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Critics Consensus: Life may frustrate viewers seeking a James Dean biopic with its subject's intensity, but it remains a diverting, well-acted effort assembled with admirable craft and ambition.
Critic Consensus: Life may frustrate viewers seeking a James Dean biopic with its subject's intensity, but it remains a diverting, well-acted effort assembled with admirable craft and ambition.
All Critics (59) | Top Critics (10) | Fresh (38) | Rotten (21)
Both Pattinson and DeHaan could have used more to do, but both actors put in performances that elevate the proceedings.
A moody, leisurely and occasionally frustrating piece of work ...
The actors and their exchanges ring true, and by the time the film reaches its lonesome conclusion, the resonances are eerie.
Dig, if you will, the pictures, but you don't need "Life" as a stargazing aid.
I loved Ben Kingsley's over-the-top work as studio head Jack Warner, who in one scene explains the lay of the land to Mr. Dean in a manner that would inspire envy from Don Corleone. This guy isn't messing around.
It ends up demystifying Dean, perhaps by accident but no less regrettably.
The unexpected delight here is Pattinson, who takes the character of Stock and shows every side of him, the unflattering ones included, to the camera.
You quickly forget that DeHaan is present, accepting him wholeheartedly as Dean.
Underrated-- both the vivid Hollywood history tale itself, and the performances, especially Dane DeHaan as screen icon James Dean.
Dean's struggle with the fame that was just around the corner, and Stock's determination to get the scoop that would transform his own career are the twin drivers of one of those canny biographies that doesn't attempt A-Z coverage.
(Dane DeHaan) gives a frankly pretty dreadful performance as iconic actor James Dean. It's mannered, visible (you can definitely see the 'acting' going on) and largely unconvincing.
A movie that shows a very important period of American cinema and photography, making us part of the troubles of the search for transcendence. [Full review in Spanish]
An insufferable specimen of tabloid movie that is more concerned with being a who's-who of celebrities in 1955 instead of at least engaging as a narrative, and its failure can be attributed mainly to Pattinson (terrible) and DeHaan, who is completely miscast as James Dean.
Super Reviewer
By the time he was twenty-four years old James Dean had starred in three major films, would become a cultural icon symbolizing the tone of teenage America, but he would also be dead. While this public persona of the "rebel without a cause" pushed Dean to the forefront of pop culture we come to learn in director Anton Corbijn's (The American, A Most Wanted Man) new film that the real Dean was not as his persona suggested, but more the quiet kid in an acting class simply searching for something tangible, something that wasn't as arbitrary as the fame he was suddenly coming into. In Life, we pick up with Dean in 1955 shortly after wrapping East of Eden and just prior to landing the role in Rebel Without a Cause-only seven months or so before his untimely death. Surprisingly, Dean is not the main character of this story though, no, that would be photographer Dennis Stock (played here by Robert Pattinson). Stock was largely a set photographer employed by Magnum, a photo agency, who met Dean at party thrown by director Nicholas Ray (writer/director of Rebel). At this point in time, prior to East of Eden coming out, Dean wasn't even a household name, but after the actor and Stock hit it off at the party and Dean invited his new friend to a screening of his new film it became clear to Stock that there was something unique about the young man who couldn't have seemed more estranged or disillusioned with the ideas Hollywood was throwing at him. It is in this attitude, this kind of presented exterior by Dean with which Corbijn is intent on exploiting and exploring through he and Stock's relationship. More than anything though, this is a film about the relationship that develops between two different types of artists: the one who creates and the one who pulls back the layers of that creation. read the whole review at www.reviewsfromabed.com
While not quite showing enough of James Dean's life, "LIFE" follows Dennis Stock as he takes photographs of James Dean in the most pivotal part of his career. Robert Pattinson and Dane Dehaan share great on-screen chemistry and I bought everything they were going through, even though I think both roles were slightly miscast. After only appearing in three feature films, James Dean died at age 24, but that aspect is not even explored throughout the course of this picture, and I was waiting for it. It never goes as deep as you want it to, but the character moments that the audience does receive, it terrific. This is a very well-written script and the filmmakers truly did capture the 50's era well, mimicking the settings of the classic photographs of the star. I really enjoyed watching this film, and for what it is, there is nothing structurally wrong with it, it just drags along, mostly do to the fact that there is no build up to a climax. The film is a build-up to James Dean's ultimate popularity and then it ends. Again, for what it is, it is well-acted and well-written, but ultimately doesn't give you everything you want. Overall, I had a nice time watching "LIFE."
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