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Life as a House - Review

Revisited this movie because there was nothing else in the library to rent.  Sometimes the decision is made for us.  This was a good one.  The movie I mean.

It came back to me - the last time I saw it was probably when both the cast and myself were much younger - 10 years younger but the story still resonated.

It revolves around an out of work architect who is dying of cancer and decides to fulfill a wish to build his own house (that it overlooks a bluff facing the Pacific makes for some nice scenery - I could not have watched his punk kid with paint and metal on his face without that addition).

The parallels or metaphors of building his house and his once married life back from the crumbled state it is in are played out well with Kevin Kline and Kristen Scott in lead roles.  Other typical Americanisms of A sleeps with B and B sleeps with C then A finds out she really wants to sleep with C are added for extra entertainment.

Protagonist is a stoic man in his mid forties who has fallen prey to seemingly mindless and monotonous work to earn a living.   He is a creative mind but has not found a way to make life enjoyable in all aspects of work and family.  Ultimately he dies of cancer but through some last minute fortitude he is able to pull his fragmented family back together and see the dream house stand up by the ocean.
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