Movie Review: TO LIVE AND DIE AND LIVE

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: May 30th, 2025 / 01:00 AM

TO LIVE AND DIE AND LIVE | ©2025 Cinema Street

Rating: Not Rated
Stars: Amin Joseph, Skye P. Marshall, Omari Hardwick, Cory Hardrict, Maryam Basir, Dana Gourrier, Travina Spencer, Ismail Abdul-Aziz, Jeryl Prescott, Roger Guenveur Smith
Writer: Qasim Bashir
Director: Qasim Bashir
Distributor: CinemaStreet Pictures
Release Date: May 30, 2025

Dramas about troubled filmmakers are probably not the favorite genre of most filmgoers (and perhaps even filmmakers themselves). TO LIVE AND DIE AND LIVE is broadly in this category, but since the protagonist, Muhammad Abdullah (Amin Joseph), spends most of his time dealing with other issues, that aspect is in the background.

We meet Muhammad as he arrives at the airport in Detroit. A lot of his fellow travelers are masked for COVID, but not him. As he checks in with old friends who are happy but surprised to see him, we gather that Muhammad hasn’t been around for a while.

Indeed, Muhammad has been in Los Angeles, experiencing though perhaps not enjoying Hollywood success. He is back in Detroit for the funeral of his stepfather.

Muhammad’s mother (Jeryl Prescott) and siblings are sad but bearing up. Stepsister Lisa (Dana Gourrier) from the stepfather’s previous marriage, has flown in from New York..The imam at the family mosque welcomes the unobservant Muhammad back to the flock.

Muhammad has promised economic help to his mother and to the place of worship. but hasn’t come through for either yet. He wonders whether his artistic efforts are as worthy as his stepfather’s construction trade.

Meanwhile, Muhammad has alcohol and drug problems strong enough for sister Raina (Trevina Springer) to try to nudge him towards AA. At the same time, Muhammad is smitten at first sight with hard-partying clubgoer Asia (Skye P. Marshall), who has secrets of her own.

Writer/director Qasim Bashir gives TO LIVE AND DIE AND LIVE a distinctive look, with flashy beauty in the city’s high life and in the night streets. Somber moments are allowed to breathe while still striking.

The acting and atmosphere are both good enough to sustain our interest, with especially strong work from Joseph, Marshall, Prescott, and Omari Hardwick as Muhammad’s old friend Kevin. The score by Maxime Lacoste-Lebuis enhances the contemplative mood.

However, there are things that we question. How is it that apparently Muhammad and Lisa are just meeting for the first time now? Given that Muhammad has such a public following, exactly what kind of movies does he make? How has he gotten himself into the financial straits that plague him?

Life is often ambiguous, and TO LIVE AND DIE AND LIVE has lifelike ambiguity. It brings Muhammad as far as confronting his demons, but whether he’ll conquer them is another matter. It’s a measure of the skill of both leading actor Joseph and filmmaker Bashir that we are relatively drawn into this elliptical world.

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