Life Of The Party (2005)
Picture:
C Sound: C+ Extras: B- Film: B-
Michael
(Eion Bailey) was a great track star in high school, but he moved to the big
city and found too shrunken by it for his own good. Drinking is how he deals with it and Barra
Grant’s Life Of The Party (2005) is
the impressive independent film that comes up with a new take on alcoholism and
its awful affects on all. The difference
is that you have a female writer/director doing a male bonding story and how
alcoholism disrupts that.
Remarkably,
it is a very believable and powerful one that eschews clichés and comes up with
an original approach that deals with the subject in much-needed different
way. Bailey gives a fine performance in
which he is not slowly deteriorating or going off in crazy anger, but instead
of the kind of alcoholic that can handle liquor in a way that makes the problem
dangerously less obvious.
Now the
next twist is that all of his family and friends try an intervention that fails
when the psychiatrist/therapist does not show up. Now that would usually be the basis for a
comedy, especially these days, but this does not degenerate into
problem-denying dribble. Instead, all have
to face each other with a sudden honesty that is not pretty and conflict picks
up ion unexpected ways.
Helping
in the fine supporting cast of good actors in the film include the very likable
Ellen Pompeo just before Grey’s Anatomy and the underrated Clifton Collins, Jr.
(Tigerland) in a more subtle
performance that shows his range in a new way.
There is enough chemistry for us to believe these are people who have
know each other for years and makes this one of those too-rare indie films
worth seeing.
The only
place Grant gets into trouble is in walking the line between intent and result,
denial and truth. She obviously set out
to make a serious film, then thought she was doing a comedy, but nothing here
is ever funny and all is so serious that it even defies dark humor. It took her serious denial to get this out of
her system, but it was worth it. In a
few years, it will hopefully be recognized as the achievement it is minus
overacting, cliché and melodramatic formula with a rare case of the
late-20s/early 30s age group being shown as intelligent, mature adults.
Wasn’t
that the idea of independent cinema to begin with?
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 was nicely shot in Super 35mm film by Larry
Sher, but this transfer has some Video Black issues, detail troubles and that
holds back somewhat the fine compositions and editing throughout. Color and depth thankfully do not suffer as
much, but this deserves an HD release and is watchable otherwise. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has little in
the way of surrounds, but is nicely recorded considering. Extras include a making of featurette,
trailers for other THINKFilm releases, one for this film and a very good
feature length audio commentary by director Grant.
- Nicholas Sheffo
