Shane Lucas

Put simply, I had low expectations going into this film, and ended up being wonderfully surprised. The film is cohesive, the cinematography is very gorgeous, and the actors all gave a compelling performance. Would recommend!

Perhaps it’s a bit generous to give this film three stars, because I felt an overarching sense of disappointment after finishing it. I knew it was risky business watching a film adaptation of one of my favorite books of all time, so I continuously tried to suspend my judgements and comparisons to the beautifully written novel. I felt that the film struggled in its pacing, with many sub-plots feeling redundant and underdeveloped. The introduction and subsequent disappearance of Elena’s character felt pointless, and Gina’s presence in the film also led to no development whatsoever. The dialogue was a bit cliché at times, and I found many of the heart-to-heart scenes to not be as touching, or nearly as poignant, as they were portrayed in the novel. All in all, I find this type of story to be more effective in the literary imagination. When you strip away all the poetic writing and intimate narratives you’re left with, if I’m being honest, an unremarkable film.

This film was packed with potential for the first half or so, but left me feeling unsatisfied as I neared the end. I constantly felt that the film struggled in its pacing, the dialogue was lackluster, and the characters were rather flat. I also noticed a lot of redundancies in the cinematography, such as random shots of characters doing nothing in particular(?), pointless interactions that don’t contribute to the story, and subplots that go unanswered. I was expecting a more profound character chemistry between Lee and Patrick, and their ultimate liking to each other felt a bit forced in order to create some kind of “ending” to the story. Patricks character was unlikeable in my opinion, and I felt that his character experienced zero growth throughout the duration of the film. Upon hearing the news of his father’s death, he continuously seems a bit unbothered by it throughout the film.