Review of The Life Before Her Eyes (2007) by Marcos F — 06 Dec 2008

The first time I saw this, I didn't think it was as bad as most critics seem to think. I simply thought it aimed a lot higher than it reached. Now I realize they were right. The second time I sat down with the picture I realized I had almost no interest in watching it again as it seemed like it would have been a waste of time.

This is definitely a picture that can only be effective once. The story, ideas, and characters don't hold up to a second viewing. Watching it a second time is essentially pointless as one already knows the film is imagined and gets even less out of it than they did the first time.

I didn't even get through the whole picture the second time. It means to be significant and deep, but it falls into the far too common trap of failing to keep it simple. There are directors and writers that could manage to tie this picture together and make it coherent and meaningful, but Perelman is apparently not one of them.

There are certainly powerful moments and great performances (the science teacher for one), but overall it was a bit of a repetitive jumble with a horrible ending. It is unusually beautiful though. I was continually struck by how different Iraq's environment is from most of America.

The "Are we getting a pony?" line from the imagined daughter is very funny though.