●●●○○
Ever since Control, Anton Corbijn has enjoyed a reputation as a filmmaker capable of tackling subjects that usually evoke considerable eye-rolling in a manner that sends barely a glance skyward. His subjects are nearly always those great heroes of the big screen: the Miserable Privileged. From rained-on post-punkers to weary assassins on holiday in Italy, Corbijn never takes the easy route to sympathy. Life is no different. The picture follows Dennis Stock (Robert Pattinson), a young photojournalist, in his mission to publish a project in LIFE magazine on the emerging star James Dean (Dane DeHaan). Ben Kingsley makes a flawless appearance as the terrifying Jack L. Warner, and Joel Edgerton supports as photo editor John G. Morris.
The shining star of the outfit is inarguably Robert Pattinson. Over the past few years the irritatingly handsome Twilight star has proven us wrong, and shown himself to be much more than the dull heartthrob that that role condemned him to be. He communicates with utter conviction the cheap desperation of the aspiring journalist, as well as an innocent idealism and a mercilessly rounded set of personal failings. DeHaan does a respectable job in the role of Dean, conveying a man who occupies a very strange space: intolerably moody and at times eye-poppingly petulant, but possessed of genuine insight, personal warmth and real talent. Admittedly, we are left to wonder at the latter, as we catch only the faintest glimpse of Dean the Actor. Instead, we are shown Dean the Symbol, a man perhaps unwillingly crafted by Dennis Stock into the face of a new generation, and one of the first to lend his image to the rapidly rising phenomenon of teenage subculture. DeHaan is suitably annoying at times, but is guilty on many occasions of over-egging it. Overall, he leaves us feeling like we know Dean well, but unhappy with what comes off as a messy and inexperienced performance. The former is as much a product of the script, perhaps, as it is of DeHaan. It is hard to tell whether Stock was intended to be the true focus of this film, or whether Pattinson’s far superior performance simply takes greater control of the audience.
Life takes the rather tired American tale of the troubled postwar male and puts a chilly twist on it. Corbijn is clearly eager not to lose track of what is essentially the story of two gifted young men crossing paths. The film does away with all but the bare minimum of subplot and context and maintains an impressively narrow focus, only hinting at what the lives and societies of its protagonists may contain. The unique but equally abundant flaws of the two men play off one another artfully enough that the viewer is convinced on multiple occasions to change their own loyalties. The respectable and well established names of Edgerton and Kingsley are left firmly in the subtitle, and the lights are turned to the fresh faces of Pattinson and DeHaan.
The film has definite documentary value; we get the sense that we are really watching the lost history of a pivotal moment. Corbijn might have produced a more detailed exposition of the life of Dean or Stock, or a more encompassing picture of that all-important time in film and literature. But he avoids both of these things, allowing other key figures to drop in from time to time but devoting his picture to explaining a very particular why. Why is James Dean so important to our pop-culture mythology? The answer is what Life spends its short running time trying to give, and regardless of whether DeHaan lives up to the role, or the net it casts is a touch too small, it is certainly worth 114 minutes to anyone with an interest in the period.
Life is currently showing at the IFI.
