Light of My Life (2019)

Parent and child journey through the outskirts of society a decade after a pandemic has wiped out half the world's population. As a father struggles to protect his child, their bond, and the character of humanity, is tested.

Director:

Casey Affleck

Writer:

Casey Affleck

Stars:

Anna Pniowsky, Casey Affleck, Tom Bower

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview:
Anna Pniowsky	...	Rag
Casey Affleck	...	Dad
Tom Bower	...	Tom
Elisabeth Moss	...	Mom
Hrothgar Mathews	...	Calvin
Timothy Webber	...	Lemmy
Thelonius Serrell-Freed	...	Young Man (as Monk Serrell Freed)
Jesse James Pierce	...	Snow House Attacker #1 (as Jesse Pierce)
Tommy Clarke	...	Snow House Attacker #2
Lloyd Cunningham	...	Snow House Attacker #3
Kory Grim	...	Tall Woods Man #1
Michael Ching	...	Woods Man #2
Dee Jay Jackson	...	Counter Man (as Deejay Jackson)
Patrick Keating	...	Bearded Man at Camp
Sydnee Parker Anderson	...	Toddler Rag

Storyline

Parent and child journey through the outskirts of society a decade after a pandemic has wiped out half the world's population. As a father struggles to protect his child, their bond, and the character of humanity, is tested.

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some violence

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 August 2019 (USA)

Also Known As:

Light of My Life

Filming Locations:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

Black Bear Pictures, Sea Change Media

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Along with being the lead character, Casey Affleck also wrote the script and directed the film.

User Reviews

Not a standard horror film, it has seriously-satisfying thrills.

"Survival can be summed up in three words - never give up. That's the heart of it really. Just keep trying." Bear Grylls, explorer

I would have given all I owned to spend as much time with one of my daughters as Dad (Casey Affleck) does with his daughter, Rag (Anna Pniowsky), dressed like a boy, on the run from a disease that strikes only females. In Light of My Life, they roam the grey Okanaga Valley of British Columbia seeking refuge as much from bands of men looking for uninfected girls as from the plague itself.

If you can endure the overly-long opening story dad lovingly tells daughter, the almost two hours will fly by as the protagonists combat daunting obstacles.

The thoughts of the decimation of the female population are horror-film good enough for the imagination, so minimalist writer/director Affleck spares us the usual terrible tropes to concentrate on the loving relationship. As he does in his Oscar-winning acting, Affleck concentrates on the slow-burning details.

That Affleck himself faced possible Oscar-negating accusations of sexual harassment makes his holy father here even more interesting than, say, Ben Foster's father character in Leave No Trace.

Survival is the operating action here, mainly slipping out of windows as men storm the house or tent. Father and daughter are adept at escape, leaving only that motif for tension, whereas if they fought with each other (a pre-teen and her dad holds multiple possibilities) there might be more interesting conflict.

As in It Comes at Night (2017), the cloaked assailants and the disease give the imagination the usual willies, but fascination with the survival of a father-daughter left to survive is the greatest conflict of all. You'll enjoy all of Affleck's indie charms and insights in a quietly effective thriller.

"To survive it is often necessary to fight and to fight you have to dirty yourself." George Orwell