After I'm Still Here – The Lost Year of Joaquin Phoenix, Casey Affleck is back behind the camera to direct his second feature film: Light of my Life. Available in cinemas from Wednesday, August 12, the story tells the fate of the character of Casey Affleck and his daughter in a post-apocalyptic dystopian universe. In this unpleasant future, women have practically disappeared. This leads Casey Affleck to hide her daughter, and protect her from human folly. On the casting side, the cast is completed by Anna Pniowsky, Elisabeth Moss and Tom Bower.
Somewhere between The Road and The Sons of Man
Light of my Life is generally a success, but never revolutionizes the genre. This is an extremely classic survival proposition, which does not stand out from its predecessors. Somewhere between The Road and The Sons of Man, the film is inspired without really readapting this type of story. As in The Road, the two protagonists walk through a cold and neglected environment of life. Daily life is no longer the same, and Affleck must protect his daughter against all odds. Obviously, the themes borrow heavily from The Sons of Man where Alfonso Cuaron imagined a future where children are no longer born. Light of my Life is the perfect marriage of these two classics of the genre. But Casey Affleck's film suffers from comparison and can only exist in their shadow. 
After that, Light of my Life is relatively solid. The writing is precise, the rhythm rather well managed, and the proposed themes are well treated. Casey Affleck depicts a credible, endearing, sometimes touching and above all rather relevant father/daughter relationship. He anchors this paternal relationship in a suffocating universe. Through this process, he addresses the fear of being a parent, the loss of the beloved, mourning, but also education, evolution, the passage to adulthood, and the disappearance of the parent for the development of the child. In short, very classic themes, but that Casey Affleck uses with a certain lucidity.
A parallel with Hollywood?
One can't help but see in Light of my Life a parallel with the Hollywood world. Casey Affleck seems to make an analogy with the real world, and the dangers of the environment. One can easily compare his work with a terrible reality, where women are harassed by men, by the powerful, by producers. Hence this proposal of a world where women have virtually disappeared and the last survivors hide, flee, and are hunted down to be raped and exploited. Through this story, Casey Affleck really seems to make this type of connection. 
However, in 2010, the actor was himself accused of sexual harassment by two women following the filming of I'm Still Here – The Lost Year of Joaquin Phoenix. An accusation that emerged during the #MeToo movement. One of the plaintiffs, producer Amanda White, revealed that the actor repeatedly made sexual advances to her. He would even have been violent in the face of his repeated refusals. Never convicted, the actor has always given his support to this movement, and has remained very silent on these famous denunciations. In 2019, he had nevertheless reacted to these incriminations:
"I told myself that the best thing to do was to stay silent so that I didn't seem to be in opposition to something I really wanted to defend"
The redemption of Casey Affleck?
He regrets the way some perceive him sometimes. So, perhaps, we can see in Light of my Life a certain redemption? Some will see this as a form of hypocrisy. But it seems that Casey Affleck wanted to make his atonement through his new film where he places himself as a fervent defender of women. Maybe this process is a bit simple, but it seems to come from a real desire to do well, while perhaps seeking some form of forgiveness. But all this is pure interpretation. And this analysis moves away from the primary interest of the film: a humble and relatively controlled survival. 
In short, Light of my Life is full of good intentions, even if sometimes, the film suffers from comparison with its elders. But for her new film, Casey Affleck comes out with honors, offering a work with strong contemporary themes, whether on feminism or the pandemic. He also borrows from his talented friend David Lowery, the director of the superb A Ghost Story, especially in his minimalist and refined approach. Light of my Life is available in theaters from August 12, 2020. Check out the trailer below. https://youtu.be/r0V4ID87hX4
