Anton Corbijn’s latest film, Life, is seemingly about very little. Yet somehow, the intrigue and mystique of its characters manage to amuse and keep attention focused on brilliant performances from Robert Pattinson and Dane Dehaan. Their relationship is played out with a subtle endearment and the sense of mysteriousness from DeHaan’s character drives both the relationship and Life itself.
Life follows the young photographer, Dennis Stock (Robert Pattinson), whose efforts to make his name as a legitimate artist lead him to an actor not yet well known, James Dean (Dane DeHaan). Dean is also on a path towards acclaimed artistry, yet his rise is seemingly more a matter of timing than of hard work and effort. Pattinson’s character is desperate to capture the awkward confidence which exudes from Dean, before it is fully revealed to the world. To Stock, Dean’s erratic and free-spirited behaviour represent a broader cultural change about to take place in the arts and among public figures. For Stock, capturing it could be his chance to be recognised as a viable artist and have his work published in LIFE magazine.
There’s certainly an atmosphere of change in Life, which while firmly rooted in the 1950s, contains elements that reflect Stock’s idea of a new movement about to emerge. When questioned as to what is left at home in Indiana for him, Dean responds, “the past, mostly”. The relationship between Dean and Stock itself is indicative of the cultural change that Dean apparently exemplifies. Stock is the tense and serious character, almost incapable of showing his son any love despite his best efforts, and Dean, playful, erratic, and with an unbounded love for his family especially his younger cousin.
There’s a believable disillusion to DeHaan’s portrayal of Dean. The words come out of his mouth almost unwillingly, yet you can’t help but hang onto each one. DeHaan captures the mysterious, lazy allure of Dean without ever verging on the melodramatic. This sincerity is reflected in the relationship with Dennis Stock, as whom Pattinson is excellently cast. He plays a far more wound-up character, whose path for artistic success is not set in stone as Dean’s seemingly is. His potential accomplishment seemingly grows less and less likely the more he relies on Dean’s persona as a means to achieve it. Stock’s desperation and Dean’s elusiveness leads to a tenuous power-relationship that questions, who has the upper-hand, the photographer or the subject? Stock is trying so hard to capture his subject that it is simultaneously his biggest opposition to attaining it.
The exploration of the relationship between the photographer and the photographed can wear thin when propping up a film for two hours. However, at any point where one might begin to question what Life is all about, you’re tugged back in by the undeniable charm of the performances. DeHaan’s attractive easy-going attitude perfectly plays off Pattinson’s frenzied attempts to capture it. Ultimately, this relationship is at the heart of Life, and is certainly its greatest success.
