Capturing the tension between intensity and tenderness through experimental performance, the short film Soft Life traces a process of preparation led by softness and surrender, as a pathway to transformation. Co-directed by movement artist Max Cookward and dancer-choreographer Mike Tyus – who also perform – alongside choreographer and cinematographer Luca Renzi, the film centers intuitive movement shaped by repetition, pressure, and control, exploring restraint and discipline as a framework for release. 

Developing Soft Life from a shared curiosity to create something instinctive, and unplanned, Cookward, Tyus and Renzi drove into the desert outside Los Angeles, working with time constraints to shoot before sunset. Shifting from deliberately controlled movement into improvisation, the piece unfolds through ritualistic imagery and gestures that sit intentionally between brutality and care, as tools for clearing space that guide the body through a state of shedding.