miike7311 Review of The Life Before Her Eyes

The Life Before Her Eyes (2007)

A decent but quirky movie with a twist that improves the entirety of the film

[6/10 · 18 February 2010]

As I was watching this movie, I kept wondering where it was going, but it took to the very end for me to figure out the kicker. The life she is living and with flashbacks to her teenage friendship and school relationships is merely an envisioned life. I life that hasn't and in this case won't happen. It is an ultimate play on that venerable phrase "seeing your life flash before your eyes". In this case the older Diana played by Uma Thurman is that life that flashes before the eyes of the younger Diana played by Evan Rachel Wood in the midst of a high school shooting just before being shot. I thought this revelation made the whole movie that much better and worse at the same time. It effectively desensitized some of the flashbacks to that tragedy and romanticized the rest of her "visualized" life. This was an interesting film only after the turn and rather boring and difficult to watch to get there. The acting was decent, the directing by Vadim Perelman was creative and I look forward to seeing his remake of the classic horror Poltergeist in 2011. Not a movie worth spending a lot of money on, but worth a look if your bored of action or comedy and need a decent if quirky drama.