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?

Closer (2004) - Nichols and Marber's intelligent film of love and infidelity

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The elegant poster for Mike Nichols' Closer

QUICK REVIEW:

A failed writer meets a stripper in London, SPOILER and they fall in love. He also starts an affair with a photographer, who leaves her husband, but then goes back to him. And the stripper leaves the him.

That is the plot in this the penultimate film from the great, recently passed on German director Mike Nichols (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)). It is a love-themed relationship drama that impresses with its fine performances from Jude Law (A. I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)), Natalie Portman (Black Swan (2010)), who was Oscar-nominated for her work, - along with Clive Owen (Children of Men (2006)). But for me it was especially Julia Roberts (Pretty Woman (1990)) whom I relished in the film.
It is based on an intelligent script by Patrick Marber (Notes on a Scandal (2006)), adapting his own 1997 play here. It confronts us with the complexities of love and its hard, hard conditions of sustaining itself for a longer period of time.
Closer does, unfortunately, have a strip club scene that I thought was incredibly contrived and unbelievable.

Related reviews:

Mike Nichols: Angels in America (2003, TV-miniseries) or, Dying in the 80's, of AIDS, at L-E-N-G-T-H
Biloxi Blues (1988) or, '45 Army Camp Confidential   
Catch-22 (1970) - Nichols wages war on war with ensemble cast in absurdist satire 

Natalie Portman in Mike Nichols' Closer

Julia Roberts in Mike Nichols' Closer

Watch the great trailer for the film here

Cost: 27 mil. $
Box office: 115.5 mil. $
= Big hit
[Closer made a nice 33.9 mil. $ (29 % of the total gross) in the US, and was extremely well-received in Brazil (1.1 mil. admissions) and several European countries, especially England (where the plot takes place, and where Marber's play also had its original run) (7.9 mil. £), Italy (5.3 mil. €) and Spain (4.8 mil. €).]

What do you think of Closer?
Which of Nichols' many good movies do you treasure highest and why?

Finding Vivian Maier (2013) - Encounter a true artist in the most captivating documentary of 2013

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The mysterious title photographer in a self-portrait on the poster for John Maloof & Charlie Siskel's Finding Vivian Maier

Our narrator/documentary film-maker débutante John Maloof has bought thousands of incredible street, travel and human pictures from an unknown, diseased nanny by the name of Vivian Maier. - Who was she?

Finding Vivian Maier is a fantastic biographical mystery documentary, which lives on its extraordinarily fascinating title subject and her immediate, stunning, moving photographs.
Maloof has conducted an impressive detective-like and nearly obsessive job to bring us the amazing story here. He has also achieved some exemplary interviews with people that had places in Maier's life. All of them are met with a spirit of equality, curiosity and respect, which permeates this whole, spectacular film.
Finding Vivian Maier is full of meanings and transcendent moments, - and it is also very touching. An instant classic; Maier is unavoidable.
Maloof co-directed with Charlie Siskel (Bowling for Columbine (2002), field producer), who is a nephew of the famous film critic Gene Siskel.

Related posts:

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

Here follows four vibrant, poignant photos by Maier:

Watch the trailer here

Cost: Likely around 0.2 mil. $
Box office: 3.5 mil. $
= Mega-hit
[The budget consisted of 105k $ raised on Kickstarter, which the filmmakers have said was the majority of the budget, which I therefore pitch at around 0.2 mil. $. The film has also made 0.6 mil. $ on the home video market. Maier has also received awards at film festivals in Portland, Traverse City, Miami and Palm Springs.]

What do you think of Finding Vivian Maier?
Do you have any good personal Vivian Maier story to share?
Have you seen any other 2013 documentary as good as this one?