Nadine is struggling with dealing with herself and only has one friend in Krista but everything is about to fall apart when she starts dating her perfect brother Darian.
I hadn’t really heard a massive amount this film before heading into see it but I have been very interested in the films Hailee Steinfeld is in since being very impressed by her in True Grit. I think it is important to not let the fact it is a “High School film” put you off at all as it is so much more than that. We get a brilliant performance from Steinfeld and as always Woody Harrelson which was a total surprise as I didn’t even know he was in the film.
Anyway we get an insight into Nadine’s life and how she ended up well wanting to kill herself, if she really meant it of course. But it does take the majority of the film to really understand the first scene we see. We get flashbacks to her childhood and events that really shaped the insecure lonely teenager she became. Which really makes you think about how something that at the time may just seem small can have a massive impact on your outlook.
What really throws everything into turmoil is her best and only friend Krista starting a relationship with her brother Darian. Who she does not get on with at all, they are the total opposites to each other and appear to really hate the other as well. Even early on we just know that we are going to get some good moments from that relationship later on.
The best relationship in the whole film though has to come from Nadine with her teacher Mr Bruner. The exchanges were fantastic and it gives you hope that people really can help each other even if a lot of comments are said in jest and you can raise them up at the same time as that. I don’t want to spoil any of the major moments but it really was the highlight of the film for myself.
I have to say though that I really was surprised with what the film managed to do, making you realize that it is ok to feel that you are alone and not actually liking yourself is well pretty normal. I certainly think this would have been a film I would have loved to have watched being a teenager as it felt pretty real and thoughts you had at that stage in your life. When you’re trying to work out who you are and who your real friends are.
Erwin also makes you think that someone often turns up just at the right time when you are going to need them. He may have had feelings that Nadine did not return but he was a new found friend and seemed to be their at the right time over and over again. It was nice to see this grow throughout the film, not really clear which direction it was going to head in though.
Isn’t it reassuring and brilliant when you head to the cinema and watch a film that you enjoy and take something away from. Surely that is the main reason we all keep going to see the new films that are released. To find the ones that make an impact when you least expect it!