"La vida después" (2015 release from Argentina; US title: "The Life After"; 74 min.) brings the story of a couple whose marriage has fallen apart. As the movie opens, we get to know the couple. They are not arguing and do not seem bitter, although adjusting to "the life after" is harder on the husband than it is the wife. Then a huge twist of events, which I will not reveal for obvious reasons, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.
Couple of comments: first, this is another one of those low-budget, high-quality movies that foreign film makers are so good at (since they really don't have the choice or the luxury of Hollywood-like budgets). Here, co-directors Pablo Bardauil and Franco Verdoia establish a very simple fact pattern that we've seen a million times before: how to pick up the pieces for "the life after". Whether this relates to the post-marriage or to something else, I will not divulge here. I was absolutely mesmerized as I was watching these (for me unknown) performers. If you like intense family dramas, you cannot go wrong with this, and at just an hour and 15 minutes, this movie flew by in no time.
I recently caught this movie during a transatlantic flight on Delta Airlines. I was quite impressed with the generous choice of movies that were available, including a bunch of foreign movies that I had not heard of. I am quite certain that "La vida después" never reached US theaters, but it's quite encouraging that apparently it may find "a life after" on video streaming or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray. "La vida después" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
