Year: 2014
Directed by: R.J. Cutler
Written by: Shauna Cross (screenplay) & Gayle Forman (novel)
An aspiring musician Mia is faced with a tough decision. She wants to go to Juilliard and follow her passion, but she also wants to be with the love of her life, Adam. But then she and her family get into a car accident. Mia's torn between life and death and stands helplessly seeing what happens to her family and how people come see her and talk to her. Mia has one decision left, and it will determine her future and her fate.
I learnt about this movie in school in English class that was all about movies. Two girls made their analysis on this film. I only saw the trailer, but it was enough to convince me to see this film if I ever had the chance.
But boy am I disappointed! I expected something way more from this film. Of course it's deep, it has important meaning. Mia is an amazing characters many people will see themselves in. But the thing is, no one can truly, truly feel like they are Mia, if they haven't been in a life or death situation before. So it feels like a waste of character. There could've been another story about Mia, amazing Mia with her talents, who doesn't even know how amazing she is. There are other stories you could put her in so people could truly feel her. But having her in weird ghost fantasy was kind of a waste, especially when this kind of story seems so typical. Has this been done before because I feel like I've seen a similar movie but with less interesting main character?
One of the things I hate about this film is the dialogue. Almost immediately when Adam talked with Mia I had to sigh and roll my eyes. No teenage boy talks like that! That pretentious dialogue is so annoying to listen to. It suits with some romantic sappy novels you read in rainy day, hoping you'll meet your significant other, not in a movie. I don't know if I can excuse it if the dialogue was that bad in the novel. It's like some unrealistic fantasy, and it bothers me. Does someone actually watch a movie like that and then hope they'll meet a guy who talks in poetic pretentiousness? Ugh!
And I really expected this to be the kind of movie you could watch and cry so long you're kind of cleansed, but no. That's the thing I'm most disappointed about. This movie didn't move me at all! I'm mostly blaming the writing for that.
I can't really judge right now, but usually I'm very impressed by Chloe Grace Moretz. She's a talented young actress. She was very convincing as Mia, she was astonishing. She displays emotions well, no matter how "bad" they might look in front of a camera. That's what I love about her acting.
I loved the music in this film, but if it's a movie about music then... Then it's kind of obvious you have to have good music there. There was both classical music and punk rock. It's the same kind of contrast that was between Mia and Adam.
As I said before, this movie is very deep and it has an important meaning. It struggles with several themes that may not be important in general, it's not like this movie has a political message. No, the message is mostly for individuals. And even if the horrid dialogue makes you shiver, If I Stay really makes you think about several things the movie mentions. You don't have to agree with the message, but at least you think about it.
If I Stay was definitely not for me. If you love movies about teenagers that are actually deep, this is for you. If you don't care about writing too much, this movie might be for you. Obviously If I Stay has an audience that loves it, and it's definitely meant for someone. If I stay is deep, the message is amazing and it's probably even emotional movie when it hits the right person. If you are sure you won't like it, don't bother. But if you think there might be a chance you'll love this movie, take that chance.
☆☆☆☆
4 / 10
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