Life Just Is (2012) Directed by Alex Barrett. Starring: Will de Meo, Jack Gordon, Nathaniel Martello-White. Synopsis: “Pete, Tom, Claire and Jay are university graduates having trouble making the move into adult life. Beneath the hanging out and the daily routines simmers Pete’s desire to find a spiritual answer to life’s meaning, Jay’s desperate need not to get hurt again, and Tom and Claire’s ever increasing mutual attraction. A thoughtful character drama, LIFE JUST IS is a film about love, death, and, most importantly of all, life itself.”
Life Just Is is a new British independent film that follows the lives of five young adults over the course of a week. Billed as a character drama, the film explores the complexities of life as you make the jump from youth into adulthood. Perhaps the most effective part of the film is how relatable the characters are. Everyone is dealing with something different, be it the fear of getting into a relationship, or the fear of death, or even the meaning of life itself. These are all very relatable situations and the quiet but insightful dialogue allows the viewer to get into the heads of the characters.
I liked a lot of the elements of this film but for me, the whole was somehow less than the sum of its parts. The acting was quite good. As mentioned earlier, the cast does a great job embodying the characters they are playing and they do so in a very real and authentic way. This is the film’s biggest strength. The film is also beautifully shot. I believe this is the first full-length film from director Alex Barrett but he does an excellent job of using the camera to tell a very compelling story, particularly with a very limited budget. The dialogue is well written and well executed and while I thought a few scenes worked exceptionally well, there was a drawback: the story never really went anywhere.
To me, the film is a collection of scenes showing the daily struggles everyone in life faces. It almost felt more akin to a daytime soap opera than a feature film. I needed there to be some big event, some major conflict to propel the second act and evoke some emotion from the viewer. I kept hoping the writer would have thrown in a curve ball to sort of shake things up in the lives of these characters but it never came. The film felt like 90% set-up and exposition. It’s true that the characters had flaws and struggles from the opening scene, and they do get brought to resolution, but it isn’t what I would call satisfying. Perhaps a better way to put it, this film doesn’t have any pivotal scene or powerhouse moment that pulls the viewer in or knocks him back or any such thing.
It’s a shame really; because so much went into character development, the characters are very easily relatable and their challenges are things we can all connect to. If there had only been some confrontation or some climax, I could feel a lot better about this film. As it stands, it’s a well-made, well-acted, beautifully shot and uneventful film. I’m tempted to almost use the word tedious to describe this but that wouldn’t really be fitting. Despite my unfavorable opinions, this is a film you should probably watch, especially if you are around my age and the age of the characters. I could see folks liking this a lot more than I did, and that’s fine. For me, I just needed a more compelling reason to keep watching: some intrigue or conflict. For many, the deep look into the lives of these characters would be altogether sufficient and for those folks, this film could be a winner.
LIFE JUST IS, the debut feature by writer-director Alex Barrett, with Screen International Star of Tomorrow Jack Gordon (NORTHERN SOUL, FISH TANK) had its world premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Michael Powell Award for Best British Film and selected for the ‘Best of the Fest’ screenings. WEBSITE: WWW.LIFEJUSTISFILM.COM
LIFE JUST IS will be available in the US & Canada on Feb 26th on Yekra
