Search - Against the Wall: Quality of Life on DVD

Why the title change? A msg from the Director.

Benjamin Morgan | United States | 10/18/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Interesting to see the dialogue around the title change. Thought I should comment to clear the air. The distributor opted to change the title (and the key art). They felt that, although everyone in the subculture knows what quality of life laws & offenses are, the general public would not. We were actually OK with the title change (to widen our audience). We were not, however, thrilled with their key art. Authenticity was/is our core value. The key art on this version basically throws that out the window. (As you can see, this is a CG creation of an SF alley way, and they superimposed our actors heads on some random bodies to get the hoodies and spray can in there.)

If you're interested in buying the real, authentic, filmmaker approved version, go to our website www dot qualityoflife-themove dot com. We're offering a grip of tasty extras that are available only from our website (in addition to our exclusive Sam Flores shirts and behind-the-scenes book). Thanks for the support!"

Quality of Life

Bryan A. Pfleeger | Metairie, Louisiana United States | 05/06/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Benjamin Morgan's no budget character study Quality of Life is a decent film. It's not a great film but the term independent gem may well apply. Quality of Life refers to those nuisance laws like littering, prostitution and graffiti writing that degrade the status quo from inside the system.

The film follows the paths of two graffiti artists in the Mission District of San Francisco. Michael aka Heir (Lane Garrison) and Curtis aka Vain (Brian Burnam) are house painters by day and graffiti artists by night. After a run in with the law the friends follow two divergent paths. Heir moves in the direction of getting a job in an ad agency while Vain continues to spiral out of control and into self destructive behavior.

While the acting is not always even the performances by the leads are generally effective. There is good support from Luis Saguar as a concerned father and from Mackenzie Firgens as Vain's live-in girlfriend, Lisa.

The filmmakers, working on a shoestring budget,produce a compelling portrait of the graffiti and hip hop lifestyle. The disc that I viewed from Screen Media was bare bones. I understand that the filmmakers have a bonus filled edition available for sale at their website. If you are a fan this may be the better edition to purchase. One slight problem that I did notice was that the sound was mixed extremely low during the feature. This problem is not present on the commentary track by Morgan and producer Brant Smith. The commentary track is a good listen and explains the trials and tribulations of no budget filmmaking.

This is one small gem that is worth checking out."

A pretty good movie, gloomy, dark and hopeless

JustAForeignReader | Major Earthquake Faultline | 09/14/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"the graffitti artworks were really amazing. what a sad and hopeless story. again, the majority americans are struggling while the politicians are bragging that america is the most powerful and the richest nation on the planet. all the roles were played wonderfully realistic and so naturally performed, a great achievment here. this is a movie turned out to be almost great but also very dark. i couldn't say i enjoyed it because it's a very sad story."

Complex story with believable characters

J. Yamada | 07/06/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This movie isn't light, fluffy entertainment, it's a film with a message. The underlying theme is on graffiti art and its culture, but there's a lot of social commentary mixed in throughout the whole movie. Seeing how fluidly and easily the two main actors can create their art was amazing. Good casting all around, and having San Francisco's Mission District as the setting couldn't have been more appropriate. There's a lot of garbage coming out of Hollywood these days -- they should pay attention to indie movies like this.
One of the great things about movies on DVDs are the commentaries and this one didn't disappoint me at all. I found the commentary on this movie to be one of the most interesting I've heard. They did a great job not only detailing background information about making the movie, but the way they presented the Mission District, and the people who live there, in such a real and heartfelt light was very enlightening. They also touch on topics tied to our culture and society on a scene by scene basis. Whether graffiti is art or vandalism can be a simple question, but this movie did a great job to make me consider both sides."