Live Is Life is a 2021 Spanish adventure comedy-drama film directed by Dani de la Torre [gl] and written by Albert Espinosa which stars Adrián Baena, Juan del Pozo, Raúl del Pozo, David Rodríguez, and Javier Casellas.

Live Is Life
Directed byDani de la Torre
Written byAlbert Espinosa
Starring
  • Adrián Baena
  • Juan del Pozo
  • Raúl del Pozo
  • David Rodríguez
  • Javier Casellas
Production
companies
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures Spain
Release dates
  • 6 June 2021 (2021-06-06) (Málaga)
  • 3 June 2022 (2022-06-03) (Spain)
Running time
109 minutes
CountrySpain
LanguageSpanish

Synopsis edit

It is set in 1985.[1] Five friends plan to escape on midsummer's night to look for a flower that, according to legend, has magical powers.[2]

Cast edit

  • Adrián Baena as Rodri[1]
  • Juan del Pozo as Álvaro[1]
  • Raúl del Pozo as Maza[1]
  • David Rodríguez as Suso[1]
  • Javier Casellas as Garriga[1]

Production edit

The film is an Atresmedia Cine, 4 Cats Pictures and Life is life AIE production.[3] Shooting locations included the south of the province of Lugo (Pantón, Sober, Quiroga, O’Saviñao, Monforte de Lemos) and the province of Ourense (Esgos).[4][5]

Release edit

It had its official premiere at the 24th Málaga Film Festival on 6 June 2021.[6][7] Although the national theatrical release in Spain was on August 13, it was later delayed to November 5 due to the complications of the theatrical releases by the COVID-19 pandemic.[8] Finally, it had to be postponed again to 3 June 2022.[9] It was distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures Spain.[5][10] It was later released in some territories on Netflix in July 2022.[11][12]

Reception edit

In the United States' review aggregator, the Rotten Tomatoes, in the score where the site staff categorizes the opinions of independent media and mainstream media only positive or negative, the film has an approval rating of 80% calculated based on 5 critics reviews. By comparison, with the same opinions being calculated using a weighted arithmetic mean, the score achieved is 6.30/10.[2]

In the newspaper El Mundo, Javier Estrada said it is "an adventure film that can almost be interpreted as Goonies in Spain".[13] In Movie Nation , Roger Moore rated it 2/4 stars saying that it's "original only in the number of movies it cribs from. But it isn’t Stand By Me, it’s not really Five Teens and a Baby, and it sure as shooting isn’t Goonies.[12]

In his review in Escribiendo Cine, Juan Pablo Russo gave it a 6/10 rating saying that "De la Torre, a filmmaker accustomed to action and thrillers, steps out of his comfort zone and imbues his film with a bittersweet adventurous tone creating an effective melodrama"[14] In the newspaper A Gazeta (Brazil), Rafael Braz said that "it is interesting how Live is Life uses clichés in an intelligent way to create good dramas".[11]

In Common Sense Media, Brian Costello said that "this is an engaging coming-of-age dramedy with enough story and acting talent to overcome the familiar aspects to this 'hero's journey'."[15]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f Cámara, Nora (18 July 2022). "'Live is Life': la emotiva (y nostálgica) película de Dani de la Torre y Albert Espinosa en Netflix". Diez Minutos.
  2. ^ a b "Live is Life". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  3. ^ "Dani de la Torre rodará en Ourense en verano su nueva película, "Life is live"". La Región. 12 July 2020.
  4. ^ Rodríguez, Lúa (21 July 2022). "La Ribeira Sacra se asoma a Netflix con "Live is Life"". La Voz de Galicia.
  5. ^ a b Sánchez-Montáñez, Rebeca (30 May 2022). "'Live is life: la gran aventura' – estreno en cines 3 de junio". Audiovisual451.
  6. ^ "Málaga Film Festival's 24th Edition Opens and Closes with Feature Comedies 'El Cover,' 'García y García'". Variety. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  7. ^ Sotorrío, Regina (6 June 2021). "Dani de la Torre emociona con el viaje a los veranos de su adolescencia de 'Live is life'". Diario Sur (in Spanish). Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  8. ^ "'Live is Life' llega a los cines el 13 de agosto". Audiovisual (in Spanish). 28 April 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  9. ^ Belinchón, Gregorio (8 January 2022). "El deslumbrante despliegue del cine en la temporada 2022". El País (in Spanish). Madrid. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  10. ^ "Live is Life". Warner Bros. Spain. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  11. ^ a b ""Live is Life", da Netflix, emociona e diverte com boa aventura". A A Gazeta. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  12. ^ a b "Netflixable? A Spanish "Stand by Me" on Steroids — "Live is Life"". Movie Nation. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  13. ^ "Garra, lo nuevo de Adam Sandler, y todos los estrenos de cine del fin de semana". El Mundo. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
  14. ^ "Crítica de "Live is Life: la gran aventura", Dani de la Torre entre "Los Goonies", "Súper 8" y "Cuenta conmigo"". Escribiendo Cine. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  15. ^ "Livi Is Life". Common Sense Media. Retrieved 2 August 2022.

External links edit