"Me Before You" Review

The recent New York Times bestselling romance Me Before You is now a major motion picture! Author Jojo Moyes pens a script for first-time feature director Thea Sharrock. This is one of those rare movies that really reaches out and surprises you. What many may write off as another sappy romance akin to the banal works of Nicholas Sparks will be pleased to find a thoughtful, engaging love story that isn't afraid to dig into serious themes. Me Before You knows its place and offers a very competently crafted romantic "dramedy" for the masses, complete with corny Ed Sheeran tunes.

The story follows a young woman named Louisa (Game of Thrones' Emilia Clarke), or Lou for short, as she tries to make a life for herself in a small English town. Seemingly trapped by her duties to her family and fitness-junkie boyfriend Patrick (Matthew Lewis, a.k.a. Neville Longbottom from the Harry Potter movies), Lou takes a new job as caretaker to a young paraplegic man named Will (The Hunger Games' Sam Claflin). Their relationship is rocky at first, but Lou's goofy demeanor soon melts Will's icy façade. The pair begin falling for each other as their lives careen towards a refreshingly atypical conclusion. Just when I thought I knew exactly where this was heading, Moyes pulls the rug out in a way that really makes it a near-perfect resolution. You'll cry happy and sad tears at the same time.

Moyes takes precious care to explore the physical and emotional effects of paraplegia on both the victim and the people around him. These themes are handled with grace; something that distinguishes Me Before You from its counterparts. Nothing about the scenes discussing Will's condition, his feelings about it, or his health care treatment feels outside the realm of reason. Obviously some creative liberties are taken, but it all looks and sounds like something that could've easily happened in real life. There's no doubt it likely has before.

Because of the way Moyes explores how love itself might look when one of the partners is paralyzed, she keeps the story from ever feeling blatantly saccharine. However, the film could've avoided undue sappiness altogether by nixing the Ed Sheeran and OneRepublic music. Sharrock places a couple of melancholy Top 40 hits in places where the emotional beats already work fine. There's no need to beat a dead horse with Ed Sheeran.

Performances are terrific. It's great to see Clarke successfully carry a project that isn't Game of Thrones. Everyone loves her because of that show anyway, and to see her inhabit a hot mess like Lou makes her all the more endearing. If I didn't already have a crush on Emilia Clarke, I definitely have one on her as Lou now. Lewis provides valuable minutes as Pat, too. You love him cuz he's Neville Longbottom, but you hate him at the same time for being a massive douchebag. His comedic timing is on point in a production where nearly all the humor lands anyway. We also see veteran British thesps Janet McTeer and GoT's Charles Dance as Will's parents, whose chemistry is about as strong and interesting to watch as Clarke and Claflin's.

Surely your enjoyment of Me Before You will hinge entirely on how receptive you are to romantic comedies/dramas. I don't mind a good one myself, but I remember thinking the marketing for this movie looked atrocious. I'm glad to be proven wrong. It occasionally wreaks of mainstream pandering, but this is about as well-constructed as these movies come. Grab a date, see Me Before You, and let the last nail be put in Nicholas Sparks' coffin, if it hasn't already.

B+

"Sing Street" Review

Irish writer/director John Carney (Once) follows up his 2012 feature Begin Again with yet another rip-roaring, soul-soaring, heartwarming love story. This is Sing Street.

Conor (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) is a 15-year-old boy living in mid-'80s Dublin. His parents (Aidan Gillen, Maria Doyle Kennedy) are often too absorbed in money and fidelity issues to give Conor, his older brother Brendan (Jack Reynor) and sister Ann (Kelly Thornton) the love they deserve. Facing tough economic times, the parents decide to move Conor to the real-life Synge Street school run by the Congregation of Christian Brothers. There he faces down bullies and a fascist headmaster who forces him to go barefoot because he doesn't own dress code shoes. One day after a confrontation with a bully, Conor meets Darren (Ben Carolan), an ally and aspiring businessman. As the two walk off school grounds at the end of the day, Conor spots a beautiful girl named Raphina (Lucy Boynton) on the stoop across the street. He tries to impress her by saying that he needs a model for his band's latest music video and that she would be perfect. With few resources and even fewer friends, Conor decides he needs to make the gig legit by actually starting a band good enough to record an original song by the weekend.

The rest, as they say, is rock-n-roll history.

The film gets its name from that of the band Conor forms; the boys all attend Synge Street School, so "Sing Street" feels like a natural re-appropriation for such a group.

As he's proved with his previous films, Carney knows how to craft an engaging love story. This one feels decidedly fresh for a couple of reasons. The first is that it never seems like Raphina is an unobtainable object, like a princess locked in a faraway tower. She's practically another member of the band. The second is because their story never feels schmaltzy, and even when it dabbles in that territory, it does so with its tongue firmly planted in its cheek as exemplified by perhaps the coolest scene of the film. One day while playing in an empty gymnasium, Conor imagines a music video for one of the band's songs "Drive It Like You Stole It" which takes place during a 1950s high school prom like the one in Back To the Future. The idea is for Raphina to walk into the prom, have the crowd part, and the two of them run off into the moonlight together.

This is of course what Conor really wants in real life - for the two of them to run off and be together. It isn't necessarily a fantasy for him, which is why it's such a stellar, heartbreaking artistic expression on Carney's part to bookend that colorful scene with the band in the cold, grey gym after school with just a handful of offbeat backup performers. In truth, it's actually an incredible self-contained music video that Carney masterfully weaves into the fabric of the story.

It should go without saying then that Carney's script and direction are first-rate, and his original songs live up to that as well. "The Riddle of the Model" is a solid tribute to New Wave acts like Duran Duran and Depeche Mode, while "Drive It Like You Stole It" could be one of the top songs of the summer if it got radio play in the U.S.

Acting performances across the board are wonderful, with Reynor standing out as Conor's brother Brendan. He brings a crucial sense of "been-there, failed-at-that, but-that-doesn't-mean-you-have-to" gravitas to the character which reigns in, but also facilitates, the controlled chaos that Conor, Raphina and Sing Street represent. You'll leave wishing this guy was your big brother.

Truly everything about Sing Street (from the catchy songs to the terrific acting, to Carney's smart, funny script and assured direction) works in conjunction with everything else, and nothing feels half-assed. Sing Street is the perfect feel-good film to kickstart the summer season. This is one of the most complete and all-around solid films I've seen in some time. It certainly earns a spot near the top of my "Best of 2016" list so far. '

A+