'Long Story Short' Movie Review

 

Long Story Short 

2020 movie, written & directed by Josh Lawson 

When time-poor Teddy wakes up the morning after his wedding to discover that every few minutes he's jumping forward to the next year of his life, he must use every precious moment wisely to keep from losing the love of his life, and to learn to love the life he's losing.

*** 

Okay, just because I got back from the cinema *buzzing* about this movie and desperate to hype it, and even though this is not a movie-review blog, I am bending the rules oh-so-slightly because Long Story Short is in the time-travel romance sub-genre; which I hope everyone knows is MY JAM! 

The movie is about Teddy (Rafe Spall) who has just gotten married to Leanne (Zahra Newman) after a long period of dating and a snap-wedding spurred on partly by meeting a stranger (Noni Hazlehurst) at Sydney's famous Waverley Cemetery - who cryptically tells him to stop relying on "later" and live his life now ... Teddy proceeds to wake up one-year into his marriage to Leanne, not having lived one second of the 12-months but finding her 18-weeks pregnant with their child. 

Around about here I thought this was going to be a matter of; each time Teddy goes to sleep he'd wake up one-year into the future (Groundhog Day rules, kind of?) but no - a little bit of magic in the air and Teddy gets only a few minutes or hours before he's being pulled a further 12-months into the future. This way he has to quickly catch-up on all the ways his life is going off the rails; he discovers he wasn't even in his infant daughter's Top 10 first-words ('daddy' ranked somewhere below 'cat' and 'dino'), first he's in marriage-counselling with Leanne, citing his workaholic nature (made worse because he doesn't love the job, just the money). Another year and they're going through a trial-separation, and so on and so forth. 

Okay, so - on paper this movie has About Time feels, the fabulous 2013 Richard Curtis movie. I actually count that movie as a favourite and a constant re-watch comfort ... BUT - and this is a big call coming from me - I actually think Long Story Short is a better movie overall and way better at hitting the laughs and feel-goods. I also genuinely think it's going to age *brilliantly* (and not just because writer/director Josh Lawson made what feels like a conscious decision to never mention time by putting a definite context on the yearly jumps). 

I often sit through About Time and have to semi-cringe through the parts that haven't aged too well (Tim is actually pretty stalky-creepy if you really want to get down to it, and many have started talking about those aspects of the movie that never sat well, but are ageing particularly poorly. Colin Dray's; ''About Time' Is the Donald Trump of Romantic Comedies' probably sums it up.) 

Not so with Long Story Short - which also comes down to the fact that the lesson Teddy is learning throughout is very overt and hella relatable, especially when communicated by the gruff and manic charm of Britishman, Rafe Spall. It's much more of an every-man (or, person) predicament - and while as an audience we can see the pitfalls of Teddy's workaholic lifestyle, it can't be denied that we've all been in his shoes too. 

What else helps this film feel like a new breed of rom-com (and one we won't be cringing over in the years to come) is a truly wonderful and diverse cast. Zahra Newman as Leanne is dazzling, a person you can feel genuine remorse at the thought of losing time with her. Ronny Chieng as Teddy's best friend Sam becomes a poignant marker in a different way to Teddy and Leanne's romantic souring, and I loved seeing Chieng tackle a role with such duality. And It was delightful to see Dena Kaplan as Teddy's ex, Becka (I loved her in Dance Academy and will always be thrilled to see her on my screen!). 

The cinematography and filming locations are also *stunning* - I think it filmed around Manly (I don't 100% know; I just recognised a spot that Looking for Alibrandi filmed when Josie is in the car with her friends?) but it was all gorgeous and more than ever made me just want to pack up and pop to Sydney for a weekend. 

I went into this film almost hoping it'd be an Aussie About Time - but then having it wildly exceed my expectations, and even possibly knock that film off my spot of top comfort-watch! It actually though, reminded me more of late-90s, early-00s Australian romantic-comedies when it really felt like we were taking the American blueprint and putting our own mark on it, to make something better and deeper? Josh Lawson is in league with those Australian gems - I'm talking about Pip Karmel movie starring Rachel Griffiths, Me Myself I (1999) or Antony J. Bowman's Paperback Hero starring Claudia Karvan and Hugh Jackman. We were *good* at this - and in recent years it does feel like Australia has started remembering that fact (see also: Top End Wedding!) 

Heck, if I'm honest ... this is something lockdown and a trashfire year has given me, and all of us. A reminder that Australian movies - our art - are so goddam good. And you'd think that me (of all people!) wouldn't need reminding, but I did. Right now we're seeing - for the first time in our HISTORY - Australian movies in the Top 3 spots at our box-office (article here). And with Long Story Short having dropped on Valentine's Day - we're now Top 5 Australian movies at the box office, US content totally locked out (BOOYAH!) 

Long Story Short was so goddam charming and delightful. It was good for my soul, and I can't wait to re-watch it ... I also can't wait to tell more people about it, and encourage them to behold another new-era in Australian cinema; a more heartfelt, honest rom-com that won't be a guilty-pleasure in a couple years, but will rather stand the test of time (ironically enough). I certainly know that I'll be turning to it for a yearly comfort re-watch in the future, when it comes. 

5/5 

'Mad About the Boy' by Helen Fielding and 'Bridget Jones's Baby'

From the BLURB:

Is it morally wrong to have a blow-dry when one of your children has head lice?

 Is technology now the fifth element? Or is that wood?

Is sleeping with someone after 2 dates and 6 weeks of texting the same as getting married after 2 meetings and 6 months of letter writing in Jane Austen's day?

Pondering these, and other modern dilemmas, Bridget Jones stumbles through the challenges of single-motherhood, tweeting, texting and redisovering her sexuality in what SOME people rudely and outdatedly call 'middle age'.

*** I’m going to err on the side of fair-warning, and say there may be spoilers for the movie ‘Bridget Jones’s Baby’ in this review of ‘Mad About the Boy’ ***

‘Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy’ was the 2013 bestselling third novel in British author Helen Fielding’s classic series which began back in 1996 with ‘Bridget Jones's Diary’, and had a 1999 sequel called ‘The Edge of Reason.’

So, this is going to be a bit of a different joint-review of both a book and film, because there’s a bit of explanation required with how these stories fit together, and why it took me so long to read the third book but actually seeing the new film (which is more like the fourth installment in this series) made me leap back into Bridget’s life …

First of all – I was 12 when second book ‘‘The Edge of Reason’ came out, and I was about 14 when I first read ‘Bridget Jones's Diary’. Similarly, I was 11 when the television series ‘Sex and the City’ first aired, and I likewise started sporadically watching that show at about 14 too. Which basically means I was a 14-year-old girl completely enamored and charmed by a singleton existence and desperately wanted to live in either New York or London to get the full experience. This, I think, is totally normal. I adored the ‘Bridget Jones’ series, and can vividly remember belly-laughing while reading the books (there’s a particularly vivid running-joke in ‘Edge of Reason’ of Bridget thinking she’s been sent a lovely new lipstick, which turns out to be a bullet/death-threat that … when I type it out here, sounds slightly horrifying but was genuinely *hilarious!*) At about 13/14 I also saw the 1995 BBC version of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ with Colin Firth for the first time and decided he was an absolute dreamboat (to the point that I completely rocked up for the Amanda Bynes 2003 classic ‘What a Girl Wants’ entirely for him. Naturally.) Again – all normal. And this probably explains quite a bit of my general outlook on single life (so long as you have good friends, life’s a party!) and appreciation for the romance genre generally. But what this all really leads me to is … I have a very, very fond heart for Ms Jones, and Mr Darcy – and butting against convention for women’s roles in society.

So when ‘Mad About the Boy’ came out in 2013, and there was ample pop-culture coverage and forewarning about the fact that the third installment had Bridget as a widower with Mark Darcy being killed and leaving her behind with their two children … I stayed away. I could not do it. I could not pick up a book knowing Bridget was going through that, and that she had leaped so far ahead from coupled to widowed from the last time I’d seen her.

But when it was announced that a new Bridget Jones film was coming out this year, still featuring Colin Firth in his iconic role, and it was called ‘Bridget Jones's Baby’ in a complete departure from the trajectory of the book series… well, I had to see that for myself.

And I loved the film. I saw it with my Mum, and we cackled throughout. It was genuinely lovely and funny, and the fact that Colin Firth can keep surprising me with his depths (he’s so sad and dear in this film, truly) and I have missed Renée Zellweger like crazy these last few years … it was just great. Even better is that the ‘Bridget Jones’ movie trilogy becomes the first (in HISTORY!) to have all-female directors, and I found there was still so much depth to this character and what she had to say about women’s conventional roles in society … All round, this film left me chuffed.

But perhaps more importantly is that this film encouraged me to go back and give ‘Mad About the Boy’ a try… which means I’ve read/seen Bridget Jones’s life story in order, since writer Helen Fielding admitted they made this film to fill in the gaps bought up by ‘Mad About the Boy’ which leaps into Bridget’s life without Mark, and doesn’t go into how they finally got together and started a family. That being said – ‘Bridget Jones’s Baby: The Diaries’ book is coming out in October for those who’d really prefer a novelization of Bridget’s timeline.

‘Mad About the Boy’ is set five years after Mark’s death, and 14 years after the events of the second novel. Bridget has two children – Billy and Mabel, aged 7 and 5. She’s got the motto “keep buggering on” and is really trying to not let grief swamp her, as it did in the early days of Mark’s tragic death. The novel is of course in the diary-entry style we’ve come to expect from Bridget, but with a bit of timeline leap-around’s as we go from seeing Bridget start to get serious with a younger man/toy-boy (30-year-old Roxster) and then we go back further to see how she got herself into a place where she could start to think about moving on, romantically.

And ‘Mad About the Boy’ is the usual fare of Bridget’s cunning commentary on modern-day curiosities; everything from technology to school pick-up fashions. There is quite a sense of ‘the shoe being on the other foot’, with Bridget grappling with getting older and having a healthy sense of envy for the younger set (of which, she was one – once);

Call me old-fashioned, but I did read in Glamour that one’s shorts should always be longer than one’s vagina.

There’s also still a good smattering of contempt for ‘smug married couples’ as Bridget is in her widow’s weeds with everyone trying to pair her off with the last-man-standing (divorcees in their 60s, before all the 40-year-old women snap them up, apparently). Bridget taking Roxster as her lover completely flies in the face of this, and makes for some fantastic Bridget Jones Gets her Groove Back scenes.

There’s also an interesting side character in the children’s PE Teacher, Mr Wallaker … a sour sort who keeps catching Bridget in her most humiliating, terrible-at-motherhood moments. This Mr Wallaker (described as a Daniel Craig-lookalike in a *hint* to casting directors) is simply divine;

'THEY ARE CHILDREN!’ Mr Wallaker roared. ‘They are not corporate products! What they need to acquire is not a constant massaging of the ego, but confidence, fun, affection, love, a sense of self-worth. They need to understand, now, that there will always – always – be someone greater and lesser than themselves, and that their self-worth lies in their contentment with who they are, what they are doing and their increasing competence in doing it.'

I think seeing Colin Firth in ‘Bridget Jones’s Baby’ completely armored me to go into ‘Mad About the Boy’. There was a nice sense of closure already, before I even started reading … to be reminded of the magic in Mark and Bridget that somehow made it okay to go into this book where his absence certainly made me cry, but also had me rooting for more happiness in Bridget’s life.

Helen Fielding has lost none of the charm and hilarity that so endeared her to me as a 14-year-old, and had me holding Bridget Jones up as a worthy pop-culture idol. It was good – really, really lovely and good – to be back in Bridget’s mind and this world she’s created for herself, and is working hard at rebuilding. I completely recommend seeing ‘Bridget Jones’s Baby’ and reading ‘Mad About the Boy’ (and in that order actually makes a lot of sense!) and I’m totally going to be here for the ‘Bridget Jones’s Baby’ book when it comes out … no more delayed gratification and three years between installments, not when Fielding and Jones are still this damn good.

5/5  

'The Dressmaker' movie review

Based on the best-selling novel by Rosalie Ham, THE DRESSMAKER is a bittersweet, comedy-drama set in early 1950s Australia. Tilly Dunnage (KATE WINSLET), a beautiful and talented misfit, after many years working as a dressmaker in exclusive Parisian fashion houses, returns home to the tiny middle-of-nowhere town of Dungatar to right the wrongs of the past. Not only does she reconcile with her ailing, eccentric mother Molly (JUDY DAVIS) and unexpectedly falls in love with the pure-hearted Teddy (LIAM HEMSWORTH), but armed with her sewing machine and incredible sense of style, she transforms the women of the town and in doing so gets sweet revenge on those who did her wrong

Today I had the absolute pleasure of seeing a film I’ve been waiting about a decade for. ‘The Dressmaker’ is adapted from Rosalie Ham’s bestselling Australian book which first came out in 2000, and I studied in high school about that long ago too. Ms Ham actually came and spoke at my school, and I can still remember her telling us that she was currently writing a screenplay of the book – but that she wasn’t sure if the American production company would want the movie to be set in Australia or adapted to the bible-belt/deep south of America.

Well. It’s the year 2015 and ‘The Dressmaker’ is here – and it’s spectacular and spectacularly Aussie. Indeed, I couldn’t have pictured a film adaptation that took the Australia out of this country-gothic dark comedy tale, and watching the film (shot around Victoria in Horsham, Little River and Yarraville) I got tingles when I saw the town of Dungatar on the screen – bought so precisely to life. The lonely white gum trees and rocky-red dust bowl look, the rusted tin-roofs and sagging clapboard buildings. The distinctly Australian setting becomes a character unto itself, and a stark background to Tilly Dunnage’s unfolding tale of style and secrets …

I absolutely loved the book when I studied it in school, and I’m thrilled to report that the film is equally fantastic and one of the best adaptations I’ve seen. Kate Winslet is Tilly who returns home to look after her ailing mother (and town outcast) “mad” Molly … but she’s also returned home to discover the truth of why she was sent away as a child. The town of Dungatar is sure that Tilly murdered a boy, and Tilly is half-convinced of the rumour too, and sure it’s why she’s now cursed. But she also knows that Dungatar never had any love for her and Molly growing up, and if she wants to get close to the truth she’ll have to use everything in her arsenal to pry it out of them. 

Tilly’s arsenal happens to be fashion. Haute-couture, to be more precise. Since running away from a Melbourne boarding school as a girl, she traveled from London to Milan and Paris, studying under the greats (Balenciaga!) and when she returns to Dungatar she’s a veritable fashion powerhouse – using her Singer sewing machine to create Dior-inspired and Tilly-originals to coax the vile women of Dungatar into a false sense of individuality and specialness …

The cast in this film is fantastic. Kate Winslet and Judy Davis clearly have a ball playing contentious mother/daughter pair Tilly and Molly, and there’s a beautiful balance of the absurd and heartbreaking between them. Liam Hemsworth as one of the few kind Dungatar townspeople who pursues Tilly romantically, despite her dire warnings of a curse, is at his charming best here – the role of Teddy McSwiney isn’t much of a stretch for him, but it’s lovely to see and hear a Hemsworth in a little Aussie role that suits him to a tee (and, look, at school my fellow classmates were dead-set on the likes of Beau Brady from ‘Home and Away’ playing Teddy so – Liam’s wonderful!).

The film is choc-a-block with Aussie stars playing dastardly villains or defeated characters in the town of Dungatar – Shane Jacobson, Barry Otto, Shane Bourne and Alison Whyte among them. Some of these minor roles clearly got a bit jumbled in the editing; there’s a wayward flirtation between Rebecca Gibney and a shop-keep that just sort of goes nowhere … but then there’s Hugo Weaving as the kindly cross-dressing Sergeant Farrat, making up for mistakes in the past by befriending Tilly and coming to her and Molly’s defense – Weaving shines in the role and clearly had a ball.

Another stand-out was Sarah Snook as Gertrude 'Trudy' Pratt, an old classmate of Tilly’s who becomes one of her main clotheshorses.  Snook is in everything at the moment (coming off ‘The Secret River’ adaptation, now in ‘The Beautiful Lie’) and she’s just wonderful. In this film when the clothes are also characters as much as the setting, Snook is breathtaking in Tilly’s Dior and Balenciaga. The film is set in the 1950s so it’s vintage Dior and Balenciaga, darling – everyone looks like a Lauren Bacall and Katharine Hepburn throwback, and it especially suits Snook with her luminous, luminous skin and enviable hourglass figure.

Kate Winslet is truly superb – of course she nails the accent, that’s one of her great strengths (remember 1994’s ‘Heavenly Creatures’?) – and she’s absolutely stunning in all of the vintage couture. But she really does justice to Tilly, a complex and fragile character beneath all those breathtaking outfits like suits of armor.

I t was great fun to see this story I’ve long loved come to life. Director Jocelyn Moorhouse has made a sumptuous film that frames the stark town of Dungatar as beautifully as she does the actresses swanning in the stunning gowns. The adaptation is one of the best I’ve ever seen, but then again Rosalie Ham had some great material on offer in her country-gothic tale of ball gowns and small-town brutality. I couldn’t believe how hard I cried in some parts, even as I vividly remembered having the wind knocked out of me when I first read the twists and turns in Ham’s book all those years ago … ‘The Dressmaker’ is a little Aussie marvel.

'Me and Earl and The Dying Girl' movie review

 High schooler Greg, who spends most of his time making parodies of classic movies with his co-worker Earl, finds his outlook forever altered after befriending a classmate who has just been diagnosed with cancer.

Last night I had the pleasure of attending a screening of ‘Me and Earl and the Dying Girl’ at the Melbourne International Film Festival. I had good company in Adele (Persnickety Snark), Braiden (genius behind #LoveOzYA Twitter feed) and Kimberley (Pop Couture).

‘Me and Earl and the Dying Girl’ is the long-awaited film adaptation of Jesse Andrews’ amazing 2012 young adult novel of the same name. Andrews actually wrote the screen adaptation (unbeknownst to me until last night, Andrews was a playwright before he penned his debut YA novel) and Alfonso Gomez-Rejon directed.

Let’s just get something out of the way first, shall we? ‘The Fault in Our Stars’. Yes. I know. They’re both teen comedies/dramas about cancer, adapted from insanely popular YA “sick lit” books. Considering John Green’s TFiOS book came out in January 2012, and Jesse Andrews’ ‘Me and Earl and the Dying Girl’ March 2012, I think it’s safe to assume Andrews has been getting this comparison from day dot. The two don’t really bear comparing though – not as books, and not as movies despite the fact that Green’s movie juggernaut was released just last year. First of all – I think lumping these books/movies together as “sick lit” and therefore same-same pays disservice to the breadth and dignity that the subject of death and dying deserves in the YA readership. And secondly … even calling them “kids with cancer movies” or “sick lit” kinda misses the whole point of the stories trying to be told. ‘Me and Earl and the Dying Girl’ in particular, is presenting this idea that people are more than one thing – and it’s up to us to see and celebrate the journey it takes to discover all their facets, and that rings especially true for the “dying girl” of the title who doesn’t want to just be known or remembered as such. So – with that cleared up – on with the review!

I absolutely, whole-heartedly adored this film. I was so excited when I heard it would be adapted – let alone that Jesse Andrews would be penning the script himself! And I’ve got to say, ‘Me and Earl and the Dying Girl’ now enters into that exclusive club of “movies that are better/on-par with the equally amazing book.” I know – it doesn’t happen often, but lightening was caught in a bottle with this one, people – and it’s glorious! 

Thomas Mann plays our protagonist, Greg Gaines – a nation of one in the battlefield of high school, and that’s just the way he likes it. He’s a very self-conscious teenager, lacking in self-confidence and with a serious hang-up about his ferret face. I will say that in the book, Greg is also a little bit fat – and his weight was a great source of discomfort and embarrassment for him. There was a part of me, when Thomas Mann was cast, that was disappointed that we wouldn’t get to see a male teen character with these body hang-ups – but Mann did such a smashing job as Greg, that I’m willing to overlook.

Greg’s co-worker (really “friend”, but Greg doesn’t use that word) is Earl, played by newcomer RJ Cyler. Earl lives on the rougher side of their Pittsburgh suburb, and has known Greg since they were in Kindergarten. Over the years they’ve bonded (as much as Greg is willing to bond with anyone) over their shared love of cinema, and dedication to recreating classic films with their own quirky twists (like ‘Sockwork Organge’ and ‘Eyes Wide Butt’).

When Greg’s mum (played by the incomparable, Connie Britton) and father (Ron Swanson/Nick Offerman) tell him some bad news about a girl at school that he’s kind-of-not-really acquainted with, he’s strongly encouraged to spend time with Rachel (Olivia Cooke) as she begins treatment for leukemia.

What evolves is a “doomed friendship” with the dying girl of the title, and a quietly powerful and tragically believable journey for this guy who refuses to get close to anyone.

‘Me and Earl and the Dying Girl’ is FUNNY. I spent about 90% of the film cracking up – and I think it could have been 95% was it not for the sheer volume of people’s laughter in the Comedy Theatre, drowning out what I’m sure were more brilliant lines. The humor is actually quite different to what’s in Jesse Andrew’s book – a lot of the script felt very, very fresh. I only got halfway through my re-read of the novel, but even with just that 50% of the book still fresh in my mind I was really impressed at how malleable the story was for the screen. I will say that where the TFiOS film was all about hitting those tumblr-quotes and recreating certain scenes pitch-perfectly for the fandom, ‘Me and Earl and the Dying Girl’ felt a lot more flexible in that Andrews had a keen eye/ear for what worked on the page but wouldn’t translate to film and needed to be reimagined. So, for instance, he took Greg’s opening about ‘it was the best of times and it was the worst of times’ and turned it into a stop-motion animation joke featuring “the hot girl from Pussy Riot” and man-eating sharks swimming in acid.

The other thing I noticed was that Earl’s character was toned down quite a lot – in the book he’s full of machismo anger and violence that’s tied into his home-life … sadly, Earl’s background info is chopped out quite a bit, but thankfully so is his expletive-ridden rants. It worked in the book and was quite funny while also being confronting – especially the way he spoke about girls and women and their bodies (which was then altered as he got to know Rachel). In the film it’s watered right down to an utterance of “titties” – but RJ Cyler still had such intensity to Earl, like he could be a tightly-coiled spring or a laid-back champ. Jesse Andrew’s humour still shines through in this film – even with some of his most memorable book jokes cut out (a lot of stuff around Greg’s embarrassing history with Rachel and girls generally, for instance). It means that lovers of the book will come to this film and be thrilled for the new words from this magnificent author.

I also think Andrews should be commended for letting the young stars shine with this script … yes, Nick Offerman and Connie Britton are big stars to be playing Greg’s parents (and perfectly cast to appeal to that hipster-indie crowd, who are no doubt Friday Night Lights/Parks and Rec aficionados!). And Molly Shannon does a great turn as Rachel’s single mum who is not coping with her daughter’s illness, and ventures into hilariously inappropriate territory … Jon Bernthal also plays favourite teacher Mr. McCarthy (“Respect The Research!”) who could have slipped into typical adult-imparting-wisdom mode, but isn’t allowed to when Greg’s the one who makes the bigger gestures. Because the adults are very much backseat passengers in this film, only ever on the periphery and sometimes even just talking off-camera while the shot stays on the kids. Because it is Mann, Cyler and Cooke who absolutely shine in this film – and they’re allowed to with Andrews’ brilliant script and Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s keen eye. There were a lot of uninterrupted shots when the camera was just left to focus on exchanges between these actors – and it was marvelous for letting audiences see the waves of emotion, and the actors spar with one another. This film totally hinged on the ‘Me’ (Greg) Earl, and Dying Girl Rachel and the chemistry of these three actors totally makes this film.

A keener cinephile than me could probably have played a pretty decent drinking-game for all the head-nods and references to classic cinema that are strewn throughout the film. But for me I’ll say that Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s direction and Chung-hoon Chung’s cinematography were marvelous – sometimes it felt like homage to Wes Anderson, but not in a rip-off way, more in a loving “this is a film about loving film” kind of way. If that makes sense? And hats off to whoever scouted the filming locations around Pittsburgh – from the suburban streets lined with Queen Anne-style houses, to the long cafeteria gulf that did indeed look like the pirate-infested red seas.

I also love that it’s got more diversity in it than a lot of contemporary teen fare we’ve seen lately (okay, yes – I am talking about TFiOS again which, you’ve gotta admit – is pretty much white and middle class). ‘Me and Earl and the Dying Girl’ sees Rachel coming from a single-parent household, illustrates Earl’s being from the “rougher side” of town, and has a body-conscious male protagonist in Greg Gaines. These are all off-shoots to the wider discussion around not stereotyping people, and embracing the idea of continually learning new truths about those we’re closest to.

Gosh, I really did love this film.

5/5

'If I Stay' movie review

Life changes in an instant for young Mia Hall after a car accident puts her in a coma. During an out-of-body experience, she must decide whether to wake up and live a life far different than she had imagined. 

The choice is hers if she can go on.

If I Stay is the 2014 movie adaptation of Gayle Forman’s bestselling young adult novel, and the movie was released on DVD in February this year.

I remember seeing this in cinemas last year and being fairly underwhelmed. But to be fair, Forman’s book has become sort of a modern YA-classic since its release in 2009 and probably from the moment that it hit shelves, fans have wanted a movie adaptation. Couple this with the book’s inherently tricky narrative – our protagonist Mia is narrating from a comatose state and weaves the story between her past (centered on her family, and falling for a boy called Adam) and her present, lying in a hospital bed after the accident which has just killed the rest of her family … it’s kind of a recipe for an underwhelming film adaptation.

I did cry during the movie, but came away with that frustrating slogan ringing in my head: “the book was better.”  

So, I thought I’d re-watch the film on DVD, and give it a second chance – maybe I judged too quickly, or as too big a book-nerd. But, alas, no matter how much I wanted to be more open-minded and less judgmental upon my re-watch … I just can’t like this film very much.

Chloë Grace Moretz plays Mia Hall, and I didn’t love her in the role. Moretz’s performance wasn’t helped by some fairly clunky dialogue – particularly around transitions between flashback and hospital scenes. I can’t quite put my finger on it, except to say that in these serious roles Moretz playing coy girl-next-door comes across as frustratingly contrived and not at all natural. By comparison, Shailene Woodley in The Spectacular Now was more what I was hoping for from Mia and the whole movie … actually, something that struck me about The Spectacular Now was how natural the film looked. Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley looked like regular teens, and there was no make-up or artifice to them physically or theatrically. Perhaps it’s because If I Stay has such tragedy at its centre that the filmmakers really wanted to emphasize the surreal – almost magical realism – quality to the story. But in reading the book the opposite actually came across to me, that Mia’s reflections on her family and first love were how she found the strength to go on – finding the beauty in the ordinary.

 It’s also the fact that Moretz was out-performed by just about everyone around her. When I first saw Jamie Blackley cast as Adam, my biggest hurdle was trying to picture him in the most recent version of Adam that Gayle Forman wrote in sequel book, Where She Went. But actually he brings the naturalism to the role that I was hoping Moretz could convey – he’s not drop-dead-gorgeous, but Adam isn’t mean to be. His gravitas comes from his talent, and I think Blackley was true to that.

 

The real stars of the movie though were the adults … which could be seen as a real shame in a young adult adaptation, but I can’t hold any grudges against Mireille Enos and Joshua Leonard, who play Mia’s ex-rocker folks. And Stacy Keach who has a small, but impactive role playing Mia’s Gramps. Again, Enos and Leonard bought a natural, free-spirited kindness to their roles – and any scenes of just the two of them were the most touching. One in particular involves them sitting outside a younger Mia’s room as she practices the cello for hours on end, and the two of them marvel at being the creators of this obsessive, talented creature. I found myself liking Moretz’s Mia more (but only slightly) because of them – any family scenes were elevated by having them in it.

The screenplay – written by Shauna Cross – never really accomplished the hardest task of smoothly transitioning the trickier bits of Forman’s plot. It often relied on Moretz’s voiceover orienting viewers on the medical goings-on of her family, and a cheesy “white light” appearing in the hospital hallway amidst flashback scenes of Mia’s life. That it was quite cheesy was the biggest problem, because the book never was.

I also think that director R.J. Cutler went for the wrong look in this movie. It is very blockbuster, melodrama – but some scenes, like those showing the Hall family life, were quieter and stronger for it. It’s also a shame that the film wasn’t shot in Portland (it was British Columbia, Canada instead). Look, I obviously don’t know Portland (I do watch Portlandia though!) but I do remember that in the book the city was a character unto itself – not least because of Mia’s parents and Adam’s intense love of music that is both fed and impacted by the musical city around them. And I wasn’t the only one who was disappointed by the lack of Portland – Anna Klassen for Bustle wrote a great article on the matter.

I did cry the second-time round, which is probably a good thing in a film that’s entirely designed to tug on the heartstrings. But I maintain that most of my tears at the end were bought on for Stacy Keach’s beautiful performance as Gramps. At the end of the day I do really only like the film for four people – Keach, Mireille Enos, Joshua Leonard and maybe even Jamie Blackley a little bit. I do think a lot of what let the film sink into mediocrity was Chloë Grace Moretz being miscast, the lack of Portland and a too-ritzy shine on R.J. Cutler’s overall look, that’s more powerful in quieter moments. And, yeah, the book was better.

2/5

'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1' movie review

When Katniss destroys the games, she goes to District 13 after District 12 is destroyed. She meets President Coin who convinces her to be the symbol of rebellion, while trying to save Peeta from the Capitol.

We’re coming into the homestretch with this, the first part of the final movie adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ incredibly popular YA Dystopia ‘Hunger Games’ series (now franchise).

The movie begins some time after ‘Catching Fire’ – Katniss (the luminous Jennifer Lawrence) is physically recovered from her daring stunt during the ‘Quarter Quell’, having used her bow and arrow to direct a current of lightning at the force field that contains the Hunger Games arena, destroying the arena and resulting in her temporary paralysis.

Interestingly though, the opening scene of ‘Mockingjay’ highlights Katniss’s mental state – physically recovered she may be, but ever since she volunteered for the 74th Hunger Games she has been mentally eviscerated. She is suffering from Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), what was coined ‘shell shock’ in the World Wars.

Not helping her mental state is her current location in District 13 – thought to be destroyed by the Capitol during the first rebellion, they have in fact been secretly militarizing themselves underground – and their President Alma Coin (Julianne Moore, with freaky contact lenses) organized to save Katniss, and now she needs to use her to fuel a rebellion against the Capitol. The rebellion needs their ‘Mockingjay’ symbol – for propaganda, and hope (arguably the most powerful form of propaganda). Katniss agrees, but only to save the Victors who remain prisoner of the Capitol and President Snow (creeeeeepy Donald Sutherland) – among them, Katniss’s fellow tribute and Hunger Games ‘winner’ Peeta Mellark (a transformed Josh Hutcherson).

Propaganda does not deceive people; it merely helps them to deceive themselves.
—Eric Hoffer

Let me start by saying that I liked this movie, but I didn’t love it – certainly not as much as its two predecessors. And I think a lot of that comes down to the fact that I wasn’t convinced that it needed to be broken into two parts.

I know, I know – it’s a money-maker and since Harry Potter broke ‘The Deathly Hallows’ and the Twilight Saga broke ‘Breaking Dawn’ into two parts, it was a given that ‘The Hunger Games’ YA adaptation franchise would do the same. But Rowling’s ‘Deathly Hallows’ was a whopping 759-pages, and Meyer’s ‘Breaking Dawn’ came in at 756. Suzanne Collins’ ‘Mockingjay’ was 390, in keeping with the page-count of the first two books. And, if I’m being perfectly honest, the page-to-screen adaptation suffers from injecting filler story that wasn’t in the book … and arguably, didn’t really need to be in the movie.

Most of the filler story is based around strategist Plutarch Heavensbee (in a stunning, bittersweet performance by the late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman) and President Alma Coin. There are quite a few scenes included that establishes their political machinations for Katniss as the symbol of their rebellion. Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth) is also pushed into the spotlight in this third movie, in an attempt to better round out the love triangle that so captivated readers.

The truth is the best picture, the best propaganda.
—Robert Capa

The political back-story does work, in one sense. It’s a mirror image that harks back to the scenes between President Snow and Gamemaker Seneca Crane (Wes ‘mustachioed’ Bentley) in the first ‘Hunger Games’ movie. They establish that Katniss is still a puppet, even though she’s now out of the arena – and the business of rebellion is as technical and political as Game-making. And while that’s all very fascinating and philosophical, it’s not terribly riveting. Sometimes all that saves the scenes between Plutarch and President Coin is Philip Seymour Hoffman’s captivating, nuanced performance. Injecting Jennifer Lawrence into these moments also works – a scene in which she’s being filmed for a propaganda ad is particularly artful, if only for Lawrence’s comedic timing.

When this storyline of Katniss as the Mockingjay symbol really works, is when Jennifer Lawrence is given a chance to shine in scenes of dramatic tension, rather than political maneuvering. Her visit to District 8 is especially heart wrenching – the camera stays on Lawrence’s face for most of this scene, and no wonder. She is a force to be reckoned with.

Other moments in the film that felt a drag, to me at least (and I will say that many in the audience started to fidget, becoming physically restless towards the end) concerned military operations. Scenes depicting other Districts rising up and joining the rebellion were heart-palpitating and often distressing, but powerful. But scenes in which District 13 carried out military operations felt a little too ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ for my liking. It leaves me concerned/hesitant for ‘Mockingjay Part 2’ … which we all know includes lengthy scenes of such operations.

It's so easy for propaganda to work, and dissent to be mocked.
—Harold Pinter

Something that did impress me in this book were the performances by supporting cast. Aforementioned Philip Seymour Hoffman, but also Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket. She has really made this role her own, and she provides some much-needed comedic relief in an otherwise fairly bleak installment (that’s only going to get bleaker in Part 2). Woody Harrelson continues to prove every nay-sayer (who wanted Robert Downey Jr.) wrong, in his role as Haymitch Abernathy – I love that in this movie, we see how much Haymitch has come to know and respect Katniss.

One cast member who maybe doesn’t shine quite so bright is Liam Hemsworth. He’s given some potentially great scenes to work with, but when he’s opposite Jennifer Lawrence he doesn’t rise to the challenge of her performance, and he often left me feeling cold. Likewise Sam Claflin as Finnick Odair who so impressed me in ‘Catching Fire’ – he seemed to get lost in this movie.

By contrast, Josh Hutcherson is fairly incredible in a very reduced role. He’s undergone a very physical transformation for this movie – he’s clearly lost a lot of weight as the role demanded, and the change is scary. I have to give him kudos too, right when I was whispering “I’m bored” to my seat-mate towards the end of the movie, Josh Hutcherson’s performance pulled me back in with his menacing turn. Costumer designer Kurt and Bart should also be praised for Hutcherson’s wardrobe, which included slick Capitol suits that seemed to physically choke and collar him.

 

Loud peace propaganda makes war seem imminent.—D. H. Lawrence

All in all, I didn’t LOVE this ‘Hunger Games’ installment but I enjoyed it – and mostly because I know where the story is going and I’m keen to race to the end. I mostly loved the scenes of District rebellion – particularly those that were soundtracked to Jennifer Lawrence’s ‘The Hanging Tree’ song (which I understand will not be on the movie soundtrack?! TRAVESTY!) There’s an escalation of violence in this movie that’s different from the killing featured in ‘Hunger Games’ and ‘Catching Fire’ – it’s disturbing and powerful, but most importantly it sends a message that has roots in today’s society, from Syria to Iraq and so much more …. Which is what Suzanne Collins intended in the first place. And maybe it's just the sentiments of the movie that I enjoyed most of all - fire is catching, after all. 

4/5

Movie review: 'The Fault in Our Stars'

PLOT:

Hazel and Gus are two teenagers who share an acerbic wit, a disdain for the conventional, and a love that sweeps them on a journey. Their relationship is all the more miraculous given that Hazel's other constant companion is an oxygen tank, Gus jokes about his prosthetic leg, and they met and fell in love at a cancer support group.

*** Don’t read if you haven’t read the book.

But if you haven’t read the book you totally should because HOW COULD YOU NOT HAVE READ THE BOOK? ***

This past Wednesday I was lucky enough to be invited along to the Melbourne Central Hoyts advance screening of The Fault in Our Stars – thanks to those lovelies at Penguin TeenAustralia. This was pretty huge, because TFiOS (as it’s affectionately known) isn’t widely released in Oz until June 5, and the audience was made up of booksellers and bloggers which lent a great feeling of YA-nerdiness and camaraderie … though ‘camaraderie’ might not be quite the right word. Majority of us had obviously read the book – snot-snivel-cried through the book, more like – and were probably all wary of being emotionally wounded by the beautiful tragedy that is John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars bought to life on the big screen.

The Actors

Perfection. That’s the first word that comes to mind when I think of the casting for this film – absolute perfection.

I already knew Shailene Woodley could hold her own with contemporary YA movies, since she shone as Aimee in the adaptation of Tim Tharp’s book The Spectacular Now.  But as Hazel Grace Lancaster, Woodley really outdoes herself – she’s refreshing and real, bringing strength to the character that was so vital and tender. What I love most about Woodley though is that I can’t quite put my finger on what makes her so damn compelling … she’s just very real, it doesn’t feel like she’s acting at all because she lives the character so much. Hazel looks sickly – the oxygen tank she carries everywhere, her measured walk and pale complexion – but Woodley has made sure that Hazel’s witty humour rings true, and the occasional voiceover reveals how thoughtful she is, and brave, constantly thinking about her imminent death and the destruction she’ll inadvertently cause to those she loves so dearly.

Ansel Elgort as Augustus Waters wasn’t as sure-footed in the beginning for me, and no wonder. Elgort has the hard task of playing the boy of many fan’s dreams – Augustus ‘Gus’ is too good to be true, and I imagine that’s hard to cast let alone play. At first Ansel Elgort sounded too much like John Green for my liking - Augustus Waters’s dialogue could have been interspersed with any of Green’s VlogBrothers videos. Particularly the “it’s a metaphor” scene (which I didn’t love in the book either) – the whole time I just kept thinking how much Green’s voice was coming through a little too loud and clear for my liking. But then John Green fell away and only Augustus was left – Elgort eventually shrugged the character on and he fit as well as that lovely, worn brown leather jacket he sported throughout the movie. He’s baby-faced and charming, with a smile to rival Heath Ledger’s in his hey-day. Elgort also plays the character with a natural easiness that riffed beautifully off of Shailene Woodley’s Hazel Grace. And of course the highest compliment for Elgort’s performance was that he’d made the audience love him so much as Augustus that the end hurts all the more.

Nat Wolff as Augustus’s best friend Isaac. I don’t really have a lot to say about him, actually. He was good, and funny – I laughed at lots of his scenes. But I think he got overshadowed by all the other talent in the movie. I think he’ll have more opportunities when he headlines the adaptation of Green’s Paper Towns.

The other stand-outs for me in this movie were the adults – Willem Dafoe as cantankerous author Peter Van Houten, the incomparable Laura Dern as Hazel’s mother and True Blood’s Sam Trammell as her father. These three were also perfectly cast, and in roles that are all about complimenting the teen stars, they did a marvellous job. Laura Dern got the first tears out of me in her role as a perpetually positive mother of a dying child. Sam Trammell was so good and nuanced, and as my friend Adele (aka Persnickety Snark) pointed out, his most moving scene was all conveyed in a single look (he was so good, in fact, it made me realise how poorly utilised he is on True Blood). And Willem Dafoe knocked it out of the park as Van Houten – he’s vile, but brings a tenderness to the role better than was written in the book even.

The Soundtrack

Ed Sheeran, Birdy, The Radio Dept., Ray LaMontagne … the music fit perfectly, and was also perfectly understated. The songs were never the focal point, but rather nice window dressings to important scenes. I’m definitely buying this movie soundtrack.

The Adaptation

In some ways this is the closest book-to-movie adaptation I’ve ever seen, and that was both a good and not-so-great thing. I will say that the screenplay writers, Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, clearly wanted to hit all the fan’s favourites and they did just that. Every line you love is in this movie, rest assured. The biggest cut I can think of is the stuff about Augustus’s dead ex-girlfriend (probably for the best) but otherwise it feels like all 318-pages were pretty much put into the movie. Some choices were really smart for how they chose to convey them – like Augustus and Hazel texting each other, and writing emails – it was communicated visually and very well indeed. But there weren’t many surprises in the film, I will say. It was so true to the source material (right down to using the book cover typeface in the credits) that you could pretty much follow scenes by the chapters in the book. I’m not saying that’s a tragedy (heck, in a book-to-movie adaptation that’s a good mark to hit) but I feel like they treated the book a little too preciously. The real enjoyment came from watching the actors breathe life into those characters, rather than the fact that the movie was such a straight-up, page-by-page tribute to Green’s book.

The Location

The trip to Amsterdam is filmed beautifully. I particularly liked that director Josh Boone (who’s next going to direct a Stephen King adaptation for the big screen) paid attention to the little details of the city – sometimes the camera is trained on rooftops rather than the picturesque canals. And even though the city becomes a character in itself, and a mighty pretty one at that, Boone still kept close-ups of Woodley and Elgort even when he had a gorgeous backdrop he could have got lost in. The filming inside Anne Frank’s house is particularly marvellous (though I still think that’s a funny place for a first kiss).

The Feels

I cried. I sat next to the lovely Kimberley Santos (aka Pop Couture) who really cried. During certain scenes I cast my eye around the darkened cinema and saw people blowing into tissues, wiping tears away with their sleeves and doing under-eye swipes. Of course I cried. But I wasn’t sad by the end of the film, the same way I wasn’t deeply depressed by book’s end. Because Shailene Woodley’s Hazel and Ansel Elgort’s Augustus Waters were so vivid and gorgeously realised, because their love story was so beautifully re-told … and because their story isn’t about cursing and hating your fate, but being thankful for what you are given, no matter how little or too late.

The Verdict

Fans will be thrilled. The book will find a whole new audience. Every John Green novel will probably be seeing the big screen in due course (Paper Towns is already being slated for 2015 release). I thoroughly enjoyed it, and embraced the feels.

Thank you to Penguin Books Australia and particularly Penguin Teen Australia for inviting me along to the screening! 

(Word of advice: watch Penguin Teen's 'Survival Guide' for watching the TFiOS movie!)