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67%
Overall Rating
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Ranked #14,987
...out of 20,725 movies
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Bill Cacchiotti, a small town business owner, recalls his eventful life on his day of retirement. Bill looks back on how he started his lighting and electrical store that eventually led to illegal activities with racketeering and murder. If one man wasn't bad enough his son, Eddie is becoming more and more like his father everyday. Eddie not the brightest guy, tries to find new business ventures for the family, unfortunately, they lead to disaster. Bill's long time friend and associate Gary helps the family in the life of crime, alcohol, murder and sex in the Crime Drama, "The Life I Lived."
--IMDb
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When is an original independent film going to be sent my way to review? When I am going to get to see a film that is not dripping with formula and cliché? I guess I am going to garner the reputation as the critic 'who hates everything independent', which is so not the case. I just don't lower my standards and expectations for a film based on its budget. I go into a $160 million dollar film with the same ideology as I do going into a $160,000 film. "The Life I Lived" is just the latest in a long line of independent films sent my way for review - a film which does very little for the cinematic community other than show why most films never find distribution. However, all of that negativity aside, "The Life I Lived" managed to do something that very few films like it can do - it kept my attention. It didn't bore me. Sometimes that was because I was engrossed in the story, and other times it was because I was laughing at things not meant to be laughed at, but the fact that I didn't fall asleep half way through is a strong testament to director Ben Solenberger. But, if it were any stronger a testament, I would have to go on record recommending this film.
Dripping with influences like Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino and Francis Ford Coppola, "The Life I Lived" doesn't have an original bone in its body. The film centers around the character of Bill Cacchiotti (Richard Bennett), whom on the day of his retirement, reflects back on what brought him to that point. As he sits around with his mobster son Eddie (David L. Buckler) and henchman Gary (Ted Taylor), the rest of the film is told through a series of flashbacks involving various random characters who come in and out of Bill's life. The film opens with Eddie and Gary murdering a police officer, and that later comes back to tie the film up with a nice little bow. Throughout, we are introduced to everything from a Scotch loving cowboy (Paul Bailey) to the classic whore with a heart of gold (Tamara Ford). We watch as Bill commits his first murder, which eventually causes him to terrorize children on Halloween with his exposed stomach. We watch as Bill's hair goes from black to white, from black to white - evidently indicating he is younger and older. By the end of the film, some might be confused as to what time period they are actually living in. Luckily, wood paneling never goes out of style, so it really could be just about any year.
Onward with the negativity. The film has a polished look to it, but the camerawork is absolutely nothing special - too basic for its own good. When I see a mobster film, I expect a little more creativity with the camerawork. Instead, it had the feel of a Quaker Oats commercial. The music in the film was wholly inappropriate and took me completely out of the mood at every turn, even sometimes sounding almost circus-like in nature. Too bad the film wasn't funny, especially enough to warrant that kind of tonal change. We cut to shots of Bill talking directly into the camera, then to shots of Bill in the forest, and then to flashbacks, and "The Life I Lived" kept doing this very awkward dance of uncertainty that was obviously going for this whole Tarantino narrative style, but ended up seeming more like a Renny Harlin jaunt into the bewildering. There is even one scene, which I found myself laughing at hysterically, where Bill starts shouting to the heavens to save his son - now, how corny is that? Can't we do better than that sordid melodrama? I think so. And how many racial slurs can one movie produce? Scorsese made them work. Solenberger makes them seem far more offensive. And when the lead actors are called 'wops', I laughed. They look as Italian as Arnold Schwarzenegger, and sound as Italian as Rosie Perez.
Onward with the positivity. There's not a lot, but there is some to be had. Richard Bennett, the lead actors who portrays Bill, is not terrible. He is the most likable character in the film, which is good considering 90% of the film rests on his shoulders. Besides baring an uncanny resemblance to Larry Drake, he actually does a decent job, especially when his anger swells and you get to see the veins bulge out. He's definitely an anger actor, and he struggles with the sentimentality. David L. Buckler and Ted Taylor are the weakest links of the film, and that really hurts the picture. I didn't find them convincing in the slightest - it was like watching two Mormons try their damnedest to sound as bad ass as possible throughout. And then the ending came around and to call it unsatisfying would be the understatement of the year. "The Life I Lived" knew what it wanted to be, it just didn't have the chops to make it all the way. It's like watching a car, running on fumes, as it slowly crawls up a hill. You keep waiting for it to stall. Eventually, it does and then it can do nothing but roll back downhill and eventually crash into a gas station and burn to death.
All of that said, it kept me interested, sometimes for the good and sometimes for the bad. Richard Bennett made me smile on more than one occasion, and the scene with the Cowboy was interesting, unexpected and entertaining. I especially loved the extra feature on the DVD of "The Cowboy Killer" - I sincerely hope that it is currently casting because that is a film I would like to see. If this film is still in post-production phase, there is a lot to be cleaned up. New music is advisable and would help immensely. You can't change the actors, but a couple of them could definitely do with fewer scenes. Every independent filmmakers needs to treat each film like it's the film that's going to break them into the mainstream. There is no way the crew of "The Life I Lived" could have been working with that mentality. Maybe it was just a fun project for them to do in their spare time. I cannot recommend this film because it has too much working against it, but it's definitely not without merit, and it doesn't make me wonder what the next effort might be. Kudos to the filmmakers for tackling such a tricky genre, but you have to be certain you can tame it. "The Life I Lived" couldn't tame it, so it just sat around and patted it for a couple of hours.
4/10.
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