Staring at 30 year's old, Leigh begins to suffer a bit of an identity crisis when her personal and professional life come crashing down in unison. Seeking refuge the only place possible, Leigh returns to her hometown where she lives with her parents. Reverting almost entirely back to her high school days, Leigh reclaims her old job as a lifeguard and hangs out with her other high school friends who never left town. As Leigh puts off her responsibilities, she enters into an illicit relationship with a teenage boy, which affects everyone and everything around her. Liz W. Garcia's The Lifeguard is a story about the quarter-life crisis where young Leigh is forced to identify what she wants to do with her life. Unfortunately Liz is simply a character that is somewhat hard to root for, coming off as a whiny 29 year-old who never feels troubled but simply entitled. The Lifeguard touches on the lessons young and old can learn from each other and the idea that their is no escaping life but it does so in a way that is rather bland, never doing anything that separates itself from other films tackling similar themes. Liz W Garcia's The Lifeguard relies heavily on Kristen Bell's performance while simultaneously keeping the character pinned down to its narrative intentions. There is no breathing room in the performance because of this and while Bell does her best the character never feels organic to the viewer, merely another character who serves the narrative. 3/10
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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