Director: Arie Posin
Starring: Joey King, Kyle Allen, Kim Dickens, John Ortiz, Celeste O'Connor
Running Time: 115 minutes
Synopsis: High school senior and aspiring photographer Tessa (Joey King) is injured in a car crash that kills her boyfriend Skylar (Kyle Allen). As she recovers, she starts to suspect that Skylar is communicating with her from the afterlife. The story of their romance is revealed in flashbacks, starting with a chance encounter at a retro movie theatre. As they fall in love, Skylar encourages Tessa to pursue her passion, but due to a troubled upbringing she has trouble expressing her emotions. Back in the present, Tessa receives advice from author Doris (Donna Briscoe) and help from girlfriend Shannon (Celeste O'Connor), as Skylar's messages become more persistent.
Running Time: 115 minutes
Synopsis: High school senior and aspiring photographer Tessa (Joey King) is injured in a car crash that kills her boyfriend Skylar (Kyle Allen). As she recovers, she starts to suspect that Skylar is communicating with her from the afterlife. The story of their romance is revealed in flashbacks, starting with a chance encounter at a retro movie theatre. As they fall in love, Skylar encourages Tessa to pursue her passion, but due to a troubled upbringing she has trouble expressing her emotions. Back in the present, Tessa receives advice from author Doris (Donna Briscoe) and help from girlfriend Shannon (Celeste O'Connor), as Skylar's messages become more persistent.
What Works Well: Carrying echoes from movies like Ghost (with it's poster prominently featured) and If I Stay, this is a tender young adult romantic drama with a committed Joey King performance and a sturdy investment in two timelines. The flashbacks chronicle a budding love between the troubled and adopted Tessa and the wholesome Skylar, their opposing outlooks on life and love inevitably leading to conflict. The supernatural-driven current events explore afterlife communications, incomplete emotions, fear of commitment, and the dangerous gaps between words and feelings.
What Does Not Work As Well: There is no reason for this story to extend to close to two hours, and the lead characters are not terribly convincing away from the mechanics of the plot. Skylar is a remarkably available too-perfect boyfriend (hunky rowing champion, lifeguard, well-read, well-spoken), while in relative terms, Tessa is a remarkably well-adjusted survivor of a series of abusive-sounding foster homes. They both decide to act mean to each other precisely when ordered by the script.
Key Quote:
Doris (to Tessa): When the separation is traumatic, there's unfinished business.
All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.
No comments:
Post a Comment
We welcome reader comments about this post.