Image: via Canberra International Film Festival
Who wants to live forever? Who thinks that is a likely option? Biologists Bill Andrews and Aubrey de Grey certainly do, the duo of scientists dedicating their lives to extending, well, their lives. Both agree that death is something that can be overcome, believing that the solution is less than a decade away. Each is determined to find the cure – or die trying, pun intended.
The Immortalists, David Alvarado and Jason Sussberg’s aptly titled documentary, ostensibly charts their efforts. Each seeker of eternal existence tackles the issue from different angles, but with the same passion. Andrews, an American fond of running marathons and desperate to keep his elderly father on the mortal coil, is convinced that an enzyme our bodies produce holds the key. De Grey, a Brit with a lengthy red beard to match his wild views on everything from consumption to hedonism, emphasises cleaning up the mess done to our cells during a long and happy existence.
The film gives screen time to its subject’s equally confident theories, with token other experts helping to fill in the gaps. Doctors, neurobiologists, researchers, and even those in the vitamin and supplement trade aid in explaining science that dwells on the fringes, in the most cursory of manners. The filmmakers also offer other pertinent background information, supported by graphics and other visual aids befitting the pseudo-medical presentation, as well as giving a brief platform to naysayers. Details are offered, but painted in broad strokes less concerned with the why, how and what than the who at the centre.
Indeed, coasting by on a universally intriguing topic, what The Immortalists wants to wallow in is the men themselves. Although their reasoning and rationale are interesting, indulging their eccentricities is less so; it’s the ideas that make the feature so appealing on paper, not the personal lives of the people behind them. Alas, that’s where the documentary dwells, charting Andrews’ health setbacks and de Grey’s polyamory. The women behind the men are also seen, most notably the latter’s older geneticist wife, as rendered with sympathy. Yet, emotive instances depicting each biologist confronting the reality of their own mortality aside, the strongest component of such a narrow focus stems not from the ephemera of their lives, but from the underlying odd-couple-like variance in their viewpoints.
Optimism, not answers, is the ultimate outcome for an effort designed to spark like-minded thoughts, start conversations, and fire up that part inside everyone that yearns for a fountain of youth. In ample discussions about what could be achieved through Andrews and de Grey’s endeavours, absent is any meaty philosophical consideration of whether this course of action should be followed that would have added further depth, though insight never feels like the film’s intention. With a stock digital video aesthetic to match its standard approach, Alvarado and Sussberg’s documentary is slight instead of substantial. As a feature, The Immortalists may not stand the test of time, but regardless of its flimsiness, all watching will be hoping that the concepts mentioned prove the opposite.
Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5
The Immortalists
Director: David Alvarado and Jason Sussberg
UK / USA / India, 2014, 78 mins
Canberra International Film Festival
October 23 – November 9
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