A beautiful young girl dying of cancer falls in love with a young man who she coaxes back to the world of the living after both his parents die, sounds like a tear-jerker sappy story that I would run from BUT add filmmaker extraordinaire Gus Van Sant into the mix, and you know this will be anything but a run-of-the-mill weepie.
Enoch is obsessed with death and Annabel first meets him at one of the many Memorial Services he crashes, and she immediately takes a shine to this sad awkward boy. Enoch’s best friend & confidante is a ghost … not just any ghost but a young Japanese kamikaze pilot from World War 2 … why we are never quite sure … but somehow this relationship works and is an integral part of telling this story. Annabel’s cancer is not really explained neither, except we soon lean that she has just 3 months to live, and she choses to spend that time by falling in love with Enoch.
It’s a delightful odd quirky story and is a totally refreshing take on how two young people try to grab a small slice of happiness whilst up against the clock and have to ultimately deal with a loss. Its made convincingly believable because Van Sant extracts tone perfect performances from his young stars. Mia Wasikowska, who we know what a fine talent she is after seeing her shine so bright in both ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and ‘Jane Eyre’. Her co-star Henry Hopper (son of the late great Dennis Hopper) in his first leading role (and only 2nd movie) is very credible as the lost soul that he plays.
This is Mr Van Sant’s first movie since his 2008 heart-wrenching wonderful ‘Milk’ that nabbed two Oscars. This wee movie is not in that league, but it is still a great treat albeit a tad unexpected and unconventional …. and sad as it was, I didn’t shed a tear. Weird that.
Trivia. The story was discovered by actress Bryce Dallas Howard who also co-produced the movie. She’s had a busy year having being in ‘50/50’ and ‘The Help’ . It helps that her dad is award-winning producer Ron Howard, so he was roped in to produce this too.
★★★★★★★★
