Latest news with #ColleenCassingham
New York Times
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘Life After' Review: What the End Means
Near the end of his feature debut, the self-shot 'I Didn't See You There' (2022), the director Reid Davenport expresses a wish: 'I hope this is my last personal film,' he says. But 'Life After,' his new documentary, couldn't be anything but. Davenport starts with a hook: What happened to Elizabeth Bouvia, who, beginning in 1983, was the subject of a highly publicized legal battle in California? Bouvia, who had cerebral palsy, as Davenport does, had sought to starve herself to death with medical supervision — something the courts initially did not allow. Forty years later, Davenport can find no record of her death. Is she still alive? Has her perspective changed? His investigation is fueled in part by parallels he sees in his life. When he and his producer, Colleen Cassingham, locate Bouvia's sisters, they learn that her trajectory was more complicated than the news media's framing revealed. But 'Life After' also dives into broader questions about the legalization of medical assistance in death. The director makes clear that he does not oppose that choice, but he is concerned that messages of rejection from society and the economics of long-term care might push disabled people toward that end. He casts a particularly harsh spotlight on Canada's commercialization of this issue. ('Don't miss out on your chance to have an assisted death,' says a video that he and Cassingham watch that urges viewers to make arrangements early.) Davenport, upon learning he would qualify for assisted suicide if he lived in Canada, wonders if he would see his life differently if he didn't have such positive support from family and friends. He has felt alienated at times, but so have many people, yet only those with disabilities are subtly encouraged to consider a state-sanctioned demise. 'Life After' doesn't equivocate; neither does it offer easy answers. It tackles a thorny topic in a challenging way, with the tenderness, complexity and — notwithstanding Davenport's earlier wish — the personal perspective it deserves. Life AfterNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 39 minutes. In theaters.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Doc Talk Podcast: ‘Life After' Filmmaker Reid Davenport And Producer Colleen Cassingham Investigate Groundbreaking Right-To-Die Case
One of the most significant talents to emerge in documentary film in recent years is Reid Davenport, who broke through in 2022 with his debut feature film I Didn't See You There. It chronicled his experience as a disabled person attempting to navigate a society that typically meets disability with fear, ignorance and loathing. 'I have cerebral palsy. I would like people to see that my diagnosis is not my biggest obstacle,' he has said. 'My biggest obstacle is people's response to my diagnosis.' More from Deadline Doc Talk Podcast Debates Early Oscar Contenders: Who's Leading The Best Documentary Charge And Who Belongs In Contention Snubbed By Oscars, 'Will & Harper,' 'Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story' Score Multiple Emmy Nominations Doc Talk Podcast Goes Upriver For Riveting Conversation About Newly Restored 'Hearts Of Darkness,' One Of Greatest Documentaries Ever Davenport says he makes documentaries 'from an overtly political perspective.' That's true of his latest film Life After, which won a Special Jury Award at the Sundance Film Festival where it premiered earlier this year. The film produced by Colleen Cassingham opens at Film Forum in New York City on Friday, with additional in-person and virtual screenings in other cities in the coming weeks. On the new edition of Deadline's Doc Talk podcast, Davenport and Cassingham join us for a compelling conversation about the film and how it reframes the debate over the 'right-to-die' movement. Sometimes referred to as 'death with dignity' or 'medical aid in dying,' the movement is often characterized as a compassionate option to end suffering for those with terminal conditions. But behind it, Davenport sees the lurking specter of eugenics, a discredited pseudoscience that proposed the enhancement of the collective gene pool by eliminating undesirables. Nazi Germany put it into active practice. Davenport and Cassingham tell us why the case of Elizabeth Bouvia became critical to the film. In the 1980s, Bouvia, who had cerebral palsy, sued in California for the right to end her life with assistance from a hospital, at a time when California had no law permitting that (in 2016 the state passed the California End of Life Option Act). Ostensibly, her case might sound like an argument in favor of euthanasia, but the filmmakers investigated further and came to a startling conclusion about why Bouvia wanted to end her life – a conclusion that illuminates the reality of how we treat people with disabilities and the value, or lack thereof, that we assign to their lives. (Davenport also explains why 60 Minutes correspondent Mike Wallace makes an archive cameo appearance in Life After, interviewing Bouvia bedside in a way the director describes as 'creepy.'). That's on the new episode of Doc Talk, hosted by Oscar winner John Ridley (12 Years a Slave, Shirley) and Matt Carey, Deadline's documentary editor. The show is a production of Deadline and Ridley's Nō to the episode above or on major podcast platforms including Spotify, iHeart and Apple. Best of Deadline Everything We Know About Amazon's 'Verity' Movie So Far 'Street Fighter' Cast: Who's Who In The Live-Action Arcade Film Adaption 2025-26 Awards Season Calendar: Dates For Emmys, Oscars, Grammys & More
