Easy Living

Easy Living is a darkly comic drama with undertones of suspense that surfaced in 2017, starring Caroline Dhavernas, McCaleb Burnett, and Elizabeth Marvel. This memorable film is a unique combination of a psychological character study and an exploration of a peculiar lifestyle, setting a fierce tone with riveting performances by the main cast.

Caroline Dhavernas stars as Sherry Graham, the film's protagonist who is a door-to-door makeup saleswoman. Sherry is teetering on, and often over, the border of functionality. She struggles to squeeze her disarrayed life into the confines of normalcy while maintaining an orchestrated front. With her past rooted in a broken family and littered with flawed decisions, Sherry finds herself at a crossroads. This juxtaposition of Sherry's personal breakdown and the mask she wears for her customers adds an intriguing layer of complexity to her character.

Supporting Dhavernas' inconsistent yet compelling portrayal of our protagonist is McCaleb Burnett as Danny, who brings a sense of unpredictability to his character's interactions with Sherry. Their relationship presents an insightful commentary on codependency and desperation, skillfully threading an undercurrent of suspense as the story progresses. Elizabeth Marvel, as Sherry's estranged and somewhat dysfunctional sister, provides additional depth and layers to the narrative by showing us a skewed approximation of sisterhood that is as captivating as it is shocking.

Easy Living is director Adam Keleman's bold entre into the realm of feature films. With his keen eye for the minutiae of his characters and their environments, he crafts a darkly comedic universe filled with pain, redemption, and shades of gray. His directing style is both dynamic and engaging, focusing on the mundane in life but giving it a slightly twisted touch, creating an unsettling sense of beauty amongst the chaos that unravels through the various stages of Sherry's life.

The drama's narrative is interspersed with instances of Sherry's interaction with her clients, providing soft yet insightful glimpses into their lives - some believable and others confounding. These intricate details, sprinkled throughout the storyline, increase the film's authenticity and ground its otherwise heightened narrative. The dynamic becomes almost a metaphor for life itself - beneath the facades we present to the world, each one of us is a tumultuous cocktail of emotions, impressions, and experiences, rarely as one-dimensional as we project.

Despite the despair underlying its narrative, Easy Living offers a vein of hope and positivity. It encapsulates the protagonist's self-determination and willingness to persevere despite the odds. It's a reminder that life's darker phases are often accompanied by opportunities for redemption, and it's up to us to seize them.

Visually, the film strikes a beautiful balance between the harsh realities of the characters' lives and the aesthetically pleasing elements, such as the brightly coloured van Sherry carries her wares in or the cosmetic products she sells. The cinematography perfectly captures the contradiction of Sherry's life and paints a vivid picture of her struggle to maintain a semblance of normalcy.

Easy Living also features an impressive supporting cast that add meat to the storyline, presenting a mix of the eccentric and the mundane, reflecting the bizarre and ironic aspects of everyday life. Each character, regardless of screen-time, leaves an indelible mark on the audience.

From an intuitive script filled with dark humor and realistic dialogues to an unforgettable lead performance from Dhavernas, Easy Living allows the viewer to experience the raw, unfiltered mundanity of the protagonist's life journey beautifully rendered through a quirky lens. It's a tale anchored by complex characters and memorable performances that permit audiences to appreciate the film not only as a compelling narrative but also as a vibrant canvas of individuals pushing against their circumstances.

In summary, Easy Living is an engrossing dramatic offering that strikes an unexpected balance between tragedy, humor, and introspective moments. It leaves the viewer with much food for thought while demonstrating the lengths that one might go to maintain the illusion of normalcy and control. It's an eccentric, honest coming-of-age story meshed with a gripping psychological drama that stays in the audience's mind long after the credits roll.