Royal Tenenbaum’s review of his 11 year old daughter Margot’s play—“This is a bunch of little kids dressed up in animal costumes.” —pretty much sums it up. He certainly captures my sentiment regarding the rash of YA novel adaptations, and If I Stay falls right in line. No matter the scope of the themes, no matter the brooding self-seriousness, no matter the stakes—usually life and death—nothing ever seems to evolve beyond a bunch of kids unknowingly playing pretend.
My attitude hardly gives credence to the legitimacy of If I Stay’s story to tell. All films are for everyone, but this film is not for me. And I mean ‘me’ in that larger dumpy-32-year-old-movie-reviewer sort of way. It’s important to view a movie in its appropriate context, and If I Stay has a lot to offer through its particular looking glass.
I really like our lead, cello prodigy Mia played by Chloe Grace Moretz. In fact, Mia’s relationship with her cello is a fascinating element, and had it been the bedrock of her experience it might be a far different movie. I like Mia’s stock-in-trade little brother/quip dispenser/prop who listens to Iggy Pop. I like Mia’s reformed punk rocker father who tells said son to not listen to any Iggy Pop after 1978 (fact). Mom is a riot grrrl doing her best impression of a responsible urbanite. Portland is a character, music is a character, and Stacy Keach!
So what’s not to like here? Well, sadly, not much. Our tragedy takes hold early, and Mia’s woes are profound. In action telegraphed by the trailer, Mia’s entire family dies in a car accident and she falls into a coma. While comatose, Mia has an out of body experience. In limbo, she transitions between the hospital where her life is in full collapse, and her memories leading up to the accident. As the consequences of all of the above play out, Mia is left with one question, should I stay? Love, loss, family, perseverance, these are all solid themes for a young audience to grapple with. So what’s not to like here? Well, sadly, the thing that matters most.
Here we meet Adam Wilde (Jamie Blackley), our heartthrob. Adam, for all intents and purposes, is a rare bird…as far as high school crushes go, anyway. Sure, he’s a handsome, sensitive, song writing, local God—we’re still in the ideal fashioning business, here—but he’s kinda, you know, pretty cool. Instead of Mia falling head over heels for him, he’s smitten by her and initiates the pursuit. The language of their love is music. Adam is even good for a grand romantic gesture, the sort teenage girls don’t really want, but teenage boys want, and then they go on to make movies to make it seem like it’s what teenage girls want.
Foolishly, their love story tries to take up the mantle of main plot. Look, high school kids fall in love and make too much of it. It’s redundant to point out how these movies indulge irrationalities young people attach to their developing sense of love, but If I Stay is especially misguided in its execution. Instead of trying to find a guide rope out of the darkness in the form of her exceptional talents, or lifelong relationships, Mia only sees Adam. Her entire family is dead, and she hitches her will to live to her dumb high school boyfriend.
As a resounding moral I could think of nothing more poisonous for a young mind. Your high school boyfriend will not save you. Your most important love should be love for yourself. Even where the film fails to tell a visually interesting story about Mia’s life of the mind, there is no more grim misstep than crafting the narrative on such a false promise.
Perhaps Gayle Forman’s novel is more balanced. Perhaps the young viewers informed by If I Stay will eschew the cheap romantic notions and embrace more important lessons about black coffee and punk rock. Perhaps I’m just a heartless prick. But as long as I see films about overstated high school love being teenagers’ answer to the convoluted mosaic of our existence, I’ll just see a bunch of kids dressed up in animal costumes.
--Monte Monreal
My attitude hardly gives credence to the legitimacy of If I Stay’s story to tell. All films are for everyone, but this film is not for me. And I mean ‘me’ in that larger dumpy-32-year-old-movie-reviewer sort of way. It’s important to view a movie in its appropriate context, and If I Stay has a lot to offer through its particular looking glass.
I really like our lead, cello prodigy Mia played by Chloe Grace Moretz. In fact, Mia’s relationship with her cello is a fascinating element, and had it been the bedrock of her experience it might be a far different movie. I like Mia’s stock-in-trade little brother/quip dispenser/prop who listens to Iggy Pop. I like Mia’s reformed punk rocker father who tells said son to not listen to any Iggy Pop after 1978 (fact). Mom is a riot grrrl doing her best impression of a responsible urbanite. Portland is a character, music is a character, and Stacy Keach!
So what’s not to like here? Well, sadly, not much. Our tragedy takes hold early, and Mia’s woes are profound. In action telegraphed by the trailer, Mia’s entire family dies in a car accident and she falls into a coma. While comatose, Mia has an out of body experience. In limbo, she transitions between the hospital where her life is in full collapse, and her memories leading up to the accident. As the consequences of all of the above play out, Mia is left with one question, should I stay? Love, loss, family, perseverance, these are all solid themes for a young audience to grapple with. So what’s not to like here? Well, sadly, the thing that matters most.
Here we meet Adam Wilde (Jamie Blackley), our heartthrob. Adam, for all intents and purposes, is a rare bird…as far as high school crushes go, anyway. Sure, he’s a handsome, sensitive, song writing, local God—we’re still in the ideal fashioning business, here—but he’s kinda, you know, pretty cool. Instead of Mia falling head over heels for him, he’s smitten by her and initiates the pursuit. The language of their love is music. Adam is even good for a grand romantic gesture, the sort teenage girls don’t really want, but teenage boys want, and then they go on to make movies to make it seem like it’s what teenage girls want.
Foolishly, their love story tries to take up the mantle of main plot. Look, high school kids fall in love and make too much of it. It’s redundant to point out how these movies indulge irrationalities young people attach to their developing sense of love, but If I Stay is especially misguided in its execution. Instead of trying to find a guide rope out of the darkness in the form of her exceptional talents, or lifelong relationships, Mia only sees Adam. Her entire family is dead, and she hitches her will to live to her dumb high school boyfriend.
As a resounding moral I could think of nothing more poisonous for a young mind. Your high school boyfriend will not save you. Your most important love should be love for yourself. Even where the film fails to tell a visually interesting story about Mia’s life of the mind, there is no more grim misstep than crafting the narrative on such a false promise.
Perhaps Gayle Forman’s novel is more balanced. Perhaps the young viewers informed by If I Stay will eschew the cheap romantic notions and embrace more important lessons about black coffee and punk rock. Perhaps I’m just a heartless prick. But as long as I see films about overstated high school love being teenagers’ answer to the convoluted mosaic of our existence, I’ll just see a bunch of kids dressed up in animal costumes.
--Monte Monreal
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