Still Life (2013)

We saw 'Still Life" on Sunday- a truly beautiful film that is a wonderful and heart-churning lesson in how we relate to others in life and the reminder to connect with people. When the effort of not trying to cry causes such gut-wrenching anguish, you know that the film-maker has said what needs to be expressed. Talk to your neighbors, the person on the bus or really anyone: the lesson learned: who will grieve, miss you and be there when your time ends. Beautiful performances by Eddie Marsen and Joanne Froggatt. A wonderful elegy on connection: get yourself to the cinema. I guarantee that you will call someone you love/ care about after seeing this and hopefully re-think how you live your life. Just think of the old Bette Midler song "Hello in there" and then you'll get it......

Fmovies: Some movies have as their purpose to excite, to amaze, to intrigue or to provoke laughter. Others are there to make you think and feel and care. Still life is one of those. Although it is described in the promos as a comedy/drama it is not. It is a gentle and moving visual elegy for human beings. The plot has been well described by other reviewers on IMDb. A seemingly solitary middle-aged man goes about his punctilious duties of researching contacts and connections of people who have died all alone.What made this movie so particularly different and affecting for me was the punctilious and affectionate attention to detail by the director. This detail is in both the fine nuances of the performances, particularly by Eddie Marsan playing the lead character, John May and in the visual richness such as the buildings in which people live and work and the photographs that John May finds and carefully works through. The photograph researcher for the movie alone deserves an Oscar. The interiors and exteriors of buildings, with such things as the rooms in which people have lived and died are so evocative and realistic it is hard to believe it is not a documentary at times. All these glimpses are perfectly paced in the slow flowing narrative which proceeds to involve us and then move us to smiles and tears, caring about all the people in the story except the horrible boss. Through the subject matter of aloneness, estrangement, kindness, friendship and lost love Pasolini has given us an experience to be cherished.

Absolutely brilliant little film that holds on to the small things in life in every aspect with superb subdued acting, colours and sound. Almost as a mime John May shows his compassion with his fellow human begins, no matter who they are, or rather were. There are several superb surprises along the way, among them fascinating encounters with relations to the deceased. For me as a Dutch Anglofile it is wonderful to see and recognize so many aspects of British life, London, brickwork, the sea, fish & chip shops, trains and many more. Just for that it is a joy to watch. For me it has an impact that couldn't be greater thanks to so many little gems. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant!

Still Life fmovies. It is not often I would give a movie 10 out of 10 but this one really deserves the rating.

A movie that seemingly starts off as a rather ordinary piece of work becomes a truly fascinating insight into an aspect of life we all miss because it occurs under our noses.

An ordinary man is not an ordinary man at all. He is a very dedicated public servant attending to an aspect of life that we are seldom aware of, always sympathetic toward when it is brought to our attention, but generally ignored on the whole.

This movie totally gripped me. It fascinated me in terms of what some people do to keep our lives orderly and it raised my feelings of compassion toward the "faceless" people doing seemingly ordinary housekeeping jobs.

The development of the principal character, the job, and also the extent to which many, many other "faceless" or unseen people become involved was a masterpiece of scripting and acting.

Underneath all this was a soundtrack to die for. Probably not a soundtrack you would buy to listen to, but one that matched the movie and its moods at a level seldom found in any cinematic offering.

The story development and the ending were tremendous and the surprise ending (which is not a surprise if you pay attention to all the nuances and subtleties of the script and acting) blew me away.

I cannot recommend this movie highly enough.

A great movie about discipline, responsibility and the importance of performing at your best whatever task you have to carry out. An important message in times of complain, protest and nihilism. The director powerfully uses images more and better than the dialogue. In this respect, he stands aside the great masters of the past (one name: Alfred Hitchcock, quite explicitly quoted in the movie) and won't fail to please all the true movie lovers. All actors are great, but it is the compassionate eye of the director that wins the scene. The soundtrack is also adding to the atmosphere and does its job remarkably well. Should I add that I truly enjoyed this little masterpiece?

This is my first-ever review on IMDb (and my first movie review as well), but while watching this superb gem of cinematography I couldn't help but think that it deserved the effort.

I will not go into details as for the plot, which is quite simple and linear, yet very peculiar. The movie is about the everyday life of John May, who works for his borough council in a very special function, as he arranges funerals for people who died alone and in the meanwhile he tries to track down any relatives or friends who may want to come to the funeral.

I was intrigued by the movie as soon as I read about it, but it went way over my expectations. The plot is perfectly structured around the main character, each and every scene is deeply evocative and, even if dialogues are very short and rare, the slow pace of the movie doesn't make it boring at all.

But what makes this movie a valid 10 out of 10 rating is the bittersweet ending, that I found very touching and communicates a strong message of hope irrespective of the tragic setting. This shows how directors can make a great movie without forcing viewers to a 3-hour marathon of twisting plots or leaving them with a sense of unfinished business with ambiguous endings.

In conclusion, I recommend this movie to anyone who wants to enjoy a short, but poignant reflection on loneliness and human bonding.