Rating: 
Summary: "Ten Things to Do Before She Dies"; Lyrical and Quiet Drama
Review: This is a Spanish/Canadian film starring ever-wonderful Sarah Polley as Ann, terminally-ill young mother living in a trailer house with her two small girls, Penny and Patsy. But don't worry about its apparently serious theme; the film is filled with lyrical, and even quirky atomosphere well handled by Spanish director Isabel Coixet.Ann is working night-shift at university in Vancouver, and has a two cute girls to raise. Her husband Don (Scott Speedman) is out of work, but luckily is likely to get a job at the swimming pool construction. But one day, Ann realizes that she is going to die within two months, maybe three. Then she decides to list ten things she should do before dying, which go as follows: 1) Tell my daughters I love them several times a day.
2) Find Don a new wife who the girls like.
3) Record birthday messages for the girls for every year until they're 18.
4) Go to Whalebay Beach together and have a big picnick.
5) Smoke and drink as much as I want.... You should see the remaining five for yourself. The film does not follow her action of doing them one by one. Instead, it shows how she comes to see and accept the inevitable fact -- "My Life without Me." She meets a new boy, book-loving Lee (Mark Ruffalo), and a new next-door neighbor namesake Ann (Lennor Watling, the sleeping beauty in "Talk to Her"). You don't expect "My Life." The heroine's emotional change is sometimes very subtle, apparently difficult to find. However, just because of this delicate and rounded characterization, we start to care these people tenderly depicted in the film. The story is almost non-existent; what you see is Ann gradually fading away (or preparing for that) without telling the fact that she is ill. This setting is a bit forced, but still intriguing enough. And its quirky humor. Director Isabel Coixet once gave us little-seen (but charming) film "Things I Never Told You" in which slight things make us smile. But I have to tell you that "My Life without Me" gives that kind of "little smile" when the film is very poignant. See one of the little girls say during the dinner about Ann's co-worker (Amanda Plummer). You either find it funny, or very cruel. Though I must say not everything succeeds (especially some of the dialogues and long monologues looks out of place). But for all its familar and potentially dismal theme, the film keeps on engaging, largely thanks to Sarah Polly's credible performance. If you liked her in "Sweet Hereafter," this is for you. About guest stars. You can see Maria de Medeiros ("Pulp Fiction") as the Hairdresser, and a bit of her dancing. Alfred Molina ("Chocola") and Deborah Harry also appear as Ann's parents. The film is co-produced by Pedro Almodovar. And certainly the subject matter is what he is likely to cherish.
Rating: 
Summary: One question: what is up with the whole Milli Vanilli thing?
Review: Too weird. But beyond that, it's an interesting film. It's occasionally corny/cheesy/obvious, and Polley's normal greatness sometimes verges into a WinonaRyderesque kind of vibe (I don't mean that as a compliment), but overall, it's real and moving, and the performances, particularly the supporting ones, are uncommonly solid.
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