Life Just Is

This was a delightful refreshing experience for me, an hour of peaceful contemplation for which I would not change anything! I happen to have just graduated just like the characters in the film and I feel like I have known them my whole life.

The film was an extremely brave approach for director Alex Barrett who was on such a tight budget for his first ever feature film! It was beautifully shot through the aesthetic of the 7D and the lighting brought extra glamour to the shots and characters. The absence of soundtrack makes it evermore intense and authentic, "Life Just Is" as the title so clearly states!

Very 'French New Wave' with a contemporary young, good-looking and fun cast, mixed with an emotional tone which brought tears (good and bad ones) to the audience.

Do watch!

A recent trend that seems overused in films is the creation of scripts with groups of people who are friends but have no business being friends in the first place. In other words, when you think about these characters, they simply have nothing in common and are more clichés or formulaic than realistic people. This isn't just true in comedies like the "Hangover" or "Bridesmaids" films but in dramas as well, such as in the new British indie film Life Just Is-- where there are many of the usual formulaic characters (such as the gay character, the black character, etc.) but you keep wondering why they spend time together. And, by the end of the movie, I was still wondering. Why be friends with someone you don't like or someone who treats you terribly?!

This film written and directed by Alex Barrett starts off on an inauspicious note. As four friends are watching some movie, it concludes and one of them says "Well that's an hour and a half of my life I won't get back". Then a couple more friends are soon introduced. Soon after this, you learn that one of their acquaintances has died and the way these mostly 20-somethings respond to this is what makes up the remainder of the film. In many ways, it's a bit like "The Big Chill"...but without the music (in fact, there isn't any and this is very noticeable) or the energy. But it's also much talkier--with folks mostly sitting around talking and talking and talking. This, combined with the low energy make this a difficult film to watch or even finish.

So is the film worth seeing? Probably not unless you are extremely patient. Oddly, I looked through the reviews for this on IMDb and noticed that folks either gave it a 1 or 9 or higher. I wouldn't be nearly as harsh or as glowing and I really do wonder about both sorts of reviews--especially the 9s and 10s. I'd give this one a D+. I certainly wouldn't rush to see it but also saw some promise and hope that the filmmakers and actors use this experience as a springboard to greater things.

I remember when a friend once showed me his completed movie having spent over a £100,000 on it and he was stunned when I pointed out a couple of scenes (the end) that appeared tacked on (i.e. the beginning doesn't lead to any end). He wasn't stunned that I pointed it out, he was stunned that the 35 people who worked on the film never gave any such feedback. My heart goes out to the writer and director of this feature who were probably encouraged by well meaning folks who didn't have the heart to tell them to do another five re-writes before committing so many people to producing a failure. Young film makers like these might want to look at the work of avant-garde theatre or agile software development both who regularly pilot their work in front of audiences way before any commitment has been made in terms of work.

Life Just Is concerns itself with a group of twenty-somethings day to day goings on over a period of a week. Being a film about our existence as it ' just is' any significant plot, conflict, premise or story have no place on here. The title, as printed on your movie ticket, can be completed with whatever comes to mind as actors move from couches to kitchens to bedrooms having chats together. At the surface 'Life as It Is' seems to present the banal in a mundane way. Going deeper, it presents the significant relationships we have with people we know very little about in a mundane way. Beneath that, if one was to plumb the depths one would find a deep lesson in writing.

it took me a little bit to get into the movie, but once I did I really enjoyed it. it does an excellent job of capturing the turmoil of being twenty-something -- the confusion, the struggle to "figure it all out." you really find yourself connecting with the characters in unique ways. the dialogue, while it felt a bit scripted at times, is delivered well by actors who seem more experienced than their ages. Pete in particular did a wonderful job. Each of the characters has their own unique struggle throughout the film -- I find something new to connect with each time I watch it. there's something for everyone in this movie and I will definitely be recommending it to friends. I really enjoyed the symbolism throughout the film -- Pete's and Tom's experiences in particular really struck me.

Sure, Life Just Is might not be for everyone--it's a slow burn kind of film, and takes a few minutes to fully settle into a rhythm. But for viewers with a certain degree of patience and appreciation for narratives that emphasize the emotional, it's a recognizable and rewarding experience.

Life Just Is taps into a particular moment that has been a source of inspiration for a huge number of storytellers--the strange, uncertain time between entering adulthood and fully adjusting to your new position in life. More than the temporal, however, this film focuses on a certain emotional transition that might happen at any time: the period in which one comes to terms with oneself as a flawed and developing human being, and accepts the inevitably of change as a component of growth. There were moments in this film in which I recognized myself without even wanting to. It's a movie that's unafraid of trying something difficult and being earnest. Especially for a viewer who is humble enough to laugh at themselves, Life Just Is provides moments of identification and genuine sweetness.