Light of My Life is an 2019 drama film written, produced, & directed by Oscar winner Casey Affleck (The Book of Charles, I’m Still Here, & Far Bright Star). It was produced by Saban Films (American Heist, 31, 3 From Hell, Power Rangers, Siberia, Final Score, The Super, A Vigilante, Between Worlds, & The Night Hunter) & Black Bear Pictures (Broken City, A.C.O.D., All is Lost, Gold, The Happytime Murders, The Imitation Game, & Suburbicon). A decade after a plague has wiped out nearly all of the world’s female population including his late wife (played by: Elisabeth Moss from The Kitchen, Mad Men, The Handmaid’s Tale, US, Get Him to the Greek, The West Wing, & Girl, Interrupted), a father (played by: Casey Affleck from Manchester by the Sea, Out of the Furnace, Gone Baby Gone, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Ocean Trilogy, & Good Will Hunting) & daughter (played by: Anna Pniowsky from The Hot Zone & He’s Out There) live on the outskirts of what’s left of civilization as they once knew it. Disguising his daughter as a boy, the father struggles to protect her from newfound threats as they are forced from their home into dangerous territory. Prepared to defend his daughter at all costs, their bond & the character of humanity is tested.
Light of My Life has been compared to Cormac McCarthy’s The Road but I honestly think it’s very different from that book & film besides a few obvious things.I love the post apocalypse sub-genre & this one is definitely a unique take on it. It’s basically a two person film with characters showing up briefly every once in awhile. Just a warning, this is 95% drama, it’s been advertised as a suspense thriller but there’s not much of that here but it does have a few intense moments but there’s no action in this until the very last 15 minutes. Lots of talking & bonding between a family just trying to survive this messed up world. I enjoyed the script when it came to the dialogue but I thought Affleck missed his chance when it came to more suspense & action, it needed more of that because honestly it was a little boring at times.
This one will test your patience & it’s the total definition of slow burn when it comes to cinema. That was my biggest problem with it, I understand that Light of my Life was going for something to separate itself from all the others like this but you still have to entertain the audience during that almost two hour run time. I will say that, the chemistry between Casey Affleck & Anna Pniowsky was amazing. Both actors gave top notch performances in this & it’s the true highlight for this production. Like I said before, there’s not many characters here but the few people that do show up turn in quality supporting performances which includes Elisabeth Moss & Tom Bower (El Camino, Die Hard 2, The Hills Have Eyes, Raising Cain, Lady in White, Beverly Hills Cop II, & River’s Edge). If you are very patient & appreciate character driven material, you will most likely enjoy this. This is definitely not for everyone but I thought it was solid, RECOMMENDED!!!!
Let’s talk about the high definition presentation from Paramount Pictures! This 1080p (1.66:1) transfer looks fantastic on blu ray. The two lead characters in this go to several locations trying to survive their surroundings so the variety of locations really shine here especially with it’s beautiful cinematography from. It has a English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track & it sounds great on my set up. This is very important because this feature is dialogue heavy & it’s crystal clear on this. The limited suspense is elevated when it happens & the music has a nice boost to it. It has English, English SDH, & Spanish subtitles. There’s no special features on this release. It does have a slipcover & a digital code. It’s available everywhere right now, CHECK IT OUT!!!!
