User Reviews

This is pretentious faux deep nonsense. It was designed so that pretentious faux deep pseudo intellectuals could watch it, then sit around, smoke cigarettes, and say pretentious faux deep things. The things they say will be gibberish, but they and their pretentious faux deep friends can pretend that they have meaning so that they feel sophisticated. Many of us knew them in college. I think a Saturday Night Live skit was made about these sorts of people featuring Catherine Zeta-Jones, but I can't recall the exact episode.

I heard that this was intelligent science fiction. It wasn't. It had a pinch of vague stereotypical psi phenomena so that it could jump genres, but the psi had nothing to do with the plot. I waded through the whole thing hoping that there would eventually be some point. There wasn't. It was just the same old annoying and sometimes creepy sexual tension and promiscuity mixed with a lot of emoting and confusion.

I would give this movie one star, but that would be unfair since the acting was reasonably good. It's not the actors' fault they got dragged into this thing. They probably needed the work. The actors deserve some small concession.

And before anyone asks, my dislike for it had nothing to do with it being titled Half-Life.

This movie was absolutely boring, minute for minute. I was in the premiere screening and everyone around me looked supremely bored and impatient. The movie had terrible pacing, which was only rivaled by much of the acting being simply not very good. Not everyone was a terrible actor, of course. Alexander Agate and Leonardo Nam were both excellent. However, Lee Marks and Ben Redgrave were absolutely atrocious. Most of the other actors? Mediocre at best.

Generally, the movie was somewhat unwatchable, and I find it scary that a film like this would make it into Sundance. There's nothing to watch here, no subplots worth mentioning, and nothing wraps up practically well. With the way the music would swell unnaturally at times, I expected the movie to end, and then it kept going. This happened probably 5 times.

Oh, and also? The movie looked completely average. Good colors, nothing over or under exposed, but absolutely nothing about it felt inspiring.

The film explores major-themes in Multiculturalism and the human angst for the 21st century. What is specifically startling is how vibrant the aesthetic approach is in production value. Although reportedly not a high budget project, Phang's mis-en-scene is breath-taking. Also worth noting is the extremely likable performance by Alexander Agate, who rivals any child performance to date (reminded me of the powerful performance by Anna Paquin for THE PIANO.) While the pacing may not be for everyone, I think this is a film for the type of audience who enjoys a cerebral experience similar to DONNIE DARKO or Pink Floyd's THE WALL. The original score takes a post-modern approach of incidental music, which is very innovative in keeping the film from being too sentimental.

Probably the best film I saw this year at Sundance. The film is amazingly well crafted and profound. The type of film that you expect to see at Sundance. The film revolves around a family falling apart, personal identity, sexual identity, and religion, without being preachy. There are a number of very creative animated sequences, shot with the confidence of a real art film, the pace of the film is a welcome relief in our MTV quick cut era and had the best music of any film I saw at the festival (why do so many Sundance films have uninspired or just bad music) If your a fan of real art and cinema, this is the film for you!

It's pretty well described as "pre-apocalyptic drama" (though I'm not sure "drama" is the right word… it does have pretty hilarious moments too.), where a family finds themselves in a world sunk in environmental chaos, while still trying to cope with their own problems. The focus, of course, is not in the setting, but the particular ordeals that the incredibly diverse family have to face: a stressed out mother, Saura, a jaded daughter, Pam, and a reclusive younger son with strange paranormal powers, Tim. Also surrounding the family is Saura's manipulative boyfriend Wendell and Pam's recently outed best friend Scott, for whom she happens to hold deeper feelings than mere friendship. And fully closing the circle there's Tim's teacher and Scott's lover. Oh, and did I forget to mention that Scott's parents are zealous Christians?

The movie manages to blend in live-action scenes with beautifully hand-drawn surreal animated scenes to represent the main characters' fantasy world, giving it a really unique and original feel. I was even told by the filmmakers that they spent three years on the animation alone, so basically most of it was hand drawn frame by frame!

As you can see, there are A LOT of stories to be told, and Jennifer Phang's script does it wonderfully, not leaving a single detail out. The script is beautiful, even poetic, with the characters and their motivations tangible in every scene. But the movie is not just drama; like when Scott is talking to his father about 'reasserting things'. Scott's reply is just PRICELESS: "reassert what, my rectum?". And with some very laugh out loud moments like that one, the movie takes on an even more realistic feel.

One thing I really enjoyed was the music: it just felt RIGHT for every scene and it was beautifully written.

If you're looking for a beautifully told -and on top of everything VERY HUMAN- story, Half- Life may just do it. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

It was better than I expected from the trailer -- I was recommended by a friend who saw it at a film festival, and I found the themes resonating with the turmoil in many lives around me.

Haunting and beautiful, eerie and prescient. The performances by the younger actors (Sanoe Lake and Alexander Agate) were inspiring and charged with the right level of emotional inflection to make their characters seem real.

There was a really strong supporting cast, with quirky moments that were darkly funny. The animation, for an independent film, was creative and invoked the alternate reality quite well.

I would definitely recommend the film, and it was great to see a new emerging female director premiere at Sundance!

Was the other reviewer even watching the same film? I think Half Life is nothing short of amazing. I saw it at its second screening at Sundance and was totally blown away. So were the vast majority of the people in the filled to capacity theater. This was a touching, human, wickedly funny, painfully honest, and visually amazing movie. I recommend it to everyone. The entire cast turned in some of the best and most inspired performances of their career, including the actor who played the little kid. Sanoe Lake makes up for Blue Crush a hundred times over with her fearless acting style. The cinematographer should win an award too.

Caught it at South-By-Southwest and it stood out to me as the true gem of the festival. So much of the programming I caught there didn't interest me. Although the films were solidly enjoyable, they ultimately seemed quite mundane and wholly 'uncinematic' - each one blended into the others. This stood far above the rest.

I find this film highly engaging emotionally but also very interesting formally. It's a wonderfully crafted film. It has what's needed to be pleasing, but never forgets its true ambition as a cinematic work. Incredible first film that stands out in the modern indie film spectrum ... I give it eight of ten because you have to leave room for Bergman :)

"Half-Life," Jennifer Phang's first feature film is an impressive debut. A blend of family drama, magic realism and sexual exploration.

Set in the rolling hills of Northern California suburbia, "Half-Life" centers around the lives of Saura Wu (Julia Nickson), a mother of two struggling to keep herself together, her teenage daughter Pam (Sanoe Lake), her 10 year old son Timothy (Alexander Agate) and her live-in boyfriend of five weeks Wendell (Ben Redgrave).

We learn that the family patriarch abandoned the trio some time ago. The aftereffects still resonate and are played out in Saura's hurried relationship with the much younger Wendell, Pam's crush on her gay friend Scott (Leonardo Nam) and Timothy's frequent escapes to an alternate reality. The latter provides the film's fantastic animated sequences courtesy of artists Matt Pugnetti, Catherine Tate and Ryan Schiewe, to name a few, which are sure to be compared to Richard Linklater's 2001 "lucid dream" "Waking Life."

The performances in "Half-Life" are strong and evoke the sense of isolation the characters feel, none more so than young Agate's turn as the imaginative Timothy. Kudos to Phang for educing such a solid performance. Nickson and Lake are also note-perfect as the mother/daughter duo who are more alike than they realize, as they both battle to keep their lives in what little order they have left.

The rest of the cast is rounded out nicely by James Eckhouse and Susan Ruttan as the voluntarily ignorant parents of the attention seeking Scott and Lee Marks as Scott's unassuming boyfriend Jonah.

"Half-Life" moves at a methodical pace reminiscent of Shyamalan at his best. Michael S. Patterson's beautiful score expertly complements, as well as haunts, the piece lending it a quiet calm amidst a canvas awash in turmoil.

Cinematographer Aasulv Austad wonderfully captures the grace and charm and contrasting hustle and bustle of the East Bay Area.

Hearkening back to Paul Thomas Anderson's "Magnolia" and the works of the late Robert Altman, Phang possesses a touch for creating relatable characters intertwined in multiple story lines. She's definitely one to keep an eye on.

"Half-Life" is a stunning beginning to what looks to be a promising career.

I plucked Half-Life off the shelf at my local video store this weekend, popped it in the DVD player, and couldn't tear my eyes away. This film is for those who love their Donnie Darko, American Beauty, Lawn Dogs, The Fall, Paperhouse, and Where the Wild Things Are mixed together with 100% originality and vision by director Jennifer Phang. I've long been obsessed with stories -- books, movies, visual art -- that capture that magical place between reality and fantasy. Growing up, I was a nerdy bookworm who -- to deal with my parents' divorce, kids bullying me at school, my emerging sense of being gay -- lost himself in realms of the supernatural. At my own making. I think. What's so beautiful about this film is not only the stunning cinematography and editing, the tightly written and profoundly sad story, nor the naturally gifted cast whom work perfectly together as an ensemble, but this sense that sometimes we really don't know where reality ends and fantasy begins. We make up stories to capture meaning, to imbue everyday circumstances with mystery and a connect-the-dots way of thinking. But what if -- mixed somewhere in with all this -- is true magic? Whole other parallel universes and ideas that tie in with ours, that are maybe even drawn to our own realities because of the way we personally see the world? Half-Life -- a deeply spiritual film -- asks these kinds of questions. Tim, our young protagonist, seeks to understand why his father left and why his mother, Saura, has gotten involved with the handsome yet manipulative Wendell. Tim and his teenage sister, Pamela, struggle with loneliness, friendships, sexuality, trust, and the meaning of family as they fall more and more into the tangled web of Wendell's desire to control theirs. At once haunting, melancholy, hopeful, whimsical, bleak, fresh, and daring, Half-Life is the kind of film that not only tells an amazing story but captures that story through a revitalized and unique vision by its director. This movie is personal. It takes chances. It dares to let you inside Jennifer Phang's mind -- and even more importantly, her heart.

Here's a link to the film: www.halflifemovie.com You should watch this. Now.

HALF-LIFE is an apocalyptic tale set in a world undergoing catastrophic change. The land, seas, and atmosphere are all in chaos. With all of this happening around them, a woman, her boyfriend, and her two children struggle with issues unrelated to world-wide calamity.

Their struggles stem from the loss of the woman's husband, who deserted her and their children. The global devastation is a symbolic backdrop for the destruction caused by deep psychological / emotional loss.

Anyone who has ever lost someone dear to them, or been abandoned by someone, especially at a young age, knows the agony, terror, and cold reality presented here. Such loss knocks the world off of its axis, and nothing is ever the same.

This film is extraordinary in its exploration of this...