Living Life

The entire film is eye candy, especially considering this is a low budget film, with camera angles, Seattle scenes, lighting and close ups that make the film a pleasure to watch. The dialog is simplistic, but on par with most films these days.

What really stands out is the tenderness and innocence of the story. The shots of children experiencing the wonder of an old time magic show are fantastic. And I had a good cry - there are several chances to shed some tears, but you leave feeling good about life and not depressed.

This film is PG or G, depending on whether you consider the subject of death to be appropriate for small children. I am not that offended by or against violence, crassness, or foul language in a film, but I do find it refreshing that this film is not infested with fart jokes, obscenities, and the assumption that everyone has a dark and nasty streak, especially coming from a young male director.

To learn that Jesse Harris wrote Living Life when he was 15, shot it when he was 17, and was able to figure out a way to finance it and find distribution on the day of his high school graduation is a screenplay waiting to happen in itself. His lack of arrogance, unpretentious storytelling, and pragmatic approach to advancing his career goal are good lessons for all independent filmmakers out there.

Go see this film, have a good cry, enjoy its visual beauty, and feel great about humanity and the ability of an aspiring and talented young director to have a dream fulfilled.

I truly enjoyed the film. I'm so proud to be from a town where someone finally made a great film! The pacing was excellent, the editing was very clean and the character development was very strong and convincing. The locations and set design we very well sculpted and thought out, I'm surprised by the strong understanding of cinema this young director has. He has made a very marketable film on his first time out! (not to mention he can't even buy a beer yet!)

Go check it out at the U Distric Metro Cinemas. It's well worth it, emotionally moving, with great music, and beautiful cinematography. This is the first significant work of a director who is really going places. I can't wait to see the next film.

This film will make you laugh, make you cry and make you leave the theater feeling great. It is a perfect family film. I have two young kids, 8 and 12 and they both loved it. My youngest now says its her favorite film. Before Living Life it was Princess Diaries, which was a good movie, so that should say something. I saw the film in theaters and was blown away when I heard it was directed by a 17 year old kid, amazing! He is going to be the next Spielberg or something. My kids have already been asking when its coming out on DVD. I emailed the distributor and they actually replied and said sometime in Feb, or March of 2006. If you have kids, or if you just like good, heart felt, make you feel good movies, then see Living Life whenever you can.

I'm a 15 year old girl and I love this movie. All my girlfriends loved it and we even saw it again and brought some guys with us, they even really liked it. But, its a really good movie. I heard about because I heard the director interview on the radio, he was only 17 when he made the film!!!!!!! It looks like it was made for a million dollars by Hollywood, it's amazing. But the film is so uplifting and emotional, I even saw some of the guys I was with crying. But it just makes you happy. My favorite part was the magic scenes and the little boy in the hospital, he was so cute. I babysit some young kids and I told them about Living Life and they saw and they also loved, its just a really good movie and its made by a teenager, you have to see it just for that.

I saw this film on DVD, what a great film. Great story, great characters, great emotions. Plus the fact that it was made by a 17 year old kid, is amazing. I have two kids, one 9 and one 14, they both fell in love with the movie. Its a great kids movie because of the positive story and the way it deals with dying. My 9 year old really learned from it. My 14 year old girl thinks the main actor is really cute, so she likes it for that, but she also thinks its a great chick flick and all her friends watch it every month almost. I really encourage everyone to rent this movie, or buy it, because you will want to watch it over and over. Great Film!