''Life Just Is'' is a 2012 British independent drama film written and directed by Alex Barrett and starring Will De Meo, Jack Gordon,
Nathaniel Martello-White
Nathaniel Martello-White (born January 1983) is a British actor and writer. Having appeared in several productions of the National Youth Theatre, he graduated from RADA in 2006 and since has performed in films, television shows and theatre.
H ...
, Fiona Ryan,
Jayne Wisener
Jayne Wisener (born 19 May 1987) is an actress and singer from Northern Ireland. She played Johanna Barker, Johanna in the British-American film ''Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007 film), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet ...
and
Paul Nicholls.
Plot
''Life Just Is'' tells the story of Pete, Tom, Claire, David and Jay who are university graduates having trouble making the move into adult life. Amongst the hanging out and their daily routines simmers Pete's desire to find a spiritual answer to life's meaning, Jay's desperate need not to get hurt again and Tom and Claire's ever increasing mutual attraction.
Cast
* Will De Meo as David
* Jack Gordon as Pete
*
Nathaniel Martello-White
Nathaniel Martello-White (born January 1983) is a British actor and writer. Having appeared in several productions of the National Youth Theatre, he graduated from RADA in 2006 and since has performed in films, television shows and theatre.
H ...
as Tom
* Fiona Ryan as Claire
*
Jayne Wisener
Jayne Wisener (born 19 May 1987) is an actress and singer from Northern Ireland. She played Johanna Barker, Johanna in the British-American film ''Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007 film), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet ...
as Jay
*
Paul Nicholls as Bobby
*
Rachel Bright
Rachel Bright is an English actress, known for portraying the role of Poppy Meadow in the BBC soap opera '' EastEnders''.
Career
Bright was introduced as Poppy Meadow on the BBC soap opera '' EastEnders'' in two episodes on 11 and 13 January 2 ...
as Anna
* Jason Croot as Walahfrid
* Vanessa Govinden as Michelle
* Andrew Hawley as Nick
* Lachlan McCall as Lawrence
* Joshua Osei as Vince
* Niall Phillips as Ollie
*
Alix Wilton Regan
Alix Sophie Wilton Regan (born 26 January 1986) is an English actress known for her roles as Samantha Traynor in ''Mass Effect 3'' and Aya in ''Assassin's Creed Origins''.
Early life
Born in London, Wilton Regan attended L'Ile Aux Enfants prima ...
as Zoe
* Gillian Wisener as Beth
Themes
Through its examination of the lives of a group of young adults in today's society, ''Life Just Is'' explores a number of contemporary themes concerning life after university and finding one's place in life. More specifically, the film looks at the existential clash between desire and fear and the ways in which the latter prevents people from achieving the former. The film also examines attitudes towards religion and the standoff between religious ideas and modern values.
Soundtrack
''Life Just Is'' features no original score and no non-diegetic music on its soundtrack, instead containing only music listened to by the characters themselves. In addition to the tracks featured in the film, there are also several moments when the characters sing songs. In one scene, the character David performs "
Geordie in Wonderland" by
The Wildhearts
The Wildhearts are an English rock band, formed in 1989 in Newcastle upon Tyne. The band's sound is a mixture of hard rock and melodic pop music, often described in the music press as combining influences as diverse as the Beatles and 1980s-e ...
, and two of the other songs he sings are originally by bands featuring ex-Wildhearts members: "Lemonade Girl" by
The Jellys
The Jellys were a three piece English punk/ pop band, featuring ex-members of The Wildhearts.
Biography
The Jellys were formed by CJ (ex-The Wildhearts/Honeycrack) and featured ex-Wildhearts drummer Stidi and Jeff Hateley (ex- Wolfsbane) on ba ...
and "Moving Along" by Plan A.
In November 2011, the complete soundtrack listing was unveiled on the film's blog, revealing that the film also features songs by Emma McGlynn, The Lustjunks, The Heart Strings, Deckard, Nate Seacourt, The High Wire and
Animal Kingdom.
Marketing
Since the very early stages of production, the team behind the film have been posting comprehensive updates on the project's blog, with the intention of being as open and as informative as possible about their creative process and experiences. In the run up to the shoot, the documenting expanded to include video updates posted on both the film's blog and its
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
channel. During the shoot, actress
Jayne Wisener
Jayne Wisener (born 19 May 1987) is an actress and singer from Northern Ireland. She played Johanna Barker, Johanna in the British-American film ''Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007 film), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet ...
created a series of popular
video diaries
''Video Diaries'' is a BBC television programme produced by the Community Programme Unit. The series of programmes was created in 1990 by producer Jeremy Gibson. The programme's production team offered members of the public basic video training a ...
.
After the shoot, the production launched an international competition to design their poster. An overwhelming success, the competition (aimed predominately at students) attracted over 100 entries from 23 different institutions based in eight countries spread over four continents. The entries were simultaneously shortlisted by a panel of industry experts and a public vote run on the film's
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
page. On 28 February 2011 Soledad del Real was announced as the winner, as decided by the film's director and producers. All of the entries were later collated into an ebook given away for free on the film's website.
From September 2009 to May 2011, the team behind the film also ran a popular networking and screening night entitled 'Life's Just Networking' at The Duchess pub in
Battersea
Battersea is a large district in south London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and extends along the south bank of the River Thames. It includes the Battersea Park.
History
Batter ...
, London. They continue to run occasional events under their 'Life's Just Events' banner.
Reception
The film received mixed reviews upon release. It currently holds a 27% 'rotten' critical score on
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
based on 11 reviews.
It has been described as "gogglingly boring and appallingly acted" by Catherine Shoard of ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', "a British twist on the
mumblecore
Mumblecore is a subgenre of independent filmHoberman, J. (August 14, 2007).It's Mumblecore!. ''The Village Voice''. Retrieved on July 27, 2008.Lim, Dennis (August 19, 2007)Mumblecore – The New Talkies: Generation DIY ''The New York Times''. Retr ...
genre" by Amber Wilkinson of ''Eye for Film'' and "unimaginative and quite frankly dull" by Jennifer Tate of ''ViewLondon''. Tim Robey of ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was fo ...
'' was more positive, awarding the film three out of five stars and calling it a "Thoughtful, affable, unfashionably angsty shoestring debut about young Londoners figuring stuff out in their post-college years". Robey also noted that "The young cast shine". David Parkinson of ''
Empire Magazine
''Empire'' is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. The first issue was published in May 1989.
History
David Hepworth of Emap, the publisher of British music magazines '' Q'' and ''Smash Hits'', among other title ...
'' also awarded the film three out of five stars, stating that "Writer/director Barrett delivers a promising debut that pitches four believable characters into the euphoria and dismay of post-uni life". The film critic Brad Stevens went even further in his praise, writing that "In his first feature, Barrett has already acquired the skill to know exactly where to position his camera in order to suggest a view on the material without ever imposing such a view artificially... It may be a cliché, but Barrett's key influences clearly come not from art but rather from life, from the generosity and curiosity with which he has observed both his contemporaries and himself...It is tempting to describe LIFE JUST IS as one of the most promising debuts in contemporary cinema, but this temptation should be resisted. We are not dealing with promise here: we are dealing with achievement".
Several reviewers noted the influence of
Ingmar Bergman
Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film director, screenwriter, Film producer, producer and playwright. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time, his films are known ...
and
Carl Th. Dreyer
Carl Theodor Dreyer (; 3 February 1889 – 20 March 1968), commonly known as Carl Th. Dreyer, was a Danish film director and screenwriter. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his movies are noted for their emotional aus ...
upon the film. Anton Bitel of ''
Little White Lies'' wrote "writer/director Alex Barrett's feature debut settles for rites-of-passage ensemble drama in a Bergman mould, but its stilted, awkward dialogue hardly improves upon the audible lines of the film-within-a-film critiqued in that opening scene."
Meanwhile,
Mark Kermode
Mark James Patrick Kermode (, ; ; born 2 July 1963) is an English film critic, musician, radio presenter, television presenter and podcaster. He is the chief film critic for ''The Observer'', contributes to the magazine ''Sight & Sound'', prese ...
of ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
'' wrote that the film "deserves credit for looking beyond the boundaries of the usual cash-strapped youth fare, and for daring to be more Carl Dreyer than Danny Dyer",
and also made the film DVD of the Week.
References
External links
*
*
* {{rotten-tomatoes, life_just_is_2012, Life Just Is
2012 films
2010s coming-of-age drama films
British coming-of-age drama films
British independent films
2012 independent films
2010s English-language films
2010s British films