You know him as Robert Ford in the fantastic The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007), or from his Academy Award winning performance in the tremendously dramatic Manchester by the Sea, or simply as Ben Affleck's little brother; this time, however, Casey Affleck returns with his second directorial effort after the mockumentary I'm Still Here and boy, is it an intense slow-burn.
Set sometime in a distant dystopian present/future, Light of my Life is the story of a father (Affleck) and his 11-year-old daughter Rag (played by the exceptionally natural Anna Pniowsky) who live in a world where women have disappeared as a result of a peculiar - and unexplained- disease. Father and daughter travel across the US and live like fugitives under the worst of conditions in order to survive and get away from people who would harm the peculiarity that is a small girl in a world of no girls. Soon comes the realisation that besides the absence of women throughout the film (apart from a small cameo by Elizabeth Moss), females dominate and haunt the whole story.
Bringing to mind movies such as The Road (2009) with Viggo Mortensen [The Lord of the Rings (2001-2003)] and Leave no Trace (2018) with (the underrated) Ben Foster [Hell or High Water (2016), The Messenger (2009)] as well as having the atmosphere of games such as The Last of Us, someone could argue that Light of my Life has nothing new to bring to the table.
However, it is Affleck's excellent acting that moves this film forward. From the opening monologue, convincing of a true father-daugher relationship, to the more dramatic exchanges and surprises along the way, Affleck's expressive eyes manage to make this film a must-see. What is more, the beautiful imagery and cinematography make up for the lack of plot and captivate the audience who above all else root for the heroes to make it out not only alive but together.
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