LIFE ITSELF (2018) – Review

This week’s major studio (well, Amazon has snagged an Oscar or two) release is a big, star-studded bit of Oscar bait (it’s now Fall, ya’ know) that tries to answer a sixty-or-so year old question: can a current TV “wunderkind” also strike gold at the box office while being at the top of the Nielsen TV ratings? Yes, Dan Fogelman hopes to be a multi-media, double threat. His TV show, “This is Us”, is a real rarity, a broadcast network (NBC) show that has as fervent a fan base as those programs on cable (basic and premium) and streaming (oh, Amazon does that, too). He wants to expand that base into the nation’s multiplexes this weekend with this “quasi-anthology” storyline (well, storylines) jumping back and forth between cultures and countries (subtitles=serious cinema). So, will we be treated to another TRAFFIC or BABEL, or will it land with a loud, pretentious thud like THIRD PERSON (one of its stars is in this one also)? Well, the box office numbers are almost as unpredictable as LIFE ITSELF.

After the Amazon (and other companies) logo, the screen goes to black. White letters dissolve in with a “chapter” number and title (oh, oh..literary aspirations). We get a quirky funny sequence (hey, maybe it’s not too arty after all), narrated by a fave foul-mouthed star, that is not really the film’s true first subplot. We then meet mopey, disheveled Will (Oscar Isaac) acting up at a coffee shop (and being asked to leave) as he’s on his way to a court-mandated session with therapist Dr. Morris (Annette Benning). Will finally decides to open up about his ex-girlfriend Abby (Olivia Wilde). We hear of her sad childhood, then bounce ahead to her hooking up with Will while in college as she writes her major thesis on “the unreliable narrator” (could that be a…clue). Will and his doc roam about the fun times in the relationship (the couple even dress up as characters from a vastly superior flick for a costume party) before the “session” comes to an abrupt end and we’re off to “chapter two”. We zoom ahead to meet Will and Abby’s offspring Dylan (Olivia Cooke), a twenty-one-year-old hellion who’s making her grandpa’ Irwin’s (Mandy Patinkin) hair turn white with worry. After a thrashin’ punk rock concert, she punches out a chick that films her making out with her bass player. She races into the NYC night and sees a little Hispanic boy standing at the front of a city bus. For his backstory (and chapter), we hop across the pond to Spain and the opulent olive farm/ranch of Mr. Saccione (Antonio Banderas). He notices one of his workers who gently plucks the olives while others use rakes and nets. That worker, Javier (Sergio Paris-Mencheta) is called in to meet with the big boss in his study. Saccione tells Javier of his rough childhood and his rise to power. But after much vocal prodding, Javier refuses to share any personal history. Nonetheless, Saccione offers him a promotion to foreman which comes with a small dwelling on the big estate. Javier rushes to the town square where his girlfriend Isabel (Laia Costa) is finishing her shift at a tavern. Javier tells her of the new position and proposes to her. The two make a home at the ranch, eventually raising a baby son named Rodrigo. As the boy matures, Saccione spends most of his afternoons with him and ‘Rigo’s mother. His boss’s interest in his family begins to eat away at the usually easy-going Javier. It all comes to a boil when Saccione helps them out financially after a traumatic event. So just how will this tie into the family drama over in the “Big Apple”, or Nueva York? That’s for a couple more “chapters”.

A talented cast really works hard to make the often ludicrous twists and turns of the script work. The first act is almost a two-person play with dialogue bouncing back and forth like a tennis match with doctor and patient on either side of the net. As said patient, Isaac continues to be a most compelling actor, showing us the spark of new love in his eyes during the college sequence, then showing us that the spark has been extinguished in the present day. Will is a hair trigger, exploding then retreating with just a word or prompt. The always superb Benning is part prodding inquisitor, part animal trainer as she navigates through the dark recesses of the damaged man’s psyche. Though Will tries to dismiss her, Benning stands her ground and never lets him slither away. Wilde gets to show more of her witty, intelligent side (usually just seen on her TV talk show interviews) as Abby, but the script puts her back on the pedestal too quickly, making her the “dream girl” once again, rather than a complex character. Of course, the camera still loves her, but Wilde deserves much more interesting roles. Cooke as their daughter Dylan alternates between dead-eyed and emotionally drained to a tightly wound ball of fury ready to explode at the most mundane slight or offense. She’s a stark counterpoint to Patinkin’s calm, caring, but still tough and cynical Irwin. Though his days are dwindling, he still thinks he can get through to his often surly charge. In flashbacks, we see him as a warm sparring partner to the boisterous Jean Smart as his wife Linda, a lady with no filter, who never sugar coats her often dark thoughts. In the overseas “chapters”, Banderas gets to speak in his native tongue as the cultured gentleman drawn to his hard-edged helpers. He may seem aloof, but Banderas shows us the sadness that all his wealth can’t hide. His gloom is lifted with his surrogate family as Saccione delights in his “Dutch uncle” role. Peris-Mencheta is more of a mystery as Javier, who appreciates his boss, but tries to keep an emotional distance from him. Of course, there’s no wall between him and Costa as his adored lady love. Her Isabel goes through the most emotional changes, going from flighty waitress to adoring mother, and later as a fighter trying to hold her marriage and family together. The young adult version of Rodrigo is played with brooding intensity by Alex Monner, while Lorenza Izzo is full of emotion as the family member who tries to tie it all together in the story’s epilogue.

Writer/director Fogelman is aiming for the fences, attempting to make a sprawling epic that has an emotional family saga at its core. It seems to work best in the opening chapter with the story of Abby, Will, and his “shrink”, though it’s peppered with far too many “F-bombs” (maybe a reaction to dealing with network censors for two years). There are a few nice narrative flourishes that employ some neat bits of FX wizardry (bearded older Will caressing the soft shaven cheek of college Will, and later he and Doc Morris walk through a snowy park full of frolicking Abbys), but several sudden bursts of bloody violence are over the top with cartoon-like gore. The punk world of Dylan feels like a TV version of a dance club frozen in amber since the early 1980’s. Then the action truly grinds to a halt in dusty Spain with a booze-filled “back story-time” that never seems to end (or get interesting). This leads to a turgid tale of jealousy and class resentment that might feel more at home on the soap operas of the Telemundo cable channel, complete with a medical crisis that slowly weakens a major character. As the two-hour mark draws ever closer, Fogelman hastily crashes the stories into each other, culminating in a romance that we’re only told about. Which leads to the final lecture/denouncement that’s overstuffed with enough flowery platitudes to fill an airport gift shop and a month of social media posts and GIFs. All the clever stylings of the opening minutes are burned away by the final fade out. LIFE ITSELF pummels at the heartstrings, but never engages our intellect. Save the tissues for the new season of Fogelman’sTV prime time “sob show”.

2 Out of 5