Lifeline

This is my life. This is the trajectory that I followed to here, and here, I am happy. And I able to help others find their way, but then, something clicks, an unforeseen connection. I'm as lost as he is because this can't be real, and I know my past. But my past is not his, and everything is changing from the simplest things to a lost ring to the scars that I never had but now do. I can't break the connection because it has found its way from one moment in time to where I am now, and now I am held hostage to the vibrations rattling everything that I know, all that I am. They don't know who I am, but the connection remains. I beg him to change his mind, correct the course of time. Maybe, I'm reaching him, but then, another click. And the walls come crashing down, but I'm still here, still holding on to the life that I know I lived. But where will his path leave me?

A real puzzle of story with crisp, natural dialogue and a fantastic lead performance by Josh Stewart. Surprising at several turns. Flies by and leaves you thinking about what is real and what is not, what is in the past and what is in the present. I found myself switching perspectives and perceptions about the reality time, the state of Steven's mind, the possibility of so many unknowns.

There are beautiful sequences and while not exactly scary, there are times when the suspense if palpable and uncomfortable enough to cause some nail-biting.

It is a film I would watch again to test assumptions I made the first time round.

It's both good and bad that when smaller independent movies get seen they have their big supporters. Because when someone over-exaggerates how good something is, as Newton stated, there will be an equal and opposite reaction. So with a flurry of 10s come a flurry of 1s. I suppose they will eventually balance themselves out as more people see this movie.

And it DOES deserve to be seen.

It's a good use of a small budget, a clever idea, and while the script has weaknesses, it has some powerful moments as well. My biggest complaint is that the red herrings don't quite hold up by the end of the movie. While the audience should be pondering the interesting questions the story brings up, it leaves too much room for debating the tiny details that weren't really the point. But in a movie like this details hold a lot of weight.

I will say, perhaps the best part of the whole thing was Josh Stewart's performance in the lead role. I liked it so much I went out and watched The Collector and it's sequel with him in them. He carried those movies well also, but this is a better role. He plays his character with a quiet confidence with a hint of regret that is perfect for the story.

Go into this believing it's somewhere between a 6 and an 8 and you won't be too disappointed.

The movie started well, caracters study was good, the actors were decent, but then I realized the movie was dragging and not wanting to get to the the fulcral point of the narrative. When I realized the core plot only started being developed almost at the end of the run-time, I felt something was off. It ended being a run of the mill twilight zone wannabe but very stretched out. The message had good intentions, but it was written in a very forced artificial way. This could have been a much better movie, if it had gone the sci-fi route, but I guess they didn't know what they were aiming for, or maybe they did, but the execution was flawed. It has a very decent photography, and it's a shame how it ended so abruptly. It kept me hooked until the end, but the cheap ending, and some redundant micro plots, didn't do it for me. The plot holes were also lazy writing. With a bit more effort in the narrative, they could have had an Indy gem.

Sometimes all we need is to hear a familiar story. This one is quite touching.

A well executed film with a very solid performance from the lead, which is quite relevant seeing how intimate the whole setting is, almost completely resting upon his shoulders. Unfortunately, the script is trying to be a bit too clever for its own good, putting too much focus on certain details which just distract from what it's really about. Regardless, "Lifeline" as a whole manages to get its emotion through and it's definitely worth your time.

I probably wouldn't mind watching it once again in the future if I feel this is the story someone really needs to hear.