Review of My Life Without Me (2003) by Karl V — 07 Feb 2009

Very moving, low budget, Canadian film...these days this generally means higher standard, great, real characters and a rawness and truthfulness that's lacking in the bigger budgeted films. Sarah Polley is excellent in this role as a young mum who keeps the fact that she has little time left to live from her family.

I am not sure that I would make the same decisions that she did if I were in the same situation but everyone deals differently which is what makes people so interesting. Excellent support cast - Mark Ruffalo is always a fav of mine and Scott Speedman and Deborah Harry are great.

As Sarah Polley says in her interview on the dvd extras, it's great to see stories about people that live in a trailer not falling into the stereotype that hollywood usually portrays, ie. white trash, dysfunctional.

Although this family come from a lower economic background they still have a solid family life, love each other and are decent people, which ultimately is what makes this story so tragic.