Life as a House (New Line Platinum Series) | Hayden Christensen, Kevin Kline

Life as a House (New Line Platinum Series) | Hayden Christensen, Kevin Kline | A Great Movie

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Life as a House (N...

	Life as a House (New Line Platinum Series) Hayden Christensen, Kevin Kline New Line Home Video, 2002 average customer review:based on 236 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Amazing, and Under-rated Talent

This film has it all. The acting in it is superb from ALL of the cast. The story is somewhat typical, but brilliantly brought to life. You have known all of these people at one time or other in your life. And the previous reviewers are right. Christensen is one of those talented young thespians who comes along once in a great while. Sadly, George Lucas didn't put very good use to him. So once again, like many other attractive actors, he is likely to be overlooked. Let's hope this kid's career holds out, because if it does, his performances as he grows and matures, are sure to be lighting in a bottle.

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A Great Movie

One of the most gut wrenching and soul searching movies I have ever seen.

A tough movie to watch (for me) but VERY worth every second!

hayden christensen amazingly wonderful

this film is a deffent tear jerker. george (played by kevin kline) is a architect who loses his job and then finds out that
he has cancer, he decides he wants to tear down his shack of a
house that his father gave to him and build a beautiful house and he wants to do it with his son sam (played by hayden christensen). as george is rebuilding this house he is also re-
building a relationship with his son and his ex-wife(played by
kristen scott-thomas), but he's also building relationships with
his neighbors as well. the most emotional part is when sam learns that his father has cancer and he's dying, when hayden hits the wall with his fists i felt it. this is a beautiful movie about love, family, and life and i think every one should
see it especially to see what a talent hayden christensen is, he
is going places and if they don't believe me they should watch
star wars II and III as well as shattered glass, then they will
see what a true talent this young man is.

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Life As a House

Good story of a man dying of cancer and trying to rebuild his life without the usual cliches. Kevin Kline and Kristen Scott-Thomas put in their usual stellar performances, but it is Hayden Christensen that viewers won't be able to keep their eyes off.

Tearing Down the Walls (SPOLIER ALERT!)

In Life as a House, Georges' tearing down and rebuilding of his house symbolizes his relationships as he completely changes Sam who begins to love his father, and Robin who falls back in love with George. On the other hand, as the house is being rebuilt, George starts to geel the effects of his cancer, and begins to die.

My experience with this film is that I heard that it was a good movie, so I rented it, and watched it on September 27, 2005 at my house.

At the beginning of this film, we see Sam as this one-sided, angsty teenager, who is on the wrong side of the track, dealing with everything fron drugs to small-time prostitution; yet as George takes Sam for the summer, wanting them to build a house together (with enormous opposition from Sam, mind you) we start to see a bond developing. On event is when George jumps off the cliff and into the ocean. At this point Sam has nothing but hate for his father, saying, "you're totally insane" and "my father is a total wacko". The major turning point in this film is when Sam flips out about George flushing his marijuana down the toilet. Sam starts screaming "You never cared about me before" (minus his bad French) and Georges' response of "Well, now I do care" really hits Sam. George pushes him down on the bed, and makes Sam listen to him, making him realize that he has to change. At this point, Sam himself realizes this, and helps George tear down the house, and their old relationship. We get his sense because the very next morning he wakes up early, and helps George with his house, where he would just lye around doing nothing before; he also is nice to his little brother and Mom for a change. Another aspect that gives us this change in Sam in his apperance; he no longer has his piercings, and has taken off all his makeup. When George finally tells him that he is dying, Sam flips out, starts crying and punching walls; this is a clear indication that he has made a one hundred and eighty degree turn from where he started, he actually cares about his father.

Another relationship in question is that of Robin, George's ex-wife. Right from the start, we can definitely tell that they are exes; when George tries to touch Robin's fack, she attempts to bite his finger! How much more hatred do you need? Needless to say, there is a definite tension between the two. George happens to tell Robin that she is the most beautiful person he has ever met, and she's shocked jand outraged by this statement. I think this is the moment in the film where she starts doubting her relationship with both George and Peter (her current husband). One evening, when Peter is eating a dinner that Robin fixed for him, she asks him if he thinks it's odd that his kids don't hug him. We can certainly tell by this that she doubts him as a father. She visits Sam the first day he's at Georges', and she comes back the next day, and the next, and the one after that, as well as the next and tomorrow too. She helps George tear down the walls, and brings her kids (that she had with Peter, not George) to help, as well as lunch for weeks. Peter has a talk with Robin about maybe them taking a vacation sometime, but she tells him that she can't because she needs to help George with his house (not in those frank of terms, though); Peter realizes then that Robin doesen't love him anymore. The next day, Robin videotapes the construction, which shows us that she wants to develop her relationship further with George, and she even dances with him. When Peter leaves Robin, she tells George (in a way) that she still loves him, while he as well loves her back. There is tension between the two though, because George tells her that love is not enough, ans when Peter tries to get Robin back, we can tell that she wants to be with George nonetheless.

On the other hand, while Georges' relationships are being built up simultaneously with his house, he is being torn down with his terminal cancer. This is being played up the most when Sam states that George looks like crap lately, and George responds with 'you're looking better than ever'; this just seems ironic how just when Sam is getter "better" in a sense, that George would be dying, and not be able to be with the new Sam for much longer. One's bar of life, so to speak, is being raised while the other is being lessened. Throughout the construction process, George starts to feel the effects of his cancer; he's taking more and more pills, sleeping in the middle of the day and looking pale and sickly. It seems to be as though it is a sort of re-birth, with Sam and George in the end. George dies, but Sam lives on in the spirit of George.

We never find out how other people react to Sam's change, and I think that would be interesting to know; maybe we can hope for a sequel.

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