The Spectacular Now: honesty and simplicity about your teenage years

Publié par Marie sur 15 Avril 2014, 17:17pm

Catégories : #James Ponsoldt, #Miles Teller, #Shailene Woodley, #Brie Larson, #drama, #comedy, #teenagers, #american, #independent movie

The Spectacular Now: honesty and simplicity about your teenage years

It's been a while since I haven't written any critic on this blog. I've watched a lot of movies though, but none of them truly captured my attention like this one did.

After reviewing about all those blockbusters (Wolf of Wall Street, Titanic, Hunger Games...), I've decided to come back to what I really wanted to do with this blog: write about amazing movies that are either independent, unknown, forgotten, or just too old for any of our young minds to remember.

I am back today with an amazing american independent movie called "The Spectacular Now".

Directed by James Ponsoldt, nominated at the Sundance Film Festival 2013, this movie is one of the most touching and realistic movies I've ever seen.

SYNOPSIS: Sutter is a brilliant teenager, funny, charming... and alcoholic. One day, he meets Aimee, a shy young woman who is completely different from him.

What starts by an unlikely romance (let's admit it, it might look really cliché), turns into a reflection about youth, the confusion about your own future and the power of the choices you have to make when you become an adult.

The movie doesn't look for an answer or the truth at all. The point is more about painting those teenage years, the hard times you can get through, the potential that teenagers have but can't figure out how to use it.

The storyline is particularly interesting because it approaches a sensitive subject that very few movies have dealt before: alcoholism and teens.

Sutter is obviously addicted to alcohol: he drives drunk and works with a flask in his pocket.

The movie doesn't judge that addiction, it integrates it to the story and just shows how easy it can be for young people to become alcoholics because of the "cool image" that alcohol has.

The actors are absolutely amazing and they undoubtedly are the pillars of the movie. Miles Teller, better known for average movies (Project X, Footloose), he is currently on our theatre screens in Divergent. He turns out to be a great actor and is completely able to capture the drama aspect of the movie. His sincerity is truly touching.

Shailene Woodley is known for a couple more interesting movies, such as The Descendants with George Clooney and White Bird in Blizzard by Gregg Araki with Eva Green. She is the main character of the very same Divergent (in theatre). Her character is completely different than everything she has played before but she did an amazing job.

The main point of the movie is that it had a complete different vision about teenagers than any other movies I've seen. It is not sappy or stereotyped. It's an honest and sincere snapshot of two teenagers's life.

It approaches a lot of topics and questions that any teenager asks himself and I think that this movie makes you grow up in your mind, either you are an teen or not. It helps understand so many different aspects of a young mind. Some of them are really important, such as the questions about your future. What do you want to do? What are you actually going to end up doing? Are dreams worth fighting for? How can you afford your dreams?

If you are tired of all those stupid teenage comedies that only talk about partying and stack clichés on clichés, you have to watch The Spectacular Now!