIESETC
REVIEWS:
“Life Itself”
(2018)
MILD SPOILERS:
Huh.
You know, I’m going to try to word this carefully enough
as to not ruin the ending, but did this film seriously try to wrap things up so
neatly that the traumatic event linking the two young would-be lovers together
never ever came up between them? Not even in a conversation? Especially
considering that the victim of that emotional trauma is, I don’t know, still
very much impacted by it? Just complete wedded bliss, huh?
Well, okay, if you say so.
***
I guess “Life Itself” can be considered a semi-decent
drama just as long as you do not think too deeply about it once it’s over. The
journey itself is fairly harmless, sans a Second Act that is so goddamn mopey
that an afternoon with Eeyore on the gloomiest day of the year sounds invigorating
by comparison. It also carries substantial weight over the climax, which is why
I don’t feel too badly about discussing it in brief. Unmistakably, the film
tries to sell the ending as the biggest emotional knockout, when really it
arrives as a rushed dud due to the overly long fleshing out of the film’s
darker sequences.
“Everything---is---really---sad. Everybody---is---a---martyr.
The---world---is---better---off---without---me. Heyeverythingworkedout. Happyhappyyayclichelifelessontheend.”
I know, that’s a terrible illustration, but the pacing of
this thing is like a bad sugar rush in reverse. From where I sit, Dan Fogelman’s
screenplay could have used a few more passes in order to really reign in some
of the more deserving dramatic narratives that could have given “Life Itself”
the balance that it needed. His direction of what did make the final cut isn’t
all bad, though. Fogelman successfully extracted yet another solid performance
from Oscar Isaac, whose character arc in the First Act is far and away the most
gripping of the entire plot. I also really enjoyed Sergio Peris-Mencheta in the
Second Act’s lead role and the quiet charisma he brought to it; which is why it
was so frustrating to see him criminally underwritten. The entire time he was
on screen I kept thinking a big, compelling truth was going to come out to take
the film to the next level, and then it just didn’t so the storyline could
continue its downhill tumble to the finish line.
Ultimately, Fogelman had a genuinely good idea that was
perhaps too broad and ill-defined. He’s certainly not a hack behind the lens,
and if granted the opportunity, I will give whatever he has planned next a fair
shake. “Life Itself” is a near miss, but by miss, I mean instead of hitting the
target, he hit an old lady standing next to said target in the face.
“Life Itself”: 5.5/10
“Mudbound” (2017)
While there is an endless amount of cinematic material
that can be pulled from America’s biggest and most atrocious black eye (no pun
intended), the need to keep things fresh and relatable never goes out of style.
Sure, filling a film with an onslaught of “Passion of the Christ” levels of physical
violence may not stray far from historical accuracy, and to be clear, “Mudbound”
does dabble in this as one of its final uppercuts to the jawbone, but that’s
not strictly what racial oppression was all about after the turn into the
1900s. Being a World War II era story, “Mudbound” places its narrative at a
time where the country and the people in it are trying to start correcting
their trajectory; yet, being in the Deep South, there is still a frustrating
amount of hateful separation even with a younger generation trying to stand up
to the ways of their elders.
I think what I liked most about “Mudbound” was its
decision to tell the story from no one specific central character perspective.
It is mostly male-centric, which is in a way too bad because I would have liked
to have seen more from Carey Mulligan and Mary J. Blige; though this is not
entirely surprising given the time period and the limits put on the common
housewife’s daily routine. In total, there are members from three different
generations “sharing” a plot of land – 2 white families and one black family –
whom the film shows interactions amongst their own and with each other; some of
which are ugly confrontations like the aforementioned climax of the feature,
and others more compassionate like Jamie McAllen (Garrett Hedlund) and Ronsel
Jackson (Jason Mitchell) whom discover a common bond after their servitude in
the war.
Be forewarned that “Mudbound” that does leap well over
two hours in length, and none of it moves at a blistering pace. This is
definitely a period character drama that takes deliberate steps in no
particular hurry so it can really drive home a brutal, yet bittersweet
conclusion. Yes, there is a sense of the “white savior” card being played here,
although, if somebody has an ally in enemy territory, it kind of is what it is
at that point. I realize that has been a cultural hot button for quite some
time, and fair enough, but the context of it here makes decent sense without
really anything in the way of narcissism.
The acting is also solid across the board. I cannot
really choose one player that did better than another, and that’s a nice
problem to have. The two young gentlemen, Hedlund and Mitchell, were an
excellent backbone with the more screen time they had, and, not surprisingly, Jonathan
Banks as the unflinching racist patriarch is about as good as you’d expect from
him. Again, I wish Blige had gotten more chances to shine, but I can definitely
see why she won the Oscar for Best Original Song. She hasn’t lost a step over
the years.
All-in-all, it’s a really good film, and I recommend
checking it out.
“Mudbound”: 8.5/10
“A Long Way Down”
(2014)
Everyone has likely come across a film at least once that
was genuinely a big mess, yet had a few redeeming qualities that acted as a
sort of glue that not only kept the whole project from falling apart, but by
some miracle made it sort of work. For me, “A Long Way Down” is one of those –
a messy, aimless black comedy surrounding the topic of suicide that can be legitimately
funny at times thanks mostly to the performance of Imogen Poots.
Now, when I say “messy and aimless”, I don’t feel that to
be an overreaching complaint. I can only assume that Writer Jack Thorne had a
much more fleshed out plan for this story that ended up getting chopped to bits
along the way and put back together haphazardly, because if not, there are
probably not too many nice words I could come up with to defend whatever was
happening here. Between a completely disposable Second Act with an irrelevant
message that I am guessing was “Money cannot buy happiness” told in the
slimiest sort of way from characters that the audience is supposed to be
empathizing with, and the random interjections of ninety second character bios
for each of the four leads that really did nothing to bring forward anything
unknown, sans perhaps Toni Collette’s arc, all that truly remains is the
interactions between the members of the group.
Frankly, the film would have been exceedingly better
served had this been a character-focused dramedy, especially since Pierce
Brosnan, Imogen Poots, Toni Collette, and Aaron Paul had some reasonable
chemistry and interactions that were much more enjoyable than all the garbage
in the background. Hell, despite all the narrative shortcomings, it does
somehow manage to find itself in the closing minutes of the film and has some poignant
things to say about depression. Yes, it’s true, one could read those same
things in a pamphlet and saved time for a better movie, but again, Poots alone
is often delightful enough for the price of time admission.
I’m really not sure how to rate this thing, since against
all logic, I somehow managed to walk away from the movie feeling kind of good
and wanting to spend more time with the characters.
Damn.
I guess I’ll leave it here and walk away, even though I know
I’ll want to change it a least a dozen times.
“A Long Way Home”: 6/10
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