Light of my Life Quick View Casey’s Follow Up Delivers! Grade: B+

Source: IMDB

Light of my Life tells a story about a father (Casey Affleck) and a daughter named Rag (Anna Pniowsky), living in a world where a female plague has been spread around the world. Rag is one of the few remaining living females in the world, as her father keeps her unrecognizable with a boy's haircut, so grown men won't attack her for being a girl. Watch as this small family travels through an empty depressing world without women. This film felt like a mixture of two beloved favorites of mine: The Road and Children of Men. Comparison to The Road being about a parent and a child traveling place to place in an end of the world setting, Children of Men living in a world without a significant gender/race. What brought my attention towards this film was the fact Casey Affleck is not only the leading role, but also the director/writer as well. His debut film I'm Still Here, a documentary/mockumentary I found to be enjoyably entertaining, intriguing, and totally bizarre. So I wonder what Casey could do in another feature length project and I gotta say: This actually impressed me. Let's go over the quick flaws have with the film. There is some pacing issues here and there, where scenes would run on way too long... Especially the opening scene. I think majority of the scenes that ran on too long have some sort of purpose, the opening in particular is introducing the bond between the father and the daughter. But for my taste I would've cut these run on scenes in half. I understand the setting this film takes place in, however I find it hard to believe the world would atomically end without women. Listen a world without women is depressing, not a world I want to live in... But I feel the world this film sets in during the aftermath is unbelievable. The way this film thinks is men can't adjust to a world like this, causing the world to just end, which is hard to believe honestly. That's what Children of Men got right that this film didn't, though the world can no longer create children, despite chaos... The world is still somewhat running. The Cinematography of this film was great, I honestly think it's an A24 quality in film... In fact I'm surprised this film wasn't an A24 film, the way it was shot. Grey, dirty. lifeless colors and sets that really sets the mood for what this film is suppose to go for as described. The Score was solid as well, good tunes when presented. The cast in this film was pretty good. Casey Affleck had a pretty good performance as the father character. He has the same passion and drive for his daughter’s safety and well being, the way Viggo's character in The Road had for his son. The scene where the father explains where babies come from to his daughter was so awkward, yet funny in an awkward way, where single fathers could have a special connection with this character. Anna Pniowsky playing the role of Rag (what kind of name is that?!) played a pretty good performance as well. Solid character, though young and a girl she was strong, had courage, and was intelligent as well. One could say this story is not completely original, as there was some influences from older films, but somehow the story still held it's own very well. Could a world without women, really end the entire world instantly?! I mean who knows, it's an interesting concept to go forward with. Throughout the film it was a solid B, I enjoyed the chemistry between characters, story was simple but didn't wow me in any sort of way... But then we get an epic final twenty minutes, that really boost this film up. It was an exciting finale that I didn't see coming, really good choreography from the actors in this finale. It's a way you want to finish for a film like this one: Keeping a solid steady pace, then hit us with a BANG in the end, well done. I'm happy with what I got out of Casey Affleck's follow up and looking forward to more films from him in the future. Overall, Light of my Life was a pretty good film. I recommend this film, available to rent at your local RedBox. -Mitch Smietana