It took Dan Fogelman more than a dozen years working on scripts for animated productions ("Bolt," "Tangled") and TV shows ("The Neighbors"), but two years ago, all the elements came together with the NBC series "This Is Us." The story of a trio of siblings and their parents often basks in the melodramatic, gets immersed in a sea of schmaltz and blatantly grabs for every heartstring possible, but that has not stopped it from being a monster hit.
Now, Fogelman has used the same approach with the feature film "Life Itself," which he both penned and directed. He's taken the "This Is Us" format of looking at a family through different periods in their lives, making sure to caress every major milestone that comes along the way. The film makes no excuses for its overly sentimental approach to life, leaving it up to the audience to either be pulled into this multi-generational tale or dismiss it as too cloying.
It starts (in a very "This Is Us" fashion) with a young couple, Will (Oscar Isaac) and Abby (Olivia Wilde), who fall into an abyss of love so deep living without it is unimaginable. Their lives change with the birth of their first child. Just as with "This Is Us," any further discussion of what happens to the young lovers would spoil the moments to come. It's safe to say that in a world full of highs and lows, they experience both extremes.
Wilde turns in a sweet performance, but it is Isaac who gets the opportunity to remind moviegoers that while he might appear in big blockbuster films that unfold in a galaxy far, far away, he is extremely comfortable taking on this kind of everyman character.
Fogelman's storytelling approach through passing decades is more linear with "Life Itself," but he manages to keep the family threads strong enough to act as a guide for the viewer. The next step on the journey leaps ahead to the couple's daughter, Dylan (Olivia Cooke), as a rebellious teen. Her grandfather (Mandy Patinkin) is trying to give as much guidance as possible, but the pain of the past has sent Dylan into a spiral.
It's Patinkin who creates the foundation for the tale. Even when he is most frustrated with his granddaughter, the character becomes more committed to being an anchor for those who are adrift in despair.
Then there is the plot line that unfolds in Spain, where wealthy landowner Senor Saccione (Antonio Banderas) has inserted himself into the life of one of his workers, Javier (Sergio Peris-Mencheta). Fogelman again uses the child of a loving couple, Rodrigo (Alex Monner), as the focal point for another tale full of emotional moments.
This is one of the more controlled performances by Banderas, but it's as strong as anything he's done in recent years. It's a pleasure to watch him deal with affairs of the heart in such a self-sacrificing way.
Fogelman's skill is being able to create what appears to be three very different stories and weave them into one cohesive family album. In the final moments, all the diverse family themes combine to create a full circle feeling. There's plenty of manipulation along the way, but no more than Fogelman's used to make "This Is Us" one of the biggest surprises in network TV in a decade.
