As a movie blogger I regularly am contacted by producers or directors if I am willing to watch their movie. With hundreds of movies being released each year it can be hard for smaller films to get any attention and unless the movie does not appeal to me I often agree to check out their work. As you are in close contact with someone involved in the movie I always feel some pressure in trying to remain as objective as possible. You know that someone has spent countless hours making their movie and when you do not like it you do not want to only be negative, as I do think each and every movie has potential, which sometimes just is not realised. At the end of the day I am only giving my own opinion and it’s up to others to agree or disagree with me.
Life Tracker is an indie film which deals with very interesting subject matter: What if it was possible to determine what would happen to your health and life (including the day of your death) based on your own DNA? How would this affect you and the people around you? This “found footage documentary” tries to provide some possible answers.
During a short prologue a man named Dillon (Barry Finnegan), tells the viewer where he is and that is has taking him a lot longer as expected to make the film you are about to watch. Since I had no idea what the movie was about I though nothing of the opening. It becomes clear that Dillon actually is an aspiring filmmaker and who gets fascinated by a company named Life Tracker Limited, who claim they can predict your own future based on DNA samples. He decides he will be making a documentary about it together with his friends Scott (Matt Dallas) and Bell (Rebecca Marshall). Part of this is having his own DNA examined. There are readers who are able to make those predictions and based on the amount you spend, the probability of those predictions coming true is higher. When the three finally receive their results it has impact on them and their relationship. They have different views on the matter and when the company also offers to release your day of death it not only affects them, but society as a lot of people decide to get that information. Not everyone believes the claims Life Tracker Limited makes and Dillon wants to get to the bottom of it.
What I liked about the movie is that as the movie progresses the equipment that Dillon uses improves. He initially uses a 4:3 handy cam, but later moves onto better cameras as he gets some funding for his documentary project. I also really enjoyed the discussion about knowing your future. It basically comes down to the question if your future has already been written or if it is based on the decisions you make yourself. Of course it is a question no one will be able to answer, but Life Tracker uses it effectively. As an independent movie with a limited budget it looks good and although the acting of the extras in the first few shots didn’t come across convincingly I did think the main cast were good.
The movie was a bit slow at times and while watching it I caught myself wondering what some of the things shown meant. For example during the whole movie a countdown is shown, but it is only later in the movie that you find out why it is there. As I was watching I also wondered why some scenes were in the movie and it was distracting me. I had a list of things which I was planning to write about while watching it, but then during the final scene a lot of the criticism I had was suddenly invalid. In this last scene Dillon admits all the flaws the movie has (for example the music) and if you look at it from that perspective a lot of flaws the movie has can suddenly be forgiven. It is a unique twist which I did think was very original. I wonder though if the average viewer would be willing to do that as well, especially considering its length. It is a movie you could take a chance on, but I think enjoyment will vary greatly for each viewer. A movie with potential which it comes just short of realizing.
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