All The Bright Places | Film Review

Hey Guys x

I've owned the book of this film for a while (though haven't read it yet), so when the trailer for the film came out, I was immediately interested.

Violet (Elle Fanning) meets Finch (Justice Smith) when she is at her lowest, standing on the edge of a bridge. From this moment on, these two are in each other's lives. But while Finch brings out the best in Violet, she can never quite figure out where he goes when he's absent. And as they become deeply entangled into each other's lives, they discover that not everyone can be saved.

I really enjoyed this movie.

These are two characters that you immediately warm to, even when you know nothing about either of them. It's so easy to become attached to them and their story.

Even if you know absolutely nothing about this film, there are some serious and tense undertones all the way through that hint to the audience that this isn't your usual YA romance. And in the wake of so many romance books getting made into Netflix originals, this subtle warning was definitely needed.

Even with the tense undertones, though, the whole film has such a charming sense of innocence that you're unprepared for the darkness that runs through it.

For the first half of the film, I just kept thinking about how beautiful it was to just sit back and watch two people fall in love. It reminded me of why I like watching and reading romance so much.

I found it particularly interesting that the story was told almost in two parts. Each part came with its own theme, feelings and emotions.

It was extremely realistic the way that neither of these characters gave a name to their problems. Violet never said that she was grieving, Finch never said he was depressed, because in the real world these things are not often said, particularly by the people that feel them.

Having said that, the film ends with an incident that I won't spoil. But I knew it was coming, and when it finally came, it didn't pack the emotional punch that I wanted it to. It came really abruptly, and the connection that I felt to a certain story-line/character wasn't strong enough to make the incident more meaningful.

Overall, the words I use to describe this film are 'beautiful' and 'underwhelming', which is a weird mix, and one that I'm sure will change when I finally read the book (which I've heard is a lot better than the film).

6.5/10

Lou