Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
 

Life Kills Me (2002)

Director: Jean-Pierre Sinapi

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Sinapi's follow-up to Uneasy Riders, an adaptation of Paul Smaïl's autobiographical novel, concerns two unsettled French Arabs, 20-year-olds waxing restless at their meagre opportunities and their father's supine integrationism. Paul (Bouajila) is the elder and brighter, a putative businessman currently delivering pizzas. He flexes his muscles and mind through boxing, book reading and fanciful story telling, and at least impresses literature grad student Myriam (Testud, typically excellent). His simpler brother Daniel (Lespert, Ressources Humaines) is a more troubled proposition, hooked into a downward spiral of steroid fuelled bodybuilding. The film is sometimes awkwardly told, but the pathos comes through. And it carries the conviction of ungainly true experience.

Author: NB 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields


Cast & crew

Director: Jean-Pierre Sinapi

Producer: Fabienne Servan-Schreiber

Cast: Sami Bouajila, Jalil Lespert, Sylvie Testud, Simon Bakinde, Robier Ibanez full cast

Duration: 92 mins


Features

Making a name for himself

Making a name for himself

Sin Nombre's Cary Joji Fukunaga learned his lessons well.

To the letter

Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.

Mind over matter

David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.

Fool's gold

Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.

We are the championed

Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."

A history of violence

Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.

True romantic

James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.

Playing in the dark

MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.

Junk bonds

Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.