While some would say it's far too sappy and convoluted, I found some of Life Itself to be charming, even though it's admittedly manipulative in some frustrating ways. From the creator of This is Us (aka, the most manipulative show on television), Life Itself takes the same sort of massive cast & story premise, with a more grandiose approach. I would say about half of it lands and half of it really doesn't. It's certainly manipulative, and since I expected that going in, I disappointingly new exactly where a certain storyline was going, and sure enough that's right where it ended up. I didn't particularly mind any performance, but I really loved Mandy Patinkin, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, and Laia Costa's roles. Those were the 3 that resonated with me the most in the ensemble cast feature. And overall, I liked that the film was trying to say about ripple effects and how unknowingly, the world is changing every second with every subtle (or not) move every person is making. I like when movies comment on those broad ideas and such, but you can do it without being manipulative and shoving a certain idea in your face over and over again.
6.0/10
6.0/10