like it is with most young adult movies, this movie is an adaptation of a book with the same title, written by jennifer niven. i chose to watch the movie because it was recommended by two hard guys who relayed with so much passion how it made them feel things. i found it interesting, being a general in the hard guy army myself, and so i decided to take the litmus test of watching the movie and document how i felt. in a way, this isn’t a conventional review that forms an opinion at the movie’s culmination. this is simply just a rambling of thoughts as e dey happen. i just felt it would be nice to share.
you know the drill, if you haven’t watched all the bright places: spoiler alert.
but if you don’t mind then please proceed.
all the bright places.
1:17:05. i can see the allure, it manages to portray a budding romance between two individuals without all the theatrics of conventional romcoms. which is apt, because the comedy in this piece was replaced by a soft mundaneness, a reminder that life does what life pleases and we only just have to keep on rowing, like venetian rafters, trying to catch the light of the sun. hence the movie’s name, but then again i’m not even halfway through it yet.
more than ever, this movie has reinforced the importance of the elementary, small things of life. how it is the moments shared that makes life special, irrespective of how nondescript or extraordinary they may be. case in point, violet garvey tells theodore finch a quote from her late sister’s favourite poet, cesare pavese who wrote, “we do not remember days, we remember moments. the richness of life lies in memories we have forgotten.”
59:24. our generation has become so hooked on cosumerism; having the best, going the best places, owning the best things. but theodore finch and violet garvey drive 150 miles out into indiana to visit a rollercoaster so small that it takes less than two minutes for the ride to be over and violet laughs so hard for the first time since her sister’s death, and i think that is the prettiest moment in this movie so far. it makes me want to cry.
55:00. they are driving back, listening to too young to burn, by sonny and the sunsets. and he tells her “you know what i like about you ultraviolet? you are all the colours in one, at full brightness.” and there is this painful silence that transpires between them after which he soft pedals to a halt and comes out, goes over to her side, takes off her seat belt and kisses her. i don’t know, but this moment refuses to sit well within me. it feels all too soon. knowing they both have good intentions and they care so much for each other, but feeling everything moving too fast, way too fast.
or maybe it is just my experience with watching two people kiss halfway into a young adult movie that leaves me with the sinking sense of dread that things are only going to go downhill from there. i want to rewind and erase the moment, but alas, the deed has already been done.
it is still very pretty though. the way the sunlight catches in her hair and her laughter: pure, brewed happiness.
54:27. there is a tree with lots of shoes in it. they take theirs off, tie the laces and throw it over the branches so it hangs there, like fruit.
i find that very beautiful.
45:07. the lake scene is so picturesque. it almost begs for disaster. “tell me something real about you!” violet screams, after finch inevitably spirals out of control. and at this point in the story i begin to realize that their relationship is a dangerously symbiotic one. he gives and she takes. she gives and he takes. she bleeds and he laps her wounds up and vice versa. somehow though, i feel there is more danger with being the one who hides everything. so i guess in that way, finch bleeds more, staining the entire carpet.
finch tells her that sometimes he loses touch of reality and has to go away so that he can feel in control of himself again. he divulges stories of an abusive father who always beat the shit out of him whenever he went into dark moods, because he was too small to get out of the way. and then there’s the sex and they lose track of time and upon their return, violet is reprimanded by her parents.
39:12. feeling unhinged, finch goes back home and destroys the wall of colour coded sticky notes which i discover has served as a metaphor for himself, his life, his experiences, his control. this, i feel is the most powerful moment in the movie. it is almost painful to watch, as melodramatic as it is. “people don’t like messy.” indeed.
at this point i can’t keep track of the timestamps anymore. somewhere here i begin to cry. not just because of finch and his anticlimactic ending. the realisation hits me that i secretly despise him. maybe because he is dogmatic and too independent and easily spirals out of control, reminding me of myself in a way that leaves me feeling vulnerable.
but the whole thing as well: the tentativeness of love succeeded by its full embrace, the hope of a brighter tomorrow, the loneliness of pain. the inability to get revival, the deceitful nature of change. the feeling of being alone and having no one, not kate his sister, not violet, not a working mother whose absence is stamped on the movie like a postcard, help him. and then there is the aftermath of it all:
“he taught me that you don’t have to climb a mountain to stand on top of the world.” violet speaks in front of her class, weeks after his death. “that even the ugliest of places can be beautiful as long as you take the time to look. that it’s okay to get lost, as long as you find you way back. that there is beauty even in dark times, and even if there isn’t, you can be a bright place with infinite capacities.”
i guess i really liked this movie. it masqueraded itself as a feelgood movie, but it was really a tragedy with a message: to be mindful of our loved ones and to share in their pain, to open up ourselves, like sunflowers, and to live full, memorable lives. and now i want to go out to an open field and belt queen songs at the top of my lungs. so i think i passed the litmus test, and this is going to stay with me for a very long while.
rating: 8/10 the soundtrack was so indie and cute, i really liked it. but i feel the movie should have been longer, more fleshed out. everything happened too fast. some of the characters, like amanda and charlie, finch’s bestfriend, deserved more life, too. the parental figures felt like ghosts, they didn’t add anything to the movie, in my opinion. but maybe that could have been the director’s intention: to show how disconnected people can be. even while living under the same roof, sharing the same breath, the same kiss. ooh, and that scene where charlie talks to violet about the reason why he stays despite finch’s erratic behavior?and says that he loves him? how very tender. .5points in addition for that. what a ride.
anyways, remember to stay safe and stay home, my dears.
with much love always,
tres.🕊
