This movie has stirred up a minor storm in the indie world in the past few weeks. It’s the story of two young college students (Anton Yelchin and Felicity Jones) who fall in love quickly but have different struggles trying to stay together, including a long distance part of the movie where she’s in her native London and he’s back in Los Angeles. In all honesty, I’m a little surprised this (too) straightforward, simple indie has made such an impact.
What Works: The performances from Anton Yelchin and Felicity Jones are good blah blah, the mood of young love is perfectly captured blah blah, the script pulsates with well observed tiny moments blah blah…I can’t do this. I know that this movie is quality. I know it’s better than 99% of romantic comedies (not saying much). And I know that it is a very realistic depiction of young love, but…I can’t say that it really knocked me out. It just didn’t.
What Doesn’t: I never really identified with the couple at the heart of this movie. The young lovers are split up so early on in the movie that we never really see what makes their relationship so unique that they’re better partnered than they are with other people they date in the movie (the great Jennifer Lawrence among them). We never really see them bond except in a few early scenes of mumbled, awkward small talk (wow, talk about fireworks). Plus, the “other” relationships with Anton and Jennifer Lawrence and Felicity and her London neighbor aren’t exactly equal. While we never feel any emotional pulse to Felicity/her London neighbor, we actually feel bad for J-Law when Anton dumps her twice. Since the movie revolves around what the Jones character wants, eventually it starts to feel like one repetitive cautionary tale about falling for a young woman who can’t fully make up her mind. The ending of the movie feels realistic but further emphasizes my feeling that there may not be enough of a root connection between this couple.
What I Would Have Done Differently: Anton’s character doesn’t have to be a smooth, Ryan Gosling-esque movie star but it would help if he had an ounce of charm. Since this is largely a character piece with a simplistic, straightforward story, why not spend more time developing the characters? It would have really helped if we knew more about what made them tick as individuals and also as a couple. Instead of just taking the typical indie-movie shortcuts of showing a relationship established through arty quick cuts, actually show them bonding.