On the surface, this movie is a love story between two young adults who fall like crazy; but as the movie continues, it becomes crazy painful. Impeccable leading actors Felicity Jones and Anton Yelchin carry you on a roller coaster of emotion from start to finish in this surprising romance.
Jones plays Anna, a young woman from London on a school visa in the states who locks eyes with Jacob (Yelchin) in class at the university they attend in Los Angeles. The flickering of their eyes leads to Anna leaving a note on his car after class, talking about potential feelings and handwritten poems with a disclaimer at the end stating: “please don’t think I’m a nutcase.”
That free-spirited playfulness that exudes from Jones’ character throughout the movie won her an award at the Sundance Film Festival. Anton Yelchin’s role is just as impressive: his character, at times lacking the ability to love Anna fully, is believable to the audience. From the beginning, it becomes obvious Anna falls head over heels first, pulling Jacob into her whirlwind of whisky and Paul Simon. The two share a mutual love for Simon’s album “Graceland.”
Simon is one of the many excellent artists chosen for the soundtrack to this movie. Other artists fill the soundtrack with exceptional music, but the one who tugs at your heartstrings is the writer and composer of the score Dustin O’Halloran. His score washes into the movie scenes at the most critical moments. The stillness of the piano and the rush of the violin have you gasping for air while keeping you in a trance that will bring you to tears.
This film is layered with successful impressibility from the script to the actors and the music that entwines it all together. Among those layers, there is a simple but heavy existence to the movie and credit for it is given to Drake Doremus, the director and writer, along with his co-writer Ben York Jones (star in Doremus’ first film, “Douchebags”). Doremus and Jones wrote the screenplay and script, and it seems that they have a solid understanding of what true love looks like.
This comprehension is shown through scenes where Jacob is in California and Anna is back in London after she violates her student visa, happening from a brash decision to stay in California for a whole summer with Jacob when she was supposed to leave at the beginning of it.
Hats off to Doremus and Jones, but what a lot of people who saw this film don’t know is that there were handfuls of improv performed by Yelchin and Jones that left their characters dancing, snapping, and making funny faces. A more serious tone follows their first date: instead of Jacob kissing Anna goodbye, they play hand and finger games through the glass door that separates their smiles and locked eyes.
Cinematography could be called the icing on this cake. Cinematographer John Guleserian had many obstacles to overcome. The budget, although very minimal, resulted in shooting the entire film with a Canon EOS 7D DSLR camera. While this may seem limiting, filming the movie with such a small camera built the story up into an intimate viewing experience. That is something I would take over giant cameras and special effects any day as a lover of indie productions. Guleserian outdid himself in this film portraying a younger generation’s struggles in a realistic way.
After Anna’s run-in with the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, she must return to Britain. As if she thinks she could overstay her visa, return to Britain for a week, and fly back into Jacob’s arm without any consequences, she’s wrong.
The two struggle to keep up a long-distance relationship, seemingly one-sided with telephone calls from Anna and voicemails from Jacob. Jacob doesn’t even go visit her right away after the whole mess explodes; instead he settles into life designing and building chairs after graduating with a degree in furniture design. Anna continues to write after she gets a job working for a magazine. If society says patience is the key to long-distance relationships, Jacob and Anna seem to have lots of it. Or do they? Supporting characters: Simon (Charlie Bewley) and Sam (Jennifer Lawrence) cause the audience to question the faithfulness of Jacob and Anna.
Halfway around the world from each other, Anna and Jacob attempt to stay connected. In this film, love is more than crazy; it’s a rushing, maddening roller coaster and whether you decide to ride is up to you.
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