Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Pokematic Reviews Cherrybomb, a Rupert Grint film

If it's not a good game or catholic...who do you call?...why Pokematic. "Hi"

I just finished watching Cherrybomb, a 2010 movie staring Rupert Grint; aka. Ron from Harry Potter. Now I have to say, I don't know exactly how I feel about this movie. The story is very basic, the situations are rather common for the genre, but the acting and cinematography is amazing. Let me elaborate.

OK, so this is a coming of age story, at least by my definition. Literary people would probably argue not, but for me, any story that is about the antics of teens is coming of age. Right off the bat, I have to say that this is a little typical of Rupert from my perspective. The other non-Harry Potter movie of his I saw was also a coming of age story, driving lessons. That movie was really good from what I remember. Also, I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with "the coming of age" story. I love stories like The Breakfast Club and Boy Meets World, but hate stories like Catcher in the Rye and Juno. The coming of age story is a very difficult story to tell, mainly because it relies on being able to connect with the characters, and since everyone is different, it's not easy. But I digress, back to the review.

So as a coming of age story, it's really simple; Rupert is a teen in I'm guessing high school, he has a best friend that may or may not be a bad influence, he chases after a girl doing crazy things, these crazy things get him in trouble, and has a jerk boss he doesn't like, and the boss happens to be the girls father. It's basic stuff. I've seen this story hundreds of times. It's definitely not groundbreaking in any sense of the word.

OK, so the story is basic, but as any writer will tell you, "it's not the story, it's the execution." This is true. Star Wars would be very bad if the execution was terrible, and The Social Network would have been much better if the execution was better. So, what does Cherrybomb offer in terms of execution? Well, the best friend is a drug dealer and the dad is a drug addict, and the best friend is basically his father's keeper. The role reversal is very interesting and is handled really well. Otherwise though, the execution is pretty basic. The boys are hanging out at Rupert's job, the girl comes to see her dad, they want her and she leads them on, they do some crazy things to try and impress her, dad doesn't like girl hanging out with the boys, etc. It's nothing super impressive and has already been done before. Just feels like high school stories.

The characters are a little hard to peg. The girl is the new girl, a little wild side, sent to live with her father, and the main love interest. The boss is a basic jerk boss and father, not over protective but present. The friend's dad, outside of being the "child of his son," is a very typical drug addict. Rupert is interesting enough. The audience wonders "what makes him tick? Is he a 'good kid that decides to reject authority' or is he a 'kid that accepts authority for survival but isn't afraid to challenge it?'" Well, that's how I felt. The friend is a complex character, mainly because he has a very difficult family life with his druggie dad and unsupportive brother, and being the man of the house while also being the dead-end friend. Since Rupert and his friend are the main characters, it's good that they are interesting enough. They aren't fresh and innovative, but they aren't stale.

This movie won't engage you from a story telling perspective, but it will engage you from a technical perspective. I'm probably going to get terms wrong, but bear with me. First off, the acting is phenomenal. They feel like uninterested, interested, teens. What do I mean by that? Teal teens have a special kind of emotion; a lack of emotion. Not "flat, monotone acting" lack of emotion, but a "I really don't care" kind of emotion. It's not an emo "I hate the world, life is meaningless" lack of caring, just that "it's not part of my world" lack of caring. When the actors are not in an emotional moment, like when the friend's dad is being trouble, they emote the "teen lack of emotion" emotion perfectly. Other emotions like anger feel real as well. These guys know their acting.

Then there's the cinematography. This is really amazing. The camera angles, how shots are framed, the lighting, the way the sound behaves in the environment, it's all great. There's not much to look at in terms of scenery, because it's just urban environments, but the way in which the characters were shown in the environments and the way the environments were framed was great. Based on the depth the characters were in the scene determined how loud they came off. The lighting really conveyed how the characters were feeling. Then there was the "slow down montage" effect from when the characters were on drugs. That can go bad really quickly, but it was done so well that it never did. It was artsy, but not to artsy, like Fight Club.

So, is this worth it? It's hard to say. If you really enjoy coming of age stories that have been done a million times, then you'll love it. If you can appreciate great acting and cinematography and can overlook a derivative story, you can enjoy the presentation. If neither of these sound interesting, stay away. This has been Pokematic, signing off and bu-bye.

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