| LIVING LIFE |
 2004 - USADirector: Jesse Harris
- Reviewed by Linda
The story follows high schooler Jason (Benjamin Garman); an athletic, soft-spoken young man with a penchant for photography and hanging out with his girlfriend Kate and best-pal Kyle. But he doesn't tell them about his debilitating stomach pain, and only tells his parents when he needs to get rushed to the hospital. It turns out that he has a very rare, and very bad form of cancer. He can get it treated, but the cancer is pretty much guaranteed to kill him. Back into the family walks grandpa William, who has been estranged (for no given reason) from the family for many years. Does he want to make amends with the family because Jason is dying? Or is he selfishly using his own last days to heal old wounds? Plot tangents like this are never really fleshed out, and seem taken right out of the movie cliché reference guide, right down to the grim expression that clouds Jason's dad's face whenever William walks into the room, and the healing moment that happens when dad looks in wonder at his old sports trophies that grandpa lovingly kept in his childhood home. Grandpa William ends up teaching Jason family-heirloom magic tricks, which in turn Jason performs for kids at the hospital. He sees these miserable kids stuck in hospital beds, and wants to cheer them up. This is the best part of Living Life—it is very difficult to roll your eyes at helping children. But first-time-screenwriter problems bog down Living Life much of the rest of the time, from bad writing (characters always address each other unnaturally starting with first names, like, "William, I don't know about that...", "Jason, you should have told me!") and awkward transitions, (Jason discovers his little pal at the hospital has just died,/i>, and a beat later, he asks the kid's roommate, "Do you miss him? I miss him, too."). But the truth is, I've seen a lot worse in major, multi-million dollar studio pictures. Living Life is a sweet story with predictable drama. It is a bit clunky, and maybe not quite ready for the big leagues, but at times it does have a lot of heart. I'd be interested to see how Jesse Harris' style evolves when he learns to reach deeper, matures in his experience, and takes a few more risks in his storytelling. |
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Living Life, on the surface, is about the quality of an after-school special. It is well-meaning, rather blandly acted, and has a moral at the end. What is most interesting about this movie, though, is the story behind it. Jesse Harris wrote the film when he was 15, used all of his college savings to film it when he was 17, and on the day of his high school graduation, had the film picked up by an indie studio that promised to give him the money to finish the film. Whoa. When you look at it that way, Living Life is a "three cheers for the kid" success.
