When an individual holds too much sway over the creation of a film, the end product almost always suffers. Tom Cruise, well-known for his tight control over the Mission Impossible franchise, micromanaged the 2017 remake of "The Mummy" to death. "Light of my Life" does not pretend to be a big-budget blockbuster, but its quality is undermined for a similar reason.
Casey Affleck is the director, writer, and lead actor in this film. When he wrote the many monologues for the father to sermonize, no one took him aside and advised him to cut their number and length. When he delivered the monologues, no one told him that he needed to make his stuttering monotone more lilting and engaging. And clearly no one informed Casey as director that beginning the movie with a 12-minute (truth!) recitation of a Noah's Ark derivative story would kill audience interest at the outset.
And that is the frustration I had throughout this movie. There were enough variations on the road trip theme that this could have been an enthralling movie. The father and daughter aren't merely trying to survive a post-apocalyptic environment. He needs to protect her from the real-life horrors that young women risk today, but on an astronomically larger scale.
The movie shines when it illustrates these risks and progresses the plot by driving them in their quest for the ultimate safe house. When the pair was forced to gauge the trustworthiness of new companions or they were fleeing from undesired ones, I was engaged and cheering them on. But active moments make up far too little of the film; if you watch the trailer, you've seen clips from most of them. Independent advisors would undoubtedly have counseled Affleck accordingly.
The movie also brushes past the details of both the epidemic and life after the epidemic. When the couple visited a government dispensary or the father mentioned how critical it was to have proper ID, I wanted to learn more about the world had morphed in response to the loss of half of its population. But no, the film doggedly returned to more rambling from the father as the two cower in a foxhole.
I watched the whole movie because I was interested enough in the ending, but I strung it out over 3 days to minimize the tedium. If you decide to see it, fast forward through the first 12 minutes. You'll thank me, I promise.
