Review of Terry Ross’ Carving a Life
Review by Claire Bahorski
Developmentally Edited by Alexandra Hidalgo
Copy Edited and Posted by Iliana Cosme-Brooks
Carving a Life (2017). 1h 23min. Directed by Terry Ross. Written by Lisa Crawford Bruhn. Starring Tyler Bruhn, Karenssa LeGear.
Carving a Life is a fiction film that tells the all-too-real story of the struggles that alcoholism brings to marriage and family life. The protagonist, Mitch (Tyler Bruhn), must confront the demons that have plagued his past in order to have a fulfilling future with his new wife, Lauren (Karenssa LeGear).The film opens with Mitch, a wood carver, selling a wooden dolphin to Lauren, an elementary school teacher. Their brief encounter turns into more, with the pair quickly dating and getting engaged. At the surface, their relationship appears to be perfect, with the only conflict being Lauren’s dislike of Mitch’s best friend, Eric (Sandi Todorovic), whom she deems a “drunk.” The film engages audiences by showing the many sides to addiction and recovery, portraying Mitch as a happy and optimistic person, who audiences may never guess would have had these struggles since childhood.
Mitch and Lauren bask in their newlywed bliss until an unexpected announcement from Lauren forces Mitch to face his past that is riddled with alcoholism, death, and feelings of abandonment. The audience then sees Mitch’s seemingly happy and content life begin to crumble. A flashback cuts to a young Eric offering Mitch a bottle of alcohol, alluding to what is the beginning of Mitch’s lifelong struggle—a struggle that he keeps Lauren entirely unaware of until his habits become too obvious to ignore. Mitch’s inability to heal from his past tests the strength of his relationship with Lauren, who is left to pick up the pieces.
Director Terry Ross realistically portrays how the road to recovery is not linear, and how it requires the support of others. She uses lighting and camerawork to portray Mitch’s struggles and what he goes through as his life becomes increasingly consumed by alcoholism. The film’s lighting changes to signal transformations in the plot. The beginning, when the two lovers meet, has a sunny, bright hue. When things take a turn for the worse, and Mitch begins experiencing dark flashbacks into his past, the lighting changes to a stormy, intense coloring. This portrayal of intense and traumatic episodes moves the audience to feel for Mitch and root for both his recovery, and for him and Lauren to succeed in their marriage.
Conversely, the intense flashbacks that Mitch experiences have a dark blue and blurry quality to them. These changes allow the audience to gauge the inner workings of Mitch’s mind and trauma as it floods back to him. The camerawork and lighting throughout these scenes give the audience a sense of the unclear, haunting flashbacks that drive Mitch to drink. The camera often becomes shaky and the images blurred, signaling a flashback into Mitch’s past. The dark lighting allows viewers to experience the flashbacks as Mitch does: with a distorted sense of what is real as he struggles to get through the paralyzing panic attacks he experiences. The quick flashes into Mitch’s past are used to give the audience a vague idea of the struggles of his youth and the memories that haunt him. By only giving small flashes into Mitch’s past, Ross keeps the audience as much in the dark as Lauren is, inviting us to empathize even more with her journey as we experience her confusion over why her husband is behaving in this way. Although Lauren and the audience may never fully understand the events that led up to Mitch’s spiral, the script and flashbacks leave enough clues for the audience to piece it together.
LeGear plays Lauren convincingly, personifying the struggles of a newlywed who is losing her husband to an addiction she never knew existed. Her demure demeanor keeps the audience guessing as to how and if she will be able to handle Mitch’s troubled past. Her portrayal of someone who desperately wants to help a loved one who doesn’t want help himself pulls the audience into sympathizing for her and the couple’s future. As she decides between staying with her husband or removing herself from their marriage, viewers empathize with the impossible choice ahead of her.
Bruhn brings the character of Mitch alive in a realistic way, hauntingly personifying how addiction can take over a person’s life. Audiences get to see how he transforms from a content wood carver to the version of himself he tried to keep from Lauren. He shows how despite one’s best efforts, addiction is very real. His sympathetic portrayal of Mitch keeps the audience guessing as we root for him to recover and lead a healthy life.
The script puts a spin on the average love story by incorporating real life strains that can be put on a marriage. The struggles that the couple faces are very realistic, which makes Carving a Life an alluring and thought-provoking story to follow. The characters are dynamic and genuinely portray people who are experiencing a family member dealing with addiction. This story of balancing love and addiction details the inner workings of a relationship and facing one’s demons. It is not the typical love story with the promise of a happy ending. Rather, it tells a story about love and how one’s past may be hard to escape. It is key for audiences to see films that tackle dark topics with the realism and compassion that Carving a Life does. Love stories are not all meet-cutes and walks into the sunset together, and this film reminds us of how complex a relationship can be. Rather than sugar coating a love story as we typically see, the film reminds us of the realities of love and marriage. We must come to terms with our past in order to face a better future and recognize the struggles of having to carve our lives after working through them, even if a happy ending is not guaranteed.
Carving a Life is available to watch on Tubi, Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Vudu, and Apple TV+. Learn more about the film by visiting its Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter pages. Find more films on the production company’s website. Connect with Claire by visiting her profile.