Life and Nothing More
CFI Releasing | Release Date: October 24, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
82
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 15 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Buy on

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
RogerEbert.comMatt FagerholmOct 24, 2018
Esparza’s aim is to capture nothing more than the relentless flow of “life itself,” a term famously selected by Roger Ebert for the name of his 2011 memoir and its subsequent 2014 cinematic incarnation. Read full review
91
The PlaylistJessica KiangOct 23, 2018
If part of the great power of cinema is in being a visual medium that can somehow give form to the intangible, Esparza’s sophomore film is exemplary: it makes manifest such enormous, politicized intangibles as race, class and gender relations through the authentic portrayal of real lives, real people, vividly played. Read full review
90
VarietyPeter DebrugeDec 29, 2018
Whereas a Hollywood director might use subjective framing or emotional soundtrack cues to nudge audiences’ reactions in a certain way, Esparza strips away nearly all those techniques to a pure, neorealist approach: life and nothing more. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinOct 23, 2018
It’s a vital, singularly crafted film that simply tells it — or more specifically shows it — like it is through the eyes of a struggling African American single mother and the adolescent son she desperately wants to keep out of trouble against the mounting odds. Read full review
90
Screen DailyJonathan RomneyOct 23, 2018
So compellingly directed and acted that for much of the time we could almost be watching a documentary, Life and Nothing More is an involving, quietly moving piece that eschews conventional narrative shape to offer a multi-layered depiction of exactly what the title promises. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJan 17, 2019
It’s full of life, guided by first-time screen performers portraying versions of themselves. And because Esparza’s a dramatist, not a melodramatist, the experience of watching Life and Nothing More becomes truth, and nothing less. Read full review
88
Slant MagazinePat BrownOct 21, 2018
Antonio Méndez Esparza crafts a revealing portrait of life as lived under a regime of race and class oppression. Read full review
83
IndieWireDavid EhrlichOct 24, 2018
Life and Nothing More may be shot with the unblinking attention of Frederick Wiseman’s films — and share their same broad scope of concerns — but it’s always true to the tenderness of its title. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterJonathan HollandOct 23, 2018
Located somewhere between family drama and social crit, the quiet but intense Life stands out mainly for the compelling naturalism of its non-pro performances and for a script which teeters dangerously on the edge of preachiness without falling in. Read full review
80
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergOct 23, 2018
A portrait of lives that can’t be reduced to statistics. Read full review
80
TheWrapRobert AbeleOct 23, 2018
Life and Nothing More wants to be a window where no part is unsmudged or unnecessarily ornamented, and the view is remarkable for showing what you rarely see in two movie hours: a respect for the naturally compelling immediacy of the everyday struggle. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoOct 24, 2018
The movie works by stringing together many small observations to develop a portrait more quiet and revealing than many overwrought films that strain to address hot-button issues. Read full review
75
The Film StageJared MobarakOct 23, 2018
By letting the cast improvise their reactions through the lens of their experiences, Esparza finds truth instead. By highlighting Bleechington and Williams’ performances, he exposes how injustice is the new “normal” and how the consequences of one’s misfortunate reverberate well beyond him/herself. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyKristen Yoonsoo KimOct 25, 2018
It’s a shame we never get to know Andrew as well as Regina — arguably part of the moody teen persona — but it’s even more affecting when Andrew’s initially passive existence escalates due to white fear, and his mother is left to fight for his chance at life. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Gayle MacDonaldOct 23, 2018
The acting is strong, but the uneven pacing means there is so much to absorb in the end, that it’s impossible to discern. Read full review
More From This Movie

82 Critic Reviews

8.3 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL