AIFF 2015: "Life" Review

What can I say about a film that has it all and yet it doesn't? Anton Corbijn [A Most Wanted Man (2014)] delivers a rather slow movie that centers around the most iconic photoshoot of one of Hollywood's greatest legends James Dean. You might all know which photoshoot I'm talking about. It's this one:
However, and despite the all star cast, this film left me quite untouched. Dane DeHaan [Chronicle (2012), Kill your darlings (2013)] faces the difficult task of portraying the great Hollywood icon and he delivers most of the time, even though there are moments when he seems quite uncomfortable and stiff. Surely, James Dean can't have been that apathetic and sluggish, and even if he were, I would like to see a more reduced version of that. The resemblance is quite good but there is so much more in bringing someone to life than just looking a lot like them. Robert Pattinson [Cosmopolis (2012), Water for Elephants (2011), Maps to the Stars (2014)] plays Dennis Stock, the photographer who apparently struggled to persuade Dean to participate in the photoshoot and his subtle performance doesn't really find a way to shine.

Life is trully a guest-star paradise. We see a lot of cameos from stars of the past (Natalie Wood, Eartha Kitt) as well as many stars of today who have small roles (Ben Kingsley plays Jack Warner, Joel Edgerton plays Stock's manager) yet the film is quite low-key, lifeless and uneventful and doesn't create sympathy neither for the famous icon or his photographer. I'd say, it even makes us dislike them quite a bit. And even though this film takes place during the Golden Era of Hollywood, it manages to annihilate the glamour we hoped that existed behind the scenes and it shows how it is all just about business.

Life was shown on the 7th day of the Festival, Wednesday September 30th.

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