Half-Life

HALF-LIFE is an apocalyptic tale set in a world undergoing catastrophic change. The land, seas, and atmosphere are all in chaos. With all of this happening around them, a woman, her boyfriend, and her two children struggle with issues unrelated to world-wide calamity.

Their struggles stem from the loss of the woman's husband, who deserted her and their children. The global devastation is a symbolic backdrop for the destruction caused by deep psychological / emotional loss.

Anyone who has ever lost someone dear to them, or been abandoned by someone, especially at a young age, knows the agony, terror, and cold reality presented here. Such loss knocks the world off of its axis, and nothing is ever the same.

This film is extraordinary in its exploration of this...

Probably the best film I saw this year at Sundance. The film is amazingly well crafted and profound. The type of film that you expect to see at Sundance. The film revolves around a family falling apart, personal identity, sexual identity, and religion, without being preachy. There are a number of very creative animated sequences, shot with the confidence of a real art film, the pace of the film is a welcome relief in our MTV quick cut era and had the best music of any film I saw at the festival (why do so many Sundance films have uninspired or just bad music) If your a fan of real art and cinema, this is the film for you!

The film explores major-themes in Multiculturalism and the human angst for the 21st century. What is specifically startling is how vibrant the aesthetic approach is in production value. Although reportedly not a high budget project, Phang's mis-en-scene is breath-taking. Also worth noting is the extremely likable performance by Alexander Agate, who rivals any child performance to date (reminded me of the powerful performance by Anna Paquin for THE PIANO.) While the pacing may not be for everyone, I think this is a film for the type of audience who enjoys a cerebral experience similar to DONNIE DARKO or Pink Floyd's THE WALL. The original score takes a post-modern approach of incidental music, which is very innovative in keeping the film from being too sentimental.

This is pretentious faux deep nonsense. It was designed so that pretentious faux deep pseudo intellectuals could watch it, then sit around, smoke cigarettes, and say pretentious faux deep things. The things they say will be gibberish, but they and their pretentious faux deep friends can pretend that they have meaning so that they feel sophisticated. Many of us knew them in college. I think a Saturday Night Live skit was made about these sorts of people featuring Catherine Zeta-Jones, but I can't recall the exact episode.

I heard that this was intelligent science fiction. It wasn't. It had a pinch of vague stereotypical psi phenomena so that it could jump genres, but the psi had nothing to do with the plot. I waded through the whole thing hoping that there would eventually be some point. There wasn't. It was just the same old annoying and sometimes creepy sexual tension and promiscuity mixed with a lot of emoting and confusion.

I would give this movie one star, but that would be unfair since the acting was reasonably good. It's not the actors' fault they got dragged into this thing. They probably needed the work. The actors deserve some small concession.

I plucked Half-Life off the shelf at my local video store this weekend, popped it in the DVD player, and couldn't tear my eyes away. This film is for those who love their Donnie Darko, American Beauty, Lawn Dogs, The Fall, Paperhouse, and Where the Wild Things Are mixed together with 100% originality and vision by director Jennifer Phang. I've long been obsessed with stories -- books, movies, visual art -- that capture that magical place between reality and fantasy. Growing up, I was a nerdy bookworm who -- to deal with my parents' divorce, kids bullying me at school, my emerging sense of being gay -- lost himself in realms of the supernatural. At my own making. I think. What's so beautiful about this film is not only the stunning cinematography and editing, the tightly written and profoundly sad story, nor the naturally gifted cast whom work perfectly together as an ensemble, but this sense that sometimes we really don't know where reality ends and fantasy begins. We make up stories to capture meaning, to imbue everyday circumstances with mystery and a connect-the-dots way of thinking. But what if -- mixed somewhere in with all this -- is true magic? Whole other parallel universes and ideas that tie in with ours, that are maybe even drawn to our own realities because of the way we personally see the world? Half-Life -- a deeply spiritual film -- asks these kinds of questions. Tim, our young protagonist, seeks to understand why his father left and why his mother, Saura, has gotten involved with the handsome yet manipulative Wendell. Tim and his teenage sister, Pamela, struggle with loneliness, friendships, sexuality, trust, and the meaning of family as they fall more and more into the tangled web of Wendell's desire to control theirs. At once haunting, melancholy, hopeful, whimsical, bleak, fresh, and daring, Half-Life is the kind of film that not only tells an amazing story but captures that story through a revitalized and unique vision by its director. This movie is personal. It takes chances. It dares to let you inside Jennifer Phang's mind -- and even more importantly, her heart.

Here's a link to the film: www.halflifemovie.com You should watch this. Now.