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Good Life (The)
R1 - America - Image Entertainment Review written by and copyright: James Teitelbaum (14th November 2008). |
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The Film
 Jason (Mark Webber) is a twenty-five year old man (he doesn't look a day older than seventeen) who lives in a small and rotting town in Nebraska. The local residents don't have much to think about other than an impending (but not particularly crucial) college football game. Jason isn't much of a football fan. In fact, he wishes the he could muster up the enthusiasm to care about the game, but he just can't muster any enthusiasm. He is occupied with other things. Within his bleak and decrepit surroundings, Jason has a busy life taking care of Gus (Harry Dean Stanton) the elderly and senile owner of an old revival movie house. Jason works in a gas station too, and is also trying to come up with enough money to get electricity restored to the leaky house that he and his mother live in. Jason's father has recently committed suicide, and his loutish brother - who lives elsewhere - seems unwilling to help Jason or their mother. Three more people walk into Jason's life: Francis (Zooey Deschanel), a pretty but rather dopey young girl who claims to have once been a famous singer, Robbie (Bill Paxton) a friendly man who is probably a closet queer, and Tad (Chris Klein) an insane bully who has decided - seemingly at random - to make Jason his target. As if all of this wasn't enough, Jason has an immune system disease that has caused him to lose all of his hair, including his eyebrows, giving him a freakish appearance. A mysterious gift left to Jason by his father adds to the stress of dealing with the bully, the poverty, the weird girl, and the bleak Nebraska town; all of this threatens to drive Jason towards the brink of insanity. Truth be told, he is far from the only nutty person in his rusting little Nebraska town. His mother seems perpetually about to lose her mind, his father was clearly quite mentally ill, and Gus, Robbie, Frances, Tad, and more or less everyone else around Jason is severely messed up. For example, Robbie name checks people like Judy Garland, pointing out her addiction to pills and her suicide attempt as things they have in common. Tad chases Jason down and beats him up for no reason at all. Robbie stalks Jason but never has the courage to make a move. Finally, Jason can't take any more, so he opens the gift his father had left behind, and then he does the only thing he can with what he finds therein. "The Good Life" has almost no story at all; it is simply a character study showing one guy who is surrounded by a cross-section of the most worthless people that the midwestern United States has to offer. This relentlessly bleak and thoroughly depressing film makes a small effort in its final scene to turn things around and become uplifting. It is far too little, far too late, and is ultimately unconvincing. What is convincing is that writer / director Stephen Berra has some serious issues with decrepit middle-American towns and the people within; this film feels very much like someone working through some personal issues via the medium of their art. Director Stephen Berra has had a few very small acting roles, but his directing resume includes only a single other film, from the year 2000. Let us hope that he cheers up a little bit before his next effort.
Video
Aspect ratio is 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen. There are very serious issues with the video quality on this DVD. Compression is out of control with major pixelation throughout the film. Given the running time of under 90 minutes and the complete lack of extras, there is no excuse for this. Blacks on this film are meant to be intense and deep, but they come off as inky, oversaturated, and murky. Contrast in general is low, and the image is very soft overall. Running time is 1:29:31, divided into chapters.
Audio
"The Good Life" is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo. There are no languages other than English, and there are no subitles. The surround mix is probably superfluous as there isn't much happening in this film sonically.
Extras
The only extra is a single bonus trailer for "Encounters at the End of the World" which runs for 1 minute 51 seconds.
Overall
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