Film - Life Itself

Life Itself jumps about through time and continents with an extreme version of every incident it covers. The New York story details the love of a young married couple Will and Abby until the road accident that kills her while she is pregnant. Will’s intense love for Abby made me a little uncomfortable much as it made her so you can imagine the sheer devastation he feels afterwards. The baby, Dylan survives and eventually, we pick up her story.

However, first, the film takes us to Spain to learn of the wealthy landowner (Antonio Banderas) that inherits his controlling father’s olive farm estate. He offers the best farmer in his employ the house that comes with the land for free. Then he becomes spookily obsessed with the farmer’s new wife and child

I’m puzzled why the olive farmer who doesn’t want to do anything other than pick olives for a living but still wants to raise a family. Eventually, all these extremities come full circle when we meet the now 21-year-old Dylan, yes so named because her father was obsessed with the singer.

There are many other characters such as Will’s parents and his shrink that add weight. The landscape contrasts and the twists just about make the film worthy of a watch.

6/10