To Live and Die and Live

Saw this at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival

"To Live and Die and Live" is a story about Muhammad who returns home to Detroit to bury his stepfather and is thrust into settling his accounts, but Muhammad's struggles with depression and addiction may finish him before he finishes the task. This is director Qasim Basir's latest work and I have seen his previous film "A Boy. A Girl. A Dream." which I thought had strong elements but was extremely underwhelming. Here, despite a strong performance and interesting narrative choice, the film suffers the same issues I had with his previous work.

Basir has talent and throughout, the camerawork and production designs are extremely gorgeous and beautiful to look at. The scenes of Detroit and the settings helps to build the atmosphere. The performances from the cast members were pretty good especially the chemistry between the romance of the main two leads. Basir's direction was pretty good. Unfortunately the film struggles with a narrative that seems to be unsure where it wants to lead and a mix of mediocrity. The film struggles with an uneven pacing as the film drags on with moments that are unsure where it wants to go and uneven tones. The characters aren't written very well as it was hard to connect with them. I understand the purpose of the main character as he is portrayed as a flawed person going through life and trying his best but there are moments where his characters feel off and choices that are made that don't match up with his personality or the intentions Basir is wanting. There are some decent soundtrack but the overall score was pretty bad.

The structure of the narrative feels lost and the third act of the film falls apart quite a lot as the twists feels inconsistent. One of the worst aspects of the film was the sound design as the sound design had this echoing affect throughout which was very off-putting. I purchased tickets for this film virtually and I don't know if there was a technical issue behind the website but jesus, that sound design was god-awful.

Overall, Bashir clearly has passion and I can see the good intentions of what is he is trying to communicate with this story. But unfortunately, the film still needs a lot of work to improve.

Rating: C-

I have been a "watcher" of Qasims' films since his first "Mooslems." As a first movie, it was an acceptable introduction of African American Muslim life into popular culture. His second movie, "A Boy, A Girl, A Dream" was unique in its production, as a continous "one camera" shooting. I was impressed to find Samuel Goldwyn studios supporting this film.

While the storyline was a mixed transition of themes, it all made sense by the end of the movie. A successful man who is having a hard time fixing the family problem, thus revealing his own weakness of "being." The main take-away by the end of the movie is sometimes you have to "Let go" and Let God. A major problem of human beings.

Qasim Basir is a unique storyteller. This is what likely attracted Sundance's attention. In "To Live and Die and Live", he brings Muhammad (played by Amin Joseph) to life by showing how he copes with the death of his stepfather. The film immediately shines light on Islamic rituals around death and the emotions that are involved.

At first, the writing is a bit confusing. Just like with Basir's previous film, "A Boy. A Girl. A Dream", the characters aren't formally introduced like most mainstream movies. As a viewer, you have to figure out who the characters are and how they are related. That was one of the few flaws in the film.

As the film progressed, Muhammad's personality layers are revealed. While he struggles with addiction, the viewer gets small tidbits of backstory about why he self-medicates with controlled substances. I started to empathize with Muhammad because many of us have our vices which we use to numb emotional pain.

Another major flaw of the film was the rushed romantic storyline. Muhammad's love interest doesn't quite fit into the story as expected. She's a great actress but there's just too much going on. The main story is about Muhammad burying his stepfather. Adding the additional plot line would've worked if this were a TV series. For a feature film, it just made it hard to close up loose ends.

Overall, the acting and cinematography were good. Unfortunately, there were pivotal scenes that were rushed and felt thrown together and out of place. It was truly a situation of "less would have been more." I felt like Basir was trying to hard to be Oscar-bait instead of just telling a simple story.

Omari Hardwick ("Kevin") and Cory Hardrict were not as strong as expected. Since Hardwick appeared in Basir's "A Boy. A Girl. A Dream", he obviously signed on as a labor of love. His character should have been given more screen time to counter Amin Joseph's presence as Muhammad.

Nonetheless, I think Basir is one of our new directorial dynamos and will have much success in the future. He brings a fresh perspective to the industry that is much needed. He tells great stories, uses great cinematography techniques, and shows compassion for underserved communities. My only feedback is that he get a mentor to help him strengthen his screenwriting and keep stories clean and simple.