I saw this film at the BFI Film Festival in London last October and I couldn't get this film out of my mind. I finally had the chance to get the DVD and I watched it again and I fell in love with it again.
The story is quite simple: girl meets boy. They fall in love. Girl violates her student visa and can't go back to the USA where her loved one lives. So they have a problem the size of the Atlantic ocean.
How can they make their relationship work when Anna is in the UK and Jacob in the USA? Is their love strong enough? And even more importantly, is it worth it all?
Felicity Jones is superb as Anna who makes a mistake and has to pay for it the hardest way possible. Anton Yelchin shows that he is capable of showing emotion and can hold his own in a film. Together they make a very real couple on screen and it's easy to relate to the pain they are feeling when Anna is deported back the UK. They improvised most of their dialogue and that makes their relationship seem real, you have the awkward first date and the casual conversations, notthing fancy really. Just moments together, little things.
After the screening in London, there was a Q&A with the director Drake Doremus and Felicity Jones. The director asked us how many of us thought Anna and Jacob would stay together after everything that happened and how the film ended. I recall that about 50 % thought they would stay together and 50% thought they would break up. I was in the group who didn't think they could make it, because the shower scene in the end was very revealing, emotionally. I believe that at some point Anna and Jacob didn't fight to be together, they fought for the idea of them being together, because it was denied from them and they had fought for it for so long, they couldn't give up now. Just, at some point, they didn't need to be together, they didn't need each other, like they used to. They had grown apart, but now that they were allowed to be together, how could they give it up, after all this time and all this effort and longing? That was the thing that impressed me the most, the feelings that were there, the emotion. There was so much under the surface and it gave this film depth and heart.
Drake Doremus made all the right choices with this film. Cast two relatively unknown actors so the audience can relate to the characters. Cast one rising star (Jennifer Lawrence, superb as well) to create competition between the two women in Jacob's life. Shoot the film with a regular camera to make it seem more like a really well made homevideo instead of a big movie. Use the best indie songs for your soundtrack. Have the cast improvise their dialogue to have those awkward, but yet so sweet moments. Mix well and serve right away and ta-dah! You have yourself a festival hit!
The film is a bit naïve and starts lagging a bit in the middle and you start to feel that you need something happening, now! But it picks up very quickly and manages to stay interesting enough to the end. Anna's character is also a bit stupid. Or maybe not stupid. But you can't help but to wonder, why on Earth would she violate her visa when she knew better? But maybe it can be blamed on her youth. She was young and in love, is it reason enough to make bad decisions that affect other people too?
I hate rom-coms and romantic dramas because I feel that they are often stupid and I can't find anything relatable in them. But I didn't want this film to end and I want to watch it again after seeing it twice now. Yes, it is a bit naïve and makes everything seem a bit sugarcoated, but the cast make also seem real and relatable. We all have had those little moments when falling in love and then we've had those horrible arguments. And it really helps that Anna isn't played by Katherine Heigl.
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