Life and Nothing More

What we saw in this film is about a young black teenager struggled to deal with the daily nothingness and hopelessness without any possible way to get out of it. His lacking of a father figure to guide or pull him through the growing pain stage is just a wishful thinking. His mother, a rustic, loud-mouth, sexual thirsty low level woman with big hips is a very typical woman and mother who got nothing, no man in her life to support her and her family. The boy got a very little sister still needs day care, it only means the man of the house just took off before the little girl was born. There's really nothing to tell about the whole film about anything, just a dreary hopeless life and low living standard of an average scene of nowadays America, not just specifically what the black people or their families got to deal with, most of the whites also like the blacks facing the same and inescapable situations day by day. They are not even what we called "Middle Income Families", I'm very curious about how these people pay their utilities bills, property taxes. Of course, based upon what we saw in this film, they obviously don't have to pay any income tax since they are definitely low income people. The whole film is very depressed to watch. We don't smell any MONEY in it. Guess if we could see some beautiful and rich black people and what the could afford like we see daily in the TV commercials, these God-awful situations about this boy and his family won't even exist. It's the poverty that has affected almost anything in Life & Nothing More. You don't need to make a film so repeatedly reiterating it. Although money couldn't buy anything, but at least let's have some first.

Its a tough job to grow up, anyhow or anywhere in the world, in this scenario its a young black man, his little sister, and struggling mother, that works the skin of her hands to make everything work.

its a tough story from the black community of the united states, and really a teaser for everybody with a hang to sociology and psychology. its a film about living in a quagmire, and wherever you step its just a swamping quagmire, and if you try to flee you can be sure that you are on somebodys private property.

it feels like a direct one take strategy in this film, therefore the acts made are great and the dialouges are well delivered. its a film with not much, but could make you feel all kinda things afterwards. technical product are at average with a minus on the sound work, far too much background noise, even wher you could expect silence.

its a film for everybody, and most of all,its not a comedy. its playtime are too long considering the tema, but a good watch if youre interested in the issue. a recommend from the grumpy old man

While Antonio Mendez Esparza's most ambitious feature may be a cinematic masterpiece, it could easily pass as a work of live theater. The majority of directors use an abundance of close-ups to force audiences to see their vision; Esparza, on the other hand, often fills the screen with as much of the scene's surroundings as possible. This fly-on-the-wall technique in turn liberates viewers to choose what they want to see on-screen based on their personal intrigue. Carefully crafted performances by both the focal and ensemble cast also allows viewers to interpret the conflicts of each scene, as opposed to the employment of dialogue to reveal this information. Newcomers Andrew Bleechington and Regina Williams are both brilliantly nuanced in their facial expressions and intonations, making their internal struggles implicit. As for the film's extras, Esparza seemingly put his actors in the middle of some chaotic scene and starts rolling. Life and Nothing More could very well be a game-changer for the way that we watch films, paving the way for a much more free-flowing viewing experience. I highly advise cinephiles to be at the forefront of this movement by watching this movie through that lens.

I love a strong female lead, so Regina William's incredible performance as a single African American mother was definitely my favorite part of this film. Her acting was emotionally raw and had me extremely invested in her character by the end. Prior to watching, I had read that Variety named LIFE AND NOTHING MORE in their top ten movies of the year for its authentic depiction of family drama, but I'd never heard of Regina Williams. From now on, I'll definitely be on the lookout for her name in movies.

Life and Nothing More was an immaculate production with realistic and captivating cinematography. Director Antonio Mendez Esparza does a wonderful job is painting a not so pretty picture of a North Florida family and the struggles they face every day. The story line consists of a single mother Regina who works long, difficult hours at a local restaurant to provide for her two children. Regina isn't always home and begins to find her teenage son Andrew getting into minor troubles with the law. To keep Andrew on the right path Regina uses her tough love and hopes he will learn from his mistakes. The character's imperfections and raw dialogue made for extremely realistic interactions and chemistries that helped successfully execute this powerful story. Life and Nothing More is a moving drama that I highly recommend seeing for yourself!