La vita e nient'altro

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!

Life And Nothing More is a beautiful and intimate piece of work, much like Moonlight or Boyhood. Unlike a lot of movies we see today, it is entirely focused on its characters and how they operate in the unfair system around them. Regina is a single mother who has a complicated relationship with her son, and their dynamic is raw and heartbreaking. It is obvious that Regina cares deeply for her son but she is unable to help him in his run-ins with the law and own emotional struggle. It is striking to me that the camera almost acts as a character just observing what is happening. There is no crazy editing or direction style and it's like we are in the moment with these characters, feeling what they are feeling. It is a must see if you like deeply moving portrayals of honest real life people.

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.

Cinematically this movie is incredible, but that's not what drew me in, it was the acting and the actors themselves that did. Director Antonio Mendez Esparza took an unusual route in the casting process, and decided to use local non actors and actresses, and in my opinion, this is what made the movie the level of intensity and magnitude that it truly is. By picking locals to play the roles it gave them an advantage into being able to illustrate the characters more accurately because instead of acting for them, it was more of a portrayal of their life, which in return makes the film feel more like a documentary in the sense that you are watching the characters' life unfold, and how they're moving through the changes that life can throw at you. For anyone who thinks that life stops when something goes wrong, I highly recommend watching this film so you see that it can always go up, and there can be a happy ending.

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