Given the film that he made his reputation on — the Anton Yelchin and Felicity Jones’ long-distance relationship drama “Like Crazy” — it’s ironic that a little distance has made the heart grow fonder for Drake Doremus, who is back after his first film this decade after reliably churning out a film every two years after his 2011 breakthrough. The films, all about the nature of love in ways both good and bad, increasingly involved high-concept conceits, occasionally drifting towards sci-fi with the pairings of Nicolas Hoult and Kristen Stewart and Ewan McGregor and Léa Seydoux in “Equals” and “Zoe” in dystopias where the very idea of amour was a new one, and he seemed to reach an impasse with “Endings, Beginnings,” a Shailene Woodley/Jamie Dornan/Sebastian Stan roundelay that felt as if he had stuck with certain ideas for a bit too long and a style that once felt cutting edge when seeking out the crispest digital image could come across as being an experience placed behind glass.
Yet with “Next Life,” a riff on “Sliding Doors” that rides the strength of an engaging lead turn from Emilia Clarke to charm, the director’s gifts for giving actors an opportunity to do something they haven’t before and his slippery editing, often dabbing in scenes as if they were brushstrokes on an impressionistic painting, actually proves to be a great fit for the material, never letting the inciting incident overwhelm the rest of the story. Clarke stars as Ivy, a 38-year-old who has to wonder what comes next after losing her job and her boyfriend Noah (Jack Farthing) in one fell swoop when he also was her boss, though neither the desk job or the partner seemed to be particularly fulfilling. She can be seen reaching a crossroads both literally and figuratively when she hops on a train to the christening of her godchild, bumping into Diego (Edgar Ramirez) when she hustles to make it aboard after failing to wake up on time in one scenario and arriving on time in another, leading to no conversation whatsoever with him during the long journey that she has when she spills her coffee on him, leading both to realize they both like to sing.
The musical component gives “Next Life” a much-needed buoyancy when as much as Doremus can reliably attract strong actors with meaty roles trafficking in deep, late night conversations about the heart, there hasn’t been a whole lot of levity and as a romance sprouts between Ivy and Diego built around him encouraging her to follow her joy to an actual music career, there’s a palpable excitement amongst both actors to actually put their pipes to use as they perform in clubs and the energy comes through the screen undiluted. Their scenes together are in stark contrast to what Ivy experiences with Noah, who pleads for her to give him a second chance in the version of events where she and Diego don’t have a meet cute, and rather than envision this as a love triangle, Doremus wisely sees the situation entirely in how Ivy views herself, feeling the limits of living with someone she’s never going to entirely trust in Noah and the cascading effect on taking any other risks or pursuing a life with Diego, who fully believes in her as an artist but whose own pursuit of such a career makes him averse to commitments.
Confidence has long been Doremus’ love language where someone else’s affections usually manifest in bolder personal decisions rather than making out and after the initial setup in which the different versions of Ivy’s life are distinguished in the clothes she wears, having to put on a denim outfit after the coffee stained her pink dress for the baptism, one can tell by the look on her face which storyline she’s in as she settles into an undemanding relationship with Noah and has a more active if unpredictable life with Diego. The film downplays the initial narrative gambit as a structural device, asking less about fate versus destiny than where the tipping point is in terms of Ivy’s desire to have a partner who pushes her or not (though there are a few clever moments where Doremus confuses the issue with some savvy cuts). Clarke appears to have one in the director, giving a winning turn that really runs the gamut of what she’s capable of and while playing a character who is unlikely to have it all, it can look like its radiant star does.
“Next Life” will screen again at Tribeca at the Village East on June 6th at 5:15 pm and June 9th at 2:15 pm.