A Delightful Adventure of Personal Discovery That Will Leave You Inspired for More
By Cameron Enzor
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 4/11/22 – From Level 33 Entertainment, Bonnie Rodini and Barry Strick, comes Rodini’s directorial debut, Good Life. With the movie loosely based off of Rodini’s own life, we get a charming story shrouded with dynamicism and soulful integrity.
This movie follows an enchanting woman named Olive, an oral hygienist and a non-stop searcher for connection. As she’s caught in an emotionally tugging battle of trying to find something she wants, versus finding something others want for her, Olive flees Cape Town for Greece in an attempt to outrun this unbearable pressure, while also searching for unspoken origins of her family.
On arrival, she finds no relief. Only hostility from the locals, who seem to know something more about her story than we do… Through the tough hand that the locals of Greece lend her during her troubled stay, she stumbles upon a seven year old Albanian refugee who becomes an unlikely friend. Her adorable and resourceful companion evidently guides Olive on her journey through the pathways of Greece, launching her on a delightful expedition of what it really means to be alive.
Good Life is a heartwarming adventure through the elements of culture, love, and humanity. Leaving you with a sense of inspiration and optimism, this small film gives you a lot more than you can expect.
Picture, if you will, that you’re at a small café in Greece. You’re sitting at a rusty table, feeling the breeze from the ocean, while hearing the locals around you going about their day. The bright sun strikes down past the stone walls around you, through the leaves of a couple small nearby trees, & onto the top of the antique outside table of which you’re sitting at.
As you feel that refreshing gaze of sunlight on your hands in front of you, waiting for your espresso, faintly you start to hear past the sounds of the locals. Through it, you can almost hear splashing from the nearby shore.
Before you know it, your espresso has arrived. You look at this old, almost Hand-crafted demitasse that’s a lot smaller than they usually are. You notice its blemishes, cracks, and scratches, glistening in that beautiful sunlight. As you slide your fingers through its grip, and drink that authentic espresso, your eyes open wide, and you put down that empty cup, exhaling a nice breeze of euphoria & satisfaction.
This movie, is both that small & chipped demitasse, as well as that refreshing espresso.
On the surface, Good Life struggles to keep up with the high demand that the movie’s message is asking for. When it comes to the score & it’s direction, you sometimes feel like things are oddly placed, or that the tone at times isn’t aligned with what’s proceeding the screen frame by frame.
Amazingly, once you find that authenticity, that message of which the film is trying to convey, that thread of purpose within the story, all those cracks and scratches go into your peripherals. In the end, it is worth it. But, is it enough?
Personally, the story and direction did not get its deserved execution. Which happens when you have a premise that’s built on so many great things, you always want it to be the best it can be. Within a flaw-scattering delivery (The demitasse), the subject and contents there-in (The espresso) was definitely a surprising delight, and the primal focus of the film in its entirety. Nevertheless, it pains my heart that I only got to have so little of it (The espresso) but, I can say I had an experience that I greatly enjoyed.
Good Life is a fun & charming shot of cinema that releases in select theaters & on demand April 15th.
