Love & Friendship (2016) - Stillman, Beckinsale and Co. win bigtime with cynically witty Austen adaptation

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+ Best Comeback Actress of the Year: Kate Beckinsale + Best Huge Hit Movie of the Year + Best Period Movie of the Year + Funniest Movie of the Year

Kate Beckinsale stands out as a sensual beauty with a sly intelligence about her on this appealing poster for Whit Stillman's Love & Friendship

1790s England: The recently widowed Lady Susan is in a tricky situation with a daughter who is ready to be wed off. She decides to pay her in-laws a visit.

Love & Friendship is written and directed by Washingtonian master filmmaker Whit Stillman (Metropolitan (1990)), whose 5th theatrical feature it is, adapting Jane Austen's (Emma (1815)) Lady Susan, written circa 1794 and published posthumously in 1871. The new title is taken from a story by that name, which Austen wrote for her and her family's amusement as a young girl.
Our heroine here is a scheming, shrewd and cunning person, a 'busy woman' of the kind that men the world over are fascinated by but also terrified of. Kate Beckinsale (The Face of an Angel (2014)) has her career's best role to date here, and Chloë Sevigny (Barry Munday (2010)) is also outstanding as he maneuvering friend. The role of über dunce Sir James, SPOILER whom Susan marries in the end, is played with terrific, thrilled ignorance by Tom Bennett (PhoneShop (2009-13)), and Love & Friendship also has other priceless performances.
The dialog is tight and loaded with cynical wit, not unlike some of the films of Joseph L. Mankiewicz like All About Eve (1950) and The Barefoot Contessa (1954), and it makes this period dramedy beg for more than one viewing.
The essence of Love & Friendship is cynical to the degree that it shows us that its title presentations of its main characters are overrated and often not understood to the characters themselves, people operating to serve self-interest or opportunistic openings they encounter. This wisdom is expanded in one of the year's most bubbly and funny films, a refreshingly vigorous, true bull's eye.

Related post:

Whit Stillman: 2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 3 mil. $
Box office: 21.4 mil. $
= Huge hit (returned 7.13 times the cost)
[Love & Friendship premiered 23 January (Sundance Film Festival, Utah) and runs 93 minutes. Stillman discovered Austen's novel in the late 1990s, but has also cited Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988) as an influence on the film. Sienna Miller was first cast in the lead but dropped out in favor of Clint Eastwood's masterpiece American Sniper. Shooting took place in Ireland, including Dublin, in 27 days from February - March 2015. The film opened #31 to a 133k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #9 and in 826 theaters (different weeks) and grossed 14 mil. $ (65.4 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 2.3 mil. $ (10.7 %) and Australia with 1.6 mil. $ (7.5 %). The film won a string of honors but no major awards. Stillman has not announced his next project yet. Beckinsale returned in The Disappointments Room (2016), Sevigny in Antibirth (2016). Love & Friendship is certified fresh at 97 % with an 8.2/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Love & Friendship?

Lincoln (2012) - Spielberg's inspiring presidential portrait stands tall

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+ Best Historical Movie of the Year + Best Big Hit Movie of the Year + Best Biopic of the Year

Daniel Day-Lewis fully immersed and impressively resemblant of his iconic character on this poster in stately B/W for Steven Spielberg's Lincoln

We follow the hardships of US president Abraham Lincoln in the last months of his second term, as the American Civil War finally comes to its end, and he manages to abolish slavery.

Lincoln is written by Tony Kushner (Munich (2005)), based in part on Doris Kearns Goodwin's (The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys: An American Saga (1987)) biographical book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln (2005)), and directed by Ohioan master filmmaker Steven Spielberg (Jurassic Park (1993)).
Daniel Day-Lewis (Nanou (1986)) is phenomenal as Lincoln, and so is Sally Field (Eye for an Eye (1996)) as Mrs. Lincoln. Spielberg's sweeping, historical biopic is exciting, because besides portraying one of the most interesting political periods in world history, it is also driven by a family drama with equally high stakes.
Spielberg has gathered an appropriately impressive ensemble of actors, of which the third who deserves highlighting is Tommy Lee Jones (Double Jeopardy (1999)), who stands out in one of his career's finest performances as a rebel Republican, who does what is necessary in order to be able to abolish slavery with his president.
Lincoln is full of wallops; it is a very handsome production with sublime photography (by Janusz Kaminski (Tall Tale (1995))) and a good score, although it isn't among composer John Williams' (Catch Me If You Can (2002)) very best. The chosen portion of a speech which concludes the film puzzles me a bit.
Still Lincoln is a grand and thrilling history lesson of great quality.

Related posts:

Steven Spielberg: The Post (2017) - Spielberg returns to mastery with a thrilling salute to the virtues of real, critical, brave journalism
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
War Horse (2011) - Spielberg visits WWI with problematic horse drama The Adventures of Tintin/The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (2011) - Affinities for Tintin, earlier Spielberg and film will decide your experience of this 3D mo-cap adventure Super 8 (2011) - Abrams' nostalgic family crowdpleaser (producer)
Band of Brothers - TV mini-series (2001) - WWII-sacrifice and -comradeship portrayed with skill and integrity (producer)
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) - A robot fairy tale with both heart and mind
Amistad (1997) or, Must... Free... Slaves! 
Empire of the Sun (1987) - Spielberg's grand production of boy-in-China-during-WWII is a misfire
Twilight Zone The Movie (1983) - Fear takes many forms in tragedy-struck anthology
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) - Spielberg's greatest accomplishment
1941 (1979) - Spielberg's bizarre 'comedy spectacular' sinks like a rock  
Top 10: Best car chases in movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Duel (1971) - Spielberg's truck terror is ideal afternoon fare

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 65 mil. $
Box office: 275.2 mil. $
= Big hit (returned 4.23 times the cost)
[Lincoln premiered 8 October (New York) and runs 150 minutes. Spielberg expressed desire to make a Lincoln film using Goodwin's then unwritten book in 1999. Development began in 2001 with Liam Neeson getting attached to star in 2005. He left the project in 2010, and Spielberg offered Day-Lewis, who had first called the idea of him playing the character "preposterous", the part again, which he then accepted. Shooting took place in Virginia from October - December 2011. The film opened #15 to a 944k $ first weekend in 11 theaters in North America, - a colossal 85k $ average, - where it peaked the following week at #3, behind new release, major box office phenomenon The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 and holdover hit Skyfall. It spent another 5 weeks in the top 5 (#3-#4-#4-#3-#5) and grossed 182.2 mil. $ (66.2 % of the total gross) domestically. The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 13.2 mil. $ (4.8 %) and France with 10.6 mil. $ (3.9 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, translating to a notch better than this one. The historical accuracy of the film is generally assessed to be high. It was nominated for 12 Oscars, winning for Best Actor (Day-Lewis) and Best Production Design. It lost Best Picture to Argo, Supporting Actor (Jones) to Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained, Supporting Actress (Field) to Anne Hathaway in Les Misérables, Director to Ang Lee for Life of Pi, Adapted Screenplay to Chris Terrio for Argo, Cinematography to Claudio Miranda for Life of Pi, Costume Design to Anna Karenina, Sound Mixing to Les Misérables, Editing to Argo, and Score to Mychael Danna for Life of Pi. It also won 1/7 Golden Globe nominations, 1/10 BAFTA noms, an AFI award, a David di Donatello nomination, a Grammy nomination, a National Board of Review award and countless other honors. Disney donated 37,100 copies of the film on DVD along with teaching guides to secondary schools across the US. Spielberg returned with Bridge of Spies (2015). Day-Lewis returned in Phantom Thread (2017). Lincoln is certified fresh at 89 % with an 8/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Lincoln?

Lymelife (2008) - The Martini brothers' coming-of-age indie fails to connect

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Fenced in domesticity with secrets and characters that are far apart are some of the messages from this cold poster for Derick Martini's Lymelife

We follow teenage boy Scott in Long Island in the 1970s during a period where fear for Lyme disease sweeps the suburban setting, Scott's father's infidelity uproots their family, and Scott loses his virginity.

Lymelife is written by brothers Steven Martini (Louis (2010)) and debuting co-writer/director/co-editor Derick Martini (The Curse of Downers Grove (2015)), based on their own experiences growing up.
I know the kind of film the Martinis were going for with Lymelife here; I know it down to the straw. - Unfortunately Lymelife never achieves being a good exponent for this type of indie coming-of-age drama. The expletive-stuffed dialog is wearying, and so is the youth violence and attempts at being raunchy by adding some blasphemy.
Teenage leads Rory Culkin (Gabriel (2014)) and Emma Roberts (The Blackcoat's Daughter (2015)) spent a good portion of the film half-naked, which feels gratuitous here, so it is up to the individual viewer whether to embrace or reject this. Alec Baldwin (It's Complicated (2009)) is engaged and identifies with his part as embattled family man and he is good here, but it can't save this youth movie, which doesn't feel very young, and which has a downbeat core which just doesn't provoke the desired reaction.

Culkin and Roberts give an interview about their work on the film here

Cost: Estimated 1.5 mil. $
Box office: 540k $
= Mega-flop (returned 0.36 times the cost)
[Lymelife premiered 8 September (Toronto International Film Festival, Canada) and runs 94 minutes. Shooting took place in New Jersey from March - April 2008. The film opened #54 to a 27k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it peaked #43 and in 35 theaters, grossing 421k $ (78 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Russia with 71k $ (13.1 %) and South Korea with 32k $ (5.9 %). A few markets have undisclosed gross figures. The film won a critics' prize in Toronto. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to three notches higher than this one. Martini returned with The Proposal (2009, short) and theatrically with Hick (2011). Culkin returned in Twelve (2010), Roberts with a voice performance in The Flight Before Christmas (2008) and physically in Hotel for Dogs (2009), Baldwin in My Best Friend's Girl (2008). Lymelife is fresh at 63 % with a 6.1/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Lymelife?

Let the Fire Burn (2013, documentary) - An American racial and political wound is examined with masterful command

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+ Most Undeserved Flop of the Year + Best Philadelphia Movie of the Year

This colored B/W still-based poster for Jason Osder's Let the Fire Burn represents the incendiary historical event that it portrays

The city of Philadelphia through the 1970s and '80s had an escalating poor relation to the African revolutionary MOVE cult who lived there, which culminated one tragic day in 1985.

Let the Fire Burn is made by debuting documentarian Jason Osder (Ram Dass, Fierce Grace (2001, documentary), production assistant).
The story of the MOVE group, including its problematic sides; first and foremost brainwashing and severe malnutrition of its members' children, the confrontations between the group and the surrounding society, and the fallout of the eventual major tragedy are presented through gathered stock, news and legal footage and sources. Osder's structuring and complimenting on the content is role-model documentary filmmaking. Especially outrageous in this bitter misery is the testimony of the boy Michael Ward. 
The result is a compelling, insistent, important and deeply discouraging film: Let the Fire Burn stands as a monument for the Philadelphia that failed almost completely in its attempt to straighten an uncivilized group within itself, as well as an indirect exposure of racism in America. It is a must-see. 

Related posts:

2013 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED VI]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]

Have a look at the Philadelphia Special Investigation Commission's first assembly in a clip here as a teaser for the film

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 64k $ (North America only)
= Uncertain - but undoubtedly a flop of some kind
[Let the Fire Burn premiered 29 April (Hot Docs Festival, Toronto, Canada) and runs 95 minutes. It was made with support from the George Washington University, where Osder is an assistant professor. The film opened #89 to a 5k $ first weekend in 1 theater in North America, where it peaked at #66 and in 9 theaters. It was also shown at documentary festivals in the UK, Poland and Luxembourg, but doesn't have a publicized gross from there. No matter what the film cost to make, its tiny gross would be very unlikely to cover it. The film won an Independent Spirit award. Osder has not returned with anything of his own since; he has produced a couple of documentary credits in 2015 that are still not released. Let the Fire Burn is certified fresh at 98 % with an 8.3/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Let the Fire Burn?

Halloween Movie 2018: Misery (1990) - Bates ignites an iconic villain in Reiner's rock-solid King adaptation

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A small lodge deep in the forest by the snowy mountains is pictured on this evocative poster for Rob Reiner's Misery

Paul Sheldon is the author behind a series of romance novels. Driving through a blizzard, he has an accident and wakes up in the house of Annie Wilkes, who is his #1 fan.

Misery is written by William Goldman (Chaplin (1992)), adapting the same-titled 1987 novel by Stephen King (Pet Sematary (1983)), and directed by New-Yorker master filmmaker Rob Reiner (When Harry Met Sally... (1989)) as his 6th theatrical feature.
It is a masterful adaptation based on a brilliant novel and screenplay and with terrific photography by Barry Sonnenfeld (Raising Arizona (1987)), who turned to directing directly after it, thus ending his career as a cinematographer.
James Caan's (The Throwaways (2015)) face is fantastic, when he tricks Wilkes in Misery, whom Kathy Bates (American Outlaws (2001)) portrays with eerie command. In supporting roles the ping-ponging between veterans Frances Sternhagen (Play of the Week (1959-61)) and Richard Farnsworth (Comes a Horseman (1978)) as husband and wife is delightful.
Misery has scenes of shock and fright, as it drags us with it, and in effect pacifies us along with Sheldon. SPOILER It has standout scenes that people remember, as when Wilkes burns Sheldon's new novel, and of course the scene in which she hobbles him with a sledgehammer.

Rob Reiner: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) - A helluva movie! (actor) 
The Bucket List (2007) or, We All Deserve Better 
Halloween Movies in the past: Halloween Movie 2017: Candyman (1992) - Racial tensions inform Rose and Barker's Chicago-set horror favorite 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 20 mil. $
Box office: 61.2 mil. $ (North America only)
= Box office success (returned at least 3.06 times the cost)
[Misery premiered 29 November (Los Angeles) and runs 107 minutes. King was persuaded into selling Reiner the rights to his novel due to the quality of his previous King adaptation masterpiece Stand by Me (1986). Goldman wanted more of the gore and brutality of King's novel to stay in the script but later stated that Reiner was right in his dosage. At least 11 major stars were pursued unsuccessfully to portray Sheldon before Caan was contracted. Shooting took place in New York, California, including Los Angeles, and in Nevada from February - May 1990. The film opened #2, behind Home Alone, to a 10 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weeks in the top 5 (#2-#5). The international numbers are not publicized, but Misery is likely to have crossed 80 mil. $, which would change its status to a 'big hit'. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch harder than this one. It was nominated for 1 Oscar for Best Actress, which Bates won, making Misery the first and to date only King adaptation to win an Oscar. It also won a Golden Globe and other honors. Reiner returned with A Few Good Men (1992). Bates returned in The Road to Mecca (1991), Caan in The Dark Backward (1991). Misery is certified fresh at 89 % with a 7.5/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Misery?

Lake Mungo (2008) - Anderson's bone-chilling mockumentary horror

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+ Best Horror Movie of the Year + Best Mockumentary of the Year + Best Australian Movie of the Year

A disturbing, distorted video feed in B/W provides the background for this poster for Joel Anderson's Lake Mungo

Teenage girl Alice drowns in a lake in a tragic accident, which haunts her parents and brother for years after. - But are they also actually haunted by her ghost, and if so, is it trying to tell them something...?

Lake Mungo is written and directed by feature-debuting Joel Anderson (The Rotting Woman (2002, short)). It is a successful mockumentary horror, which manages to create a realistic scenario and manipulate skillfully with us its audience.
A large part of the reason it works is good casting and acting from the cast of unknowns, paired with a very strong and nerveracking score by David Paterson, who, incredibly, hasn't made another score before or since.
Several sequences in Lake Mungo, - which drives on the fear of a parallel spirit world and souls living on among us, - are very frightening. The real Australian Mungo location is used handily towards the film's conclusion.
One reservation that might be raised against Lake Mungo is that the family it revolves around seems to circle as if spellbound around their lost daughter and sister even years after her demise.

Related posts: 

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 
2008 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Reportedly 1.1 mil. $
Box office: 29k A$, approximately 20k $ (Australia)
= Box office disaster (returned 0.18 times the cost)
[Lake Mungo premiered 18 June (Sydney Film Festival, Australia) and runs 89 minutes. Anderson deliberately wrote a low-budget script, which he has described as an "exploration of grief". The script had no dialog, so the actors had to improvise. Shooting took place in Australia in 5 weeks. The film's only listed gross is from its country of origin Australia. Beside this, it was only screened at festivals in 4 other markets. Anderson has not returned with anything since. Lake Mungo is fresh at 93 % with a 7.4/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Lake Mungo?

Leviathan/Левиафан/Leviafan (2014) - Zvyagintsev's pungent societal critique, a major drama

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+ Best Russian Movie of the Year + Best Big Flop Movie of the Year + Most Undeserved Flop of the Year + Best Societal Critique of the Year

The skeleton of a beached whale and a man on a rock looking at it effectively echoes the feeling of eternity and timelessness at play in Andrey Zvyagintsev's Leviathan

We follow a choleric man, who fights against local injustice in the shape of his mayor, who wants to expropriate his family's home for a song. - But his fight hits the rocks.

Leviathan is written by Oleg Negin (Elena (2011)) and great Russian co-writer/director Andrey Zvyagintsev (The Banishment/Izgnanie (2007)). The film features first rate performances, especially from Aleksei Serebryakov (Gulf Stream under the Iceberg/Golfstrim pod aysbergom (2012)) as protagonist Kolya and Roman Madyanov (Bablo (2011)) as the despicable mayor.
Leviathan is photographed strikingly, (cinematographer Mikhail Krichman (Winter Journey/Zimniy put (2013)), playing with the contrast between the raw, unsympathetic people we meet and the brutal landscape that they inhabit. The film is societal critique of the sharpest kind against power structures and power culture in contemporary Russia, secular as well as religious. - It is surprisingly precise in its judgment of the vast country's macho authority culture and its corruption.
Leviathan is a ceaselessly disheartening film, an excellent, relevant drama, - just don't expect it to be a party-starter!

Related post:

2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

Watch a trailer for the film here - unfortunately in an Italian dub

Cost: 220m RUB, approximately 3.36 mil. $
Box office: 4.4 mil. $
= Big flop (returned 1.3 times the cost)
[Leviathan premiered 23 May (Cannes Film Festival, France, in competition) and runs 141 minutes. Zvyagintsev was inspired by the story of Marvin Heemeyer, who went on a rampage in his local Colorado town in a modified bulldozer in 2004, demolishing the town hall, the former mayor's house and other buildings in what he described as his 'duty to God' before committing suicide. The Biblical figure Job also served as an inspiration. 35 % of the funding came from the Russian Ministry of Culture. Shooting took place in Russia from August - October 2013. The film opened #54 to a 12k $ first weekend in 2 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #33 and in 80 cinemas, grossing 1 mil. $ (22.7 % of the total gross). The biggest market was the film's country of origin Russia with 1.4 mil. $ (31.8 %). North America was the 2nd largest, and Spain was the 3rd largest with 421k $ (9.6 %). The Russian Minister of Culture criticized the film for 'defiling' the national culture and not liking Russians; others criticized making the film with funding from the ministry. - Despite this the film was still chosen as the official Russian entry for the Oscars, where it was nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar, lost to Pawel Pawlikowski's Ida from Poland. The film won a Golden Globe, was nominated for a BAFTA, won the main screenplay prize in Cannes, was nominated for 5 European Film awards and an Independent Spirit award, won a National Board of Review award and many other honors. Zvyagintsev returned with Loveless/Nelyubov (2017). Serebryakov returned in Liompa (2014, short), Fartsa (2015, TV-series), The Dive/Pogruzhenie (2015, short) and theatrically in Klinch (2015). Leviathan is certified fresh at 98 % with an 8.6/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Leviathan?

Life (2015) - No James Dean ...

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+ 3rd Worst Movie of the Year
+ Most Deserved Flop of the Year

The too-early demise of star James Dean is hinted at with the torn line and B/W of Dane DeHaan's face as the star on this poster for Anton Corbijn's Life

James Dean is an up and coming star in Hollywood with his breakthrough in Elia Kazan's East of Eden (1955) soon about to open, when a freelance photographer searches him out for a photo reportage.

Life is written by Luke Davies (Lion (2016)), based on the real life friendship between James Dean and Life magazine photographer Dennis Stock, and directed by Anton Corbijn (Control (2007)).
Contrary to the case with Simon Curtis' great My Week with Marilyn (2011), - an apt comparison piece to Life, - Corbijn's film doesn't have a lead actor to fill out the towering, iconic role of its star James Dean. Life is also, ironically, brought down by a very earth-bound plot and photography (by otherwise great cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christensen (Fences (2016))), which often seems unsure of where the camera really ought to be.
Dane DeHaan (Life after Beth (2014)) nevertheless clearly poses the biggest problem for the film, and Corbijn should have searched farther to find a true James Dean. DeHaan isn't attractive enough, and his eyes and voice have none of the spark and intensity that defined Dean for the public. Starting out DeHaan also gives Dean some gay affectations that makes one hope that the relation to Robert Pattinson (Damsel (2018)) as the photographer might develop in such a direction, - but alas, Life merely teases us a bit. - It would be natural to expect that DeHaan's career hit the wall with this disaster but no: For some reason he continues to be booked for prestigious roles in sometimes colossal movies (which most often flop terribly.)
Life takes us and the two leads to Indiana for no obvious reason and becomes a deadly bore. Corbijn stands on the thinnest supportable ice here.

Related posts:

Anton Corbijn: 2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
A Most Wanted Man (2014) - Hamburg anti-terror spies in lean, serious picture
The American (2010) - Corbijn and Clooney's paper-thin, boring, pretentious hitman outing  
2007 in films - according to Film Excess
Control (2007) - Ian Curtis' youth, love and music as the front man of Joy Division

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Reportedly 10-15 mil. $
Box office: 1.2 mil. $
= Box office disaster (returned between 0.12-0.08 times the cost, depending on the film's final cost)
[Life premiered 9 February (Berlin International Film Festival, Germany) and runs 111 minutes. Corbijn, himself originally a photographer, has stated that he wasn't interested in the James Dean part of the story. Shooting took place in Ontario, including Toronto, and in Los Angeles, California from February - March 2014. The film only had a very limited release in North America, and its gross from it is unreported: It was issued as VoD at the same time, and the earnings from this are not made public. The film's biggest markets were France with 298k $ (24.8 % of the total gross), Germany with 167k $ (13.9 %) and Norway with 137k $ (11.4 %). Corbijn has not announced any new film since the disaster. DeHaan returned in Two Lovers and a Bear (2016); Pattinson in The Childhood of a Leader (2015). Life is fresh at 64 % with a 6.2/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Life?