How I Live Now may be based on a young adult novel, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that it’s incredibly juvenile.
Directed by Kevin Macdonald, it’s an angst-ridden mess that’s only appropriate for the pubescent set.
Saoirse Ronan stars as “Daisy,” a deeply troubled American teen sent to stay with her relatives in rural England.
Just as she begins to warm up to her new environment – and to “Edmund” (George MacKay), her attractive cousin–the U.K. is thrown into a third world war, forcing her to fight for survival in a violent military state.
The story, taken from Meg Rosoff’s novel, isn’t that bad.
The trouble is that Daisy is, to put it bluntly, a pain in the neck.
She has every problem that a teenage girl could possibly have, and instead of making her widely relatable, it makes her seem like a character from a teen soap opera.
It’s a shame because Macdonald has built an attractive film around her.
He crafts both the idyllic English countryside and the war-harrowed urban areas with deftness and nuance, highlighting the contrast without making it seem incongruous.
Ronan is actually quite lovely as Daisy, despite the fact that she’s given such a thankless role.
She plays the part with strength and quiet spunk, making her much more likeable than the script suggests.
The other cast members aren’t particularly memorable, save for Harley Bird as “Piper,” if only because she is quite possibly the most profoundly irritating child I’ve ever seen onscreen.
It’s entirely possible that I’m simply out of the film’s target demographic and am therefore unable to relate to it, but I’m more inclined to think that it just isn’t good.
I cannot possibly recommend How I Live Now to anyone above the age of 17.
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