The Low Life

For the most part, I thought that "The Low Life" moved pretty slowly. But even so, it's still worth seeing, if only as a character study. The main character is John Martin (Rory Cochrane), who has moved to Los Angeles hoping to make something of himself, but has to separate carbon copies to make ends meet. He has to stay with geeky Andrew (Sean Astin). Surrounded by several different kinds of people, John tries to maintain his identity however possible.

So, there's nothing particularly special about this movie. Maybe it's worth seeing once. But the entire cast does some interesting things with the characters. I think that that's about the best description that I can give; much of the movie confused me.

Also starring Kyra Sedgwick, James Le Gros, J.T. Walsh, Shawnee Smith, and Renee Zellweger in an early role (she plays the poet).

This movie is really good...easily Rory Cochranes best movie as well as Sean Astin's best movie. Sean Astin's character is so easily relateable to if you ever were a geek. The first time I saw this movie, I gushed tears at the end when they played that Journey song. Ron Livingston is always great to watch too. My buddy painted a picture of the end when Rory's character is walking along the street next to the parking meters and as soon as I saw it, I bought it from him. I honestly can't believe that this film has not been put on DVD. Anyways, you need to see this movie. It came out at a time when the Gen-X movies were in full swing and almost cliche, but Sean Astin's character breaks those cliches(when he crumples that lamp, you'll die), it will give Sean Astin a free pass much like Emilio gets a free pass simply because he was Otto.

I highly recommend you see this film. The story revolves around one mans struggle to be unaffected by those around him no matter how much they care or try to help . The characters are very well rounded and all serve a purpose (we'll have no throw away characters here thankyou!) The acting is suburb and Rory Cochrane delivers , as usual , a well rounded performance perfectly capturing the stoic struggle with subtlety and intelligence. Sean Astin is at his nerdy best with strong support by Ron Livingston .

Well worth a look.

that takes you in completely. I can't help but noticing that many people praise Sean Astin. I agree, he is wonderful in that role. He makes the audience feel with him. But still I think this is definetely Rory Cochrane's Movies. His performance is so incredibly good, that I saw that movie three times in a row. There never was any doubt that Mr. Cochrane is a very, very talented Actor, but he just shine's out in "the low life". Yes, the movie is somewhat depressing, but it's Cochrane's play to thank for, that the viewer can still enjoy the whole movie. I really can't believe that I just recently saw it for the first time. To bad there might never be a DVD, finally a movie worth buying. bibi Germany

The characters don't interact with each other very well, but separately they are very interesting. I especially liked Sean Astin's Andrew, a lonely twenty-something with a penchant for 80s power ballads. James LeGros is up to his usual standards as Michael Schroeder, Jr., the landlord who sends his temps to do everything from plumbing to evictions.

I usually like Rory Cochrane, but either his character wasn't written all that well (probably the case) or he didn't do it very well. At the end you're more interested in Andrew's fate than anyone else's.