Live Life Team
Genre: Sci-Fi Fantasy
Director: Douglas Turnbull
Starring Cast: Bruce Dern, Cliff Potts, Ron Rifkin, Jesse Vint
In the future, all plant life on Earth has died out and the only remaining specimens orbit in giant glass globes attached to spaceships. Lowell Freeman (Dern) is a botanist responsible for maintaining one of the vessels, a devoted naturalist; he is devastated when instructions come through ordering the destruction of the globes. With environmental concerns more prominent in the post 1960s era.
Turnbull a renowned special effects artist was by 1972 ready to step behind the camera, Turnbull chose to marry ecological themes with his own innovative special effects techniques, simultaneously making a potent statement and creating the aesthetic juxtapositions that define the films visual style. The sight of his (totally convincing) spaceships, each with visible forests and gardens safely contained within enormous glass bubbles, is one of the most inspiring visions of the genre.
The simple story revolves around the character of Freeman. Dedicated to his forests, he is in a state of constant anticipation, waiting for the instruction to return to Earth for re-propagation. But he is clearly a little unhinged; his wide eyes betraying the madness that will lead him to commit murder. The powerful central performance, contrasting style (heightened by folk music queen Joan Baez’s soundtrack) and compelling message make it one of the most unusual and valuable films of the time.
