A family goes to live in a nuclear fallout bunker when the parents believe it to be necessary. 30 years later, the children have grown but never left their “safety”.
Based on a play by Maryedith Burrell and brought to the screen by director Paul Bartel, this ssatire/dark comedy is one that has its audience and this viewer isn’t it. The story here felt extremely limited with not enough exploration of the effects of the life the now-adult children have had in their bunker. There is something here, but it doesn’t feel like it hits the mark right. This may be due to the writing or the direction or perhaps a mix of the two, but this film just did not connect here. The story was not developed in a way that was particularly entertaining and what it was trying to say felts limited and/or like it just flew above some heads, that of this viewer and possibly that of a few of the folks involved making it. Film is about communication in the end and this one just doesn’t communicates well.
The cast here are seemingly good. The actors in the main roles, O-Lan Jones, Andrea Stein, and Jim Turner, have all given solid performances before, but their performances here seem directionless, like the goal was for them to just mess around, talk, argue, but without direction. If that is exactly what they were told to do, then their performances are fantastic. If not, they look really lost at times and like they are going with the flow just because it’s their job. The few parts besides the siblings are so small and played a bit more extreme satire that they become a bit of an oddity within an oddity.
The set here is a high point to the film, it makes use of what could be a bunker and is decorated as you’d expect, more or less, for that kind of location. The wardrobe is interesting in that, how did they get grownup clothes that fit them in the bunker? Did they keep every size available on hand? The clothes broke the illusion a bit. Of course, this could all be part of the satire elements.
Shelf Life is one of those films that is decently made but with some issues on many levels that show up more obviously when paid high attention to. The story is somewhat interesting, the direction is, well, it just is. The acting feels lost purposefully so or by accident. The attention to details doesn’t seem to be something that was a priority here which leads to the film falling a bit flat, satire or not. Overall, Shelf Life is an oddity that can be watched once, likely out of curiosity, and that for most people will be more than enough.
This new release looks and sounds good on Blu-ray with a good quality transfer. The extras on here include the usual trailer, 2 teasers, and extra box art. The parts that should be of more interest to those loving the film are the audio commentary with the leads a few others, a Q&A from a screening by the American Cinematheque, and a secondary Q7A with Tina, Pam, and Scotty. Overall, this new release is for fans of the film and will unlikely create new ones.