HOW I LIVE NOW  2.5***     

 

          This is a movie taken from  an award-winning book and the story covers a world crisis that could very easily become a reality .. Set against the backdrop of a worsening world political situation… a WWIII,  Saoirse Ronan's Daisy, a New-York teenager with a chip on her shoulder, is dropped into a world that could not be further from what she is used to - the British countryside. She has promised herself that she will push her boundaries and get out of her comfort zone, not knowing that the journey that awaits her will require her to push herself further out than she could ever imagine . She eventually bonds with her 3 cousins and even falls in love with the oldest who is about her age.

 The movie is nicely  artistic - not just in the beautiful countryside but also in showing  the outbreak of a massive global conflict and thence the nature of war. Notably, the enemy is not identified once, beyond the fact that they are "terrorists." Our only interactions with them in the movie could imply that they are anarchists, but this is mere speculation. And it is not told from the military point of view, who might be used to threats like this, but rather from the point of view of the civilians, whose lives have been torn apart.

I found Saoirse Ronan's performance as Daisy to be quite good. Although I felt that the moody side to her character was a little too much at times. But she definitely captures the essence of a neglected teenager who misses her dead mother and her too busy father and feels like misfortune follows her around. . George MacKay, meanwhile, plays an introverted but incredibly strong-willed teenager who can bring out the best in this seemingly selfish and moody American teenager which, not surprisingly, evolves into an intense teenage romance.

 

I have  mixed views of this film. I don't think I have decided yet if it was really bad or really good and I haven't read the book so I couldn't compare however I did enjoy the storyline although it was way too slow.  I did  find Daisy quite annoying at the beginning of the film because she was so rude with such an attitude towards  relatives that she didn’t even know that well. In some parts of the film I thought that the acting was quite well done by all of the cast however there were times when it was slightly over acted and at times the script was too vague.  Overall, the cast, story and shots of landscapes were enough to entertain me but I think I will always be on the fence with this film. Wait and catch it thru Netflix or on TV.

 

Clark