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On the podcast this week, Steven and Sean are living with pain, sadness, and occasionally beautiful hope across many lifetimes in the 2018 film by Dan Fogelman, Life Itself.

If there\\u2019s ever been a sadder character than the one Oscar Isaac plays in this film, then I don\\u2019t know who that could be. I don\\u2019t think I want to ever meet that person. Seriously, dude loses his wife, nearly loses his child, is institutionalized, and then starts imagining things that are, let\\u2019s say, less than true. And even that\\u2019s not everything going on with this guy!

It\\u2019s okay, though, because we balance out the Oscar Isaac sadness with some Sergio Peris-Mencheta sadness. Antonio Banderas\\u2019s character has got the respectful hots for his character\\u2019s wife and he just can\\u2019t stand it because he feels he can\\u2019t provide her the same sort of life his rich employer can. She loves him, though. Why can\\u2019t he just see that? Come on, Javier Gonz\\xe1lez! You\\u2019re good for her!

It\\u2019s okay, though, because we balance out that sadness with teenage angst and anger. Turns out the child that was nearly lost earlier makes a fine recovery and grows up to be an understandably angry young woman. She grew up without parents, is dealing with teenage hormones, and just wants to mess shit up. Who can blame her?

It\\u2019s okay, though, because we balance out that sadness with the wonderful young man that Javier and his wife Isabel\\u2019s child becomes. He may have faced some trauma in his early years, but he ends up meeting the angsty teenager, they fall in love, and the sad streak fades away. Finally.

Phew, this one has a lot of heavy emotions. Like, a lot, a lot. There\\u2019s a reason why this episode is subtitled \\u201cBeautiful Chaos.\\u201d There\\u2019s a hefty dose of harsh reality in this one. Hey, at least we\\u2019ve got some amazing Samuel L. Jackson narration at the beginning of this one. That helps lighten the mood, doesn\\u2019t it?

Don\\u2019t watch this film without a box of tissues nearby. You\\u2019ll need them. While it may have been a heavy one, it was still made very well. Steven and Sean both loved the look and sound of it. This is one that\\u2019s going to stick with you for a long time.

(Recorded on September 3, 2020)

Links to Stuff We Mentioned:

Life Itself - IMDb

Life Itself trailer - YouTube

Life Itself - Prime Video

Life, the Universe, and Everything - Wikipedia

The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything - Wikipedia

Dan Fogelman - IMDb

This Is Us - IMDb

Olivia Wilde - IMDb

Oscar Isaac - IMDb

13 Reasons Why - IMDb

Antonio Banderas - IMDb

Samuel L. Jackson - IMDb

Do the Right Thing - IMDb

Unreliable narrator - Wikipedia

Annette Bening - IMDb

Mandy Patinkin - IMDb

The Mask of Z