DAVID ADAMS watches ‘New Life’…
New Life (AU – PG/UK – PG/US – PG)
In a Word: Sweet
Ava and Ben. Ben and Ava. New Life tells the story of an ordinary couple who meet as children at the age of seven (he, a Brit; she, an American) and grow up together as best friends, eventually becaming sweethearts, marrying and settling down in a life together.
But life is not always straightforward – and Ben and Ava must experience some deep valleys – the loss of a child and cancer among them – as well as the mountaintop experiences life throws at them along the way.
A film about friendship, love and loss, New Life is a small scale film about the challenges life can bring and how we navigate our way through them. And it’s a story of how no matter what life brings, it’s always still to be lived.
While it may seem slowly paced in parts, one can only assume that’s a deliberate move by director Drew Waters – not only, in a sense, does it illustrate the ordinariness of the lives involved, it also extends an invitation to view the lives portrayed as a complete package, a string of events throughout a lifetime, rather than a single high or low.
In that sense this is not a film to wow, but rather the slow unfolding of a story. It’s biggest failing is that it doesn’t delve too deep at any point but tends rather to float on the surface in its portrayal of life’s up and downs – it would have benefitted from a closer zoom at times.
New Life is well cast – Jonathan Patrick Moore plays Ben, Erin Bethea plays Ava and Kris Lemche appears as Ben’s friend Michael and Kelsey Formost as Ava’s friend Monique Marceau. There’s also a couple of faces you might recognise – veteran Terry O’Quinn (remember Dr John Lock on Lost?) as Dr James Sumrall and Bill Cobbs as neighbour Charles.
Those looking for a film about faith are likely to be disappointed – the faith of the characters very much plays a backward part here with only a couple of overt references to it.
This is not a film that’s going to change your life; it’s a simply told and, at times, poignant tale about the highs and lows of life here on planet Earth.
