Review of The Life Before Her Eyes (2007) by Squalid J — 26 Jul 2009

Kudos to this film from suddenly going from shit to AMAZING in the last 20 minutes. It was so badly acted/scripted in the first couple of scenes that I wondered if I could carry on, so what a change around when it actually becomes deeply clever and emotional at the very end. I actually feel outsmarted by a film - yes I do.

Evan Rachel Wood was brilliant in this. I think this was my first Uma Thurman film, too (mehhh...maybe Pulp Fiction which I fell asleep in. Oh, I fell asleep in Kill Bill, too. HA!), and she played her part well, but Wood's part was just so much more feisty and arresting. The teenage life/adult life storytelling weaving was done relatively well, although a little cheesy and overt at times. It definitely gets better as you watch, because I thought the set up in the first five minutes when the gunman comes into the bathroom and ultimates them was too soon to have any impact. But as you get to know more about the characters, and they reveal tiny bits more of what happens in the bathroom, then it becomes much more dramatic and effective.

And I REALLY thought I knew what had happened, and was just wanting to know the exact details, and then all of a sudden the film just turns you on its head. And for a second you think it's going to be a horrid M Night Shama-hama-hama-lan twist where it's all inexplicably and ridiculously something else - but then you realise that it's much, MUCH cleverer than that, and the story changes constantly with the character's head. Ooo-er, it's a bit Charlie Kaufman.

Anyways, I LOVED the end and it was so incredibly sad and depressing. Hurrah for bleakness! It did get a bit melodramatic at times, espesh with Uma Thurman, but overall I didn't feel cheated - it does all come together at the end for a brilliant film. I think I want to read the book now!

Oh - and the best friend looked SOOOOOO much like a young Melanie C it was just helluva distracting!