Love, Simon (2018)

Here we go, another novel adapted to a screenplay… and for once I’m sure this wasn’t a mistake.

Simon Spier (Nick Robinson) lives a normal life, as he tells us right at the start of this film. He has a happy home life, with his mum (Jennifer Garner), his dad (Josh Duhamel) and his sister Nora (Talitha Bateman). He has a great group of friends, who he has been friends with for years Nick, and Leah, and his new found friend Abby (Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Katherine Lagford, and Alexandra Shipp) and is the guy everyone likes, generally. However, he has a secret that he has been keeping from all of these people, and the rest of the world – he’s gay.

He connects with someone online, because of a reveal on their school blog, type website, and finally he can open up to someone and he feels a that a burden has been lifted, and for the first time, is allowed to feel what he wants to despite keeping the truth bottled up. Another person finds out about his emails to his ‘pen-pal’, Blue – and all hell breaks loose. He has to choose between what is right, and what is easy whilst putting all of these brilliant relationships, and his perfect life on the line.

First things first, I think the producer for this film was a solid match. As someone who is openly gay, Greg Berlanti had this. There was such a personal element that was felt throughout this film, it was really just spot on. I mean, I am not gay, but it was almost like films about people who loose family members to cnacer, you can relate on some level. Anything involving how much respect is deserved by those within the LGBTQ+ community is something I live for. That is a community I comfortably assosciate myself as a part of, and this film - in particular how Simon dealt with everything about his situation filled me with masses of warmth.

The emphasis on this should definitely be how his support networks were written in to this. Don’t get me wrong, like always, this is an over perfect, ideal kind of result. What are the chances of things ever panning out this way? But come on, it’s fictional, and it got shit for a little while for Simon, because we’re humans and we all mess up because we are a selfish species… But then we manage to bring it back in after some wallowing and consistent apologising. 

This film really focused on how awful things can be, and how imperfect romance really is, and that’s what I liked about it. Oh, I’m also a sucker for a happy ending.

The cast were responsible for SO MUCH SUCCESS IN THIS. What an absolute gem Nick Robinson is. His performance was fantastically multi-layered and ticked all of the boxes. He was able to turn on his charm when needed, demonstrate that Simon needed to hide his emotions at times, was able to be funny and easy going, and when it came down to it really go for it and pull on the old heartstrings of the audience. I felt connected with Simon, and his group of friends. Such moving performances from such generally young cast. Credit, where credit is due.  

The editing in this was perfect. It was well paced, it was upbeat, and it adjusted to what was going on where it needed to in the story. The script was spot on, we got a sweet dose of knowledge every now and then, and really got to know everyone enough that the film wasn’t filled with pure fluff, but didn’t leave you lost expecting more.

The score was brilliantly selected, suiting so many different moods, and genuinely kept me smiling, and again helped with the pacing, and with helping you feel connected to the characters we were learning about and watching.

This film was about a young boy coming out as gay, but it was also about the struggles of being a teenager. This was a decent ‘coming of age’ rom-com. Any topical humour that was thrown in, was not offensive, it was funny. It didn’t change my opinion on any one person, or group of people. It didn’t make me cringe, it wasn’t a bunch of kids being badly portrayed, it felt real. The level of thought put into this production is what made it a success. The obvious chunks of personality, and personal experience and feeling that have clearly gone into its creation have made it one of my favourite films of 2018, so far.



Definitely a must-see. Like I said, I’m not gay, but its inoffensive, heart-warming and SO worth the watch. I’m ready to see this again.

7.5/10

CINEMATES - S

The Big Sick (2017)

Lucky enough to catch one of Odeons Screen Unseen premieres this week, where you buy a ticket for a fiver and you don't know what it's going to be. Previous films this year have been Get Out and Baby Driver. Both films Odeon deemed to be potential classics, so we had high hopes for what we were about to see. It was The Big Sick and it didn't disappointment.  

The Big Sick is about a couple that deals with their cultural differences as their relationship develops. This is based on real couple writer and actor Kumail Nanjiani and his wife, fellow writer, Emily V. Gordon. Nanjiani, brown, from Pakistani, trying to rebuff every advance for arranged marriage his mum pushes. Emily, white, American, didn't really want a relationship but that Kumail man is pretty charming.  Nanjiani is a stand up comedian who is trying to make his way forward and get acknowledged and Emily is finishing her degree and looking to become a psychiatrist.  They don't really deal with their differences until they become a problem, because if it ain't broke, you know? There's a break up due to culture clashing and thoughts of deception but before we have a good chance to deal with this Emily gets sick. She gets the big sick. After being taken into hospital Kumail goes to look after her and meets her parents for the first time. This moment is almost when the film really begins. I think how we are shown each character and their family is pretty great. We see only see Nanjiani's family when they are with him. Whereas in contrast we only see Emily's family when she isn't there. This changes towards the end of the film, where people start to intertwine as they should, but it's still quite a strong choice. It's Kumail with both sides, with both cultures. 

The cast was great, Nanjiani is funny and charming as he is in most things including Silicon Valley. He's sweet and genuine and even when Emily finds reason to dislike him, as an audience you don't. Emily is played by Zoe Kazan, wonderfully cast, I think personally because she hasn't been in too many big things. So it was even easier to just see her as the character. That and the fact that half the film we're told what she's like from other people and not from her. It's like she exists. Her parents are played by Holly Hunter and Ray Romano. Hunter is a strong mother in this as she is as Elastigirl in The Incredibles (2004), in case you're wondering why she sounded familiar. It was great to see Romano as someone new, he was great, funny and again genuine, this film has such fresh performances from the cast. 

Now Judd Apatow produced this, and not directed, and you can tell because the film isn't 40 minute too long like most of his directed features. It had some of the same humour but you could definitely tell it was written by Nanjiani and that it was written by a couple. It did really well to have genuine stand up moments, being awkward and not completely funny. As if they knew they wanted the stand up to be funny but not as funny as the real life happening around it. Some of the stand up I recognised from Nanjiani, his own works and interviews. The interactions between him/his character and Emily are real, they don't feel forced. That was something that was written and cast well. His family were well written as to use cultural differences to add comedy but not as the butt of the joke. Race jokes were of course there and there is a particular 9/11 joke that had the entire audience cackling. As much as race and culture were involved in the comedy it wasn't there just as a punchline. 

Very sweet film, only a slight bit too long I'd say. Lots of laughs, and a good amount of tears too, if you're into romantic comedies this might be a tad bit heavier than you expected but definitely worth the watch. A refreshing 7.5/10

CINEMATES - A