Review of Still Life (2014) by Matt M — 24 Oct 2013

The story of a man with the unusual job of investigating on dead lonely people and the possibility of them having family ties or friends who will look after or even attend their funeral. His caring and benevolent ways, however, are much too expensive for his city council and his boss tells him that he has three days to complete his final job before he will be fired.

Still Life is a stylised vision of loneliness. As the title suggests, it is very still with its camera firmly placed on a tripod and every unobtrusive shot carefully placed. It is a deadpan comedy in nature but its pace and verve sometimes lacks in favour of a more art house vision.

The most impressive aspect of the film, however, is Eddie Marsan's performance, which is the kind that goes against the stereotype of seducing the camera and the audience and is all for ignoring both in a manner that is naturalistic and genuine example of 'anti-acting'.