Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
As a young New York couple goes from college romance to marriage and the birth of their first child, the unexpected twists of their journey create reverberations that echo over continents and through lifetimes.
Life Itself (2018) attempts an ambitious multi-generational, multi-continental narrative with an unreliable narrator device, but the execution is widely regarded as overwrought and manipulative. The plot relies heavily on coincidence and melodrama to connect its storylines, straining credibility. The acting is competent with a solid ensemble cast (Oscar Isaac, Olivia Wilde, Antonio Banderas), though the material often works against them. Cinematography is functional and serviceable without being particularly distinctive. The unreliable narrator concept offers some novelty, but the film largely recycles familiar emotional beats from films like Magnolia or Babel without their craft or coherence. The ending leans into saccharine sentimentality that many viewers found unearned given the trauma the narrative puts its characters through.