Confusion right before your eyes

The Life Before Her Eyes is out there to confuse you.

You're not supposed to have peace of mind through the movie. The director wants you to continue to "guess what happened" until the very end of the movie, when the ultimately anticlimactic truth is revealed. As you wait, you're treated to above-average acting, but horrible and contrived writing.

The film, directed by Vadim Perelman (House of Sand and Fog), is an unnecessarily frustrating movie to watch. Even though it clocks in at exactly 90 minutes, it seems to drag on far longer than it should.

The Life Before Her Eyes starts with a stark and jarring opening: A school shooting. Young Diana (Evan Rachel Wood, Across The Universe) and Maureen (Eva Amurri, The Education of Charlie Banks) are best friends in high school, and you'll discover the intricacies of that relationship as the film slides along at a tortoise's pace. But when young Diana and Maureen are found by the school shooter in the girl's bathroom, the girls have to make a choice in the face of this psychotic and misunderstood villain: One of the girls must die, but which one should it be?

Fifteen years after that fateful day, Diana has now grown up, and Wood has been replaced by Uma Thurman (My Super Ex-Girlfriend). Diana now has a sassy daughter, Emma (Gabrielle Brennan, Walker Payne), and a devoted husband Paul (Brett Cullen, Ghost Rider), but something is still missing from her life. We watch Diana's turmoil as she confronts the demons from her unfortunate past, and learns to deal with the decisions she made as a teenager.

We never see what happened in the girl's bathroom on the day of the shooting until the final shots of the film - and yes, it's fair to say that you can expect the unexpected.

The film deserves credit for taking on this sensitive topic by going balls-to-the-wall, and walks the line between being graphic and dramatic during the school shooting scene. The acting in The Life Before Her Eyes is solid, especially with two of this generation's best actresses anchoring the cast. However, thanks to a disorganized structure and horribly corny, predictable and contrived dialogue, it's tough to watch the film - just not in the way Perelman wanted.

Be warned, this film's topic, and especially the haunting beginning that is replayed numerous times throughout the film, is not for the faint of heart (or the weak of stomach). This movie is entirely emotional, and for a while, you're convinced The Life Before Her Eyes stands out from other movies this year.

That feeling quickly dissipates, however, when you realize Perelman has simply set up a guessing game. At least an M. Night Shyamalan film tells you there's going to be a twist - instead, this film hints there's more to the school shooting than it would seem, but just tell us. As it turns out, the ending isn't that much of a twist anyway - and the film isn't as good, either.

diversions@dbk.umd.edu

RATING: 1.5 STARS OUT OF 5