At last, after playing in Indonesian theaters for more than a week, I finally got the chance to see this one. It was not shown in all cinema chains but lucky for me and my wife, it was still playing in the theater very near our home. We were actually considering of seeing another movie as well, but since this one had been playing for quite some time, we were worried it would soon be pulled out of the theaters. Anyway, let us get on with the movie now.
Brief Story Line
Stella (Haley Lu Richardson - Split etc) was a 17 year old girl who suffered from an illness called Cystic Fibrosis (CF) and being treated in a hospital where she had to take so many medications and even underwent several surgeries since her childhood years. She had a best friend Poe (Moisés Arias - Hannah Montana TV series etc) who also had the same disease and have known each other for many years.
One day there was a new CF patient named Will (Cole Sprouse - Riverdale TV series etc) who was being treated for a bacteria that infected his lung. Stella who had control issue found it hard to ignore Will who did not follow rules and took risks. Due to this matter, Stella tried her best to ensure Will follow the guidelines, which ultimately made them grew closer. However, as all CF patients were not allowed to be near one another due to possible infection and must stay apart at least six feet, it was a huge challenge for these two people. Not to mention a very protective nurse Barbara (Kimberly Hebert Gregory - Vice Principals TV series etc) who did not allow these two to be too close.
So how would their love story conclude? Find them all in this lovely romantic drama movie.
End of Brief Story Line
Well I already knew from the beginning that this would be a sad story. And once we were introduced to our main character Stella (played very nicely by Haley Lu Richardson), we could not help but feel sad for her, especially with the kind of life she had to experience. But we could also see some light with her positive attitude and her video sharing was definitely a nice touch. Then we were introduced with our male lead Will (also played nicely by Cole Sprouse) who was the total opposite of Stella, with his YOLO attitude and disregard for medications. Immediately we could see that these two would be easily attracted to each other.
And then the movie would became more fun with the interactions between this young couple and how they tried their best to cope with their limitations, to be together. Their relationship was very sweet and there was one time where it was also sad but quite beautiful (that scene in the swimming pool). Their hide and seek from Nurse Barbara was pretty amusing as well. However, there was always a sense that the lovely relationship might not last forever, especially with their life threatening disease.
This film though focusing on the love story between Stella and Will, did not forget about providing us a bit information of Cystic Fibrosis disease. To be honest, it was a very unfamiliar disease for audience here as we understood it was a genetic disorder and from what I read, it was very uncommon for Asians and Africans. Even if we might not be an expert after watching this movie, at least we knew enough it was a life threatening disease requiring a lot of medications for its patients and low life expectancy.
The romance between this young couple was nice to see and enjoyable. The supporting cast in here, mainly Kimberly Hebert Gregory as Nurse Barbara was awesome. She was able to portray a very protective but caring & loving nurse. And Moisés Arias was pretty convincing as the cheerful Poe with his own unique problem. There was also the minor appearance of Claire Forlani (Meet Joe Black) as Will's mother. But to me the main highlight was definitely the performances of the two young leads who had nice chemistry. This kind of story, plus obviously the good looks of Cole Sprouse would certainly be attractive to the female audience (including my wife who said that even when he was "sick", Cole Sprouse still looked good).
The ending of this movie was different from what I pictured. It was quite beautiful in my opinion, and it did provide us with some really wonderful message for us to appreciate our fortune being able to touch the ones we love. There was no mid or end credit scene in here. As predicted, the movie did give us few emotional moments that would make the audience shed their tears, although to my surprise, it was not filled with nonstop emotional scenes. And with some lovely songs playing in the background which were mostly perfect with the scenes during the movie, it really added the happiness and sadness we felt in the film. Overall I thought it was quite a lovely experience watching this movie. It was a good romantic movie, suitable for couples, but good enough to watch together with best friends.
Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Short information on Cystic Fibrosis from Wikipedia
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disorder that affects mostly the lungs, but also the pancreas, liver, kidneys, and intestine. Long-term issues include difficulty breathing and coughing up mucus as a result of frequent lung infections. There is no known cure for cystic fibrosis. Lung infections are treated with antibiotics which may be given intravenously, inhaled, or by mouth. Lung transplantation may be an option if lung function continues to worsen.
No comments:
Post a Comment