Before I fall (movie) - Review

It is a movie released just recently in 2017 and based on the novel of the same title written by Lauren Oliver. The film as well as the book is a fiction drama that has mostly teens involved in the main events thereof. This doesn’t necessarily exclude adults from watching and enjoying the movie.

I won’t talk about how the critics received the film, I only want to contribute with my own humble opinion of the movie. And it is mostly positive. There were a few issues that prevented me from feeling the complete content, but a thought that I might had something better to be occupied with for the duration of the film never occurred to me. I suppose it should be a good sign.

Before I start digging into the film’s quality issues, let me say that I read the book myself when I was already in my middle twenties and, notwithstanding the fact that it is about the teens, I have to say that I was sincerely taken up with the story and found myself sympathizing with Samantha who is the main character and the person going through all that supernatural crisis and ordeal happening in the book. I couldn’t stop reading until I reached the ending. And that’s when I was stunned, because I couldn’t determine if I was satisfied with such an ending or it was just how it had to be. And the books that give us some food for thinking are worth reading whether they’re written for small kids or for the grown-ups. And this project does open up a curtain to some morals of the younger society that up to this day are some of the hardest to perceive.

The movie isn’t much different from the book. The difference or an improvement – however you like to see it – is that the characters and events finally start being visual and take shapes. I don’t have any complaints regarding the cast. I also like Zoey Deutch playing the main heroin. She’s got just the right face features, not too pronounced, but still nice to look at. And it is very important because Sam’s practically in every scene of this film, it’s her show and her road to redemption.
The only thing about the story-line that should be mentioned is the “Groundhog Day” (a reference to the famous film of 1993). The book and the movie base on this “Groundhog Day model”. Nothing else is there to add, because that should say everything you need to know before planning to see the film. Except, you also probably need to know that issues raised in this project are more on the harsher side. For example, a lot of it centers around the problem of bullying in school.

You can tell that the movie is directed to the teen audience from the beginning. The girls are riding to school and the cliché of them having fun time during this short trip to the main building of the school kind of feels like from a ton of other certain movies. Same goes for the class and dining room scenes. Talks about a party at some fellow’s home whose parents are gone for the weekend. You can predict almost every step of their day. But don’t be fooled, and stay focused because once the day is almost over that’s when the real thing is going to happen. And I won’t spoil.

The colors in the film are cold and somehow it works for me. It helps to feel the coldness and loneliness that Sam feels when she’s thrown into the unknown.

The creators had to find some way of explaining Sam’s going through numerous and endless days and they’ve come up with some interesting approach which I appreciated. That way it does feel like she’s lived all those days instead of wasting screen time to show most of them in details and still not getting anywhere where the movie progress is concerned. This is another thing that I liked.

There’s one more point I’d like to mention again. The bullying thing. It has some major role in the events and I’m glad it’s there because we need to be shown and reminded of those things more often. Nevertheless to me it didn’t feel as though it was grasped substantially. We don’t get to see that Sam gradually comes to acknowledging the bullying in her school but see how it turns out to be a little too fast, although these things go quite a mile from accepting to atoning and this process naturally takes longer because of all the emotions involved.

The music background is nothing special but suitable for this type of movies.

After seeing the film I had a strong feeling that it was cut short, because I needed Sam to go through some more of her journey to understand how she’s full-heartedly did what she did. At the end she was eager for the certain resolution and – shame on me – I didn’t catch on how she figure that out. I mean the actions are fine and logical but emotionally she didn’t really get there yet if you ask me.

I’d like to conclude that the movie turned out to be an interesting cinema work but I doubt people would want to see it a second time. Not because it’s not worth it, but because it’s memorable and easy to extract from our memory. Even now I can remember almost everything that’s happened on the screen although it’s been more than a month since I saw it. And I watched it only once.

Thank you for taking a few minutes to see the post. I appreciated you time and attention.
I wish you more good movies and books!

You can visit one of my other reviews by the link below

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