Having just finished watching this film I feel compelled to write a review. I decided to watch this since I was impressed by The House of Sand and Fog, which had something dark and compelling. This one however had an empty feel to it. Not long into the movie you cannot help but realize that the flash-backs are in fact flash-forwards into a possible future that Diana sees for herself if she makes the who-is-to-die decision in favor of herself (meaning Maureen dies). The song She's Not There gives away that fact way too fast. From there on there's only one possible ending (well perhaps still two possible endings but if the alternative had been the case the film would have been even more mute). Then why do I still give it 6 stars? Well because I appreciated the effort and the acting of Evan Rachel Wood as the young Diana and of Eva Amurri as the deluded Maureen. What I can never help wondering (and not just with his movie) why there needs to be such bad CGI in it. In this case the birds that you see flying away all the time. They are so totally fake that it detracts from the movie and why do they need to be there in the first place? To give us an ominous feeling? Well then you won't succeed by giving us fake birds. Never got it. All in all a nice effort by Vadim Perelman but falling way short of The House of Sand and Fog.
Review of The Life Before Her Eyes
