“…that being young is almost too much …to feel.”
And where do you start with this movie?
Some have said it was average, and others “too sappy”. No, that’s not what this movie is. You have to be a teenager to know what it is.
It’s the movie of emotions.
“Chemical Hearts”, an adaption of the novel of the same name by Krystal Sutherland, produced by Amazon Prime Video, is not a teen, romantic drama movie nor an angst story of depressing teenagers but rather a “punch in the gut” to every young person’s emotions.
A true, realistic and raw portrayal of what’s inside our mind, us, the people of fifteen and sixteen and eighteen.
Henry and Grace, played beautifully by Austin Abrams and Lili Reinhart, are a representation of the small proportion of every single thought, move, emotion and attachment that a teenager feels almost every day, if not every hour. It’s meant to make us realize that whatever we’re feeling is normal and it doesn’t matter if the world doesn’t give a sh*t as long as we speak, feel and let everything out. It’s hard, yes, but is it better to shut down, to lure away into hiding?
We view the story from Henry’s narration and that’s the reason Grace is a mystery, it’s why we don’t get answers to our questions but only see what she allows Henry to see because let’s be real, no teenager shows all of their colours. Despite not being mention in the film, there is a quote from the book that expresses this exact moment for us, the audience wondering about the mystery of Grace just like Henry (although we don’t cyber-stalk her like him):
"there's more beauty in a mystery." "i don't want you to be a mystery." "yes, henry. you do."
But now, let me unleash my inner film nerd, and let’s talk cinematography.
From the beginning of the film, the colour pattern is not the usual, cliché bright colours of all the high school movies but rather moody, yellow-grey patterns with occasional darkness from Grace’s part and this is how it should be. If directors want to create an appealing to the eye movie for a young audience, showing images like this is “winning material”. Teens are not a happy bundle of joy, neither an explosion of cheesy feelings. We are, most of the time, angry souls hating and fighting everything around us without a valid reason.
If we take Henry’s house life, it can be explained simply from just witnessing his bedroom. A pair of parents who show control at the right moments but who surely won’t understand his heartbreak with Grace. Even Reinhart’s character at the first part of the movie, asks Henry if he can live in a beautiful house as his why couldn’t he afford a car which is the exact opposite of Grace’s house life (if we can call it that). Although we get to see behind her closed doors towards the very end of the movie when we do it’s not exactly what I and everyone would expect but it does offer a truth for her acts and behaviour. An unhealthy family leading to a tragedy which then leads to her confusing, complicated state of mind that Abrams’ character “can’t fix “.
Talking about the acting of the protagonists, it’s safe to say both lead-actors did an exceptional job at portraying their characters – from the facial expressions to even the tone of their voice – but one thing that needs to be said is that Lili Reinhart is a phenomenal actress with a wide range of skills when it comes to emotions. I truly believe she is a gem of the young Hollywood industry and I urge you to read and listen to all of her interviews regarding the press of the movie and not only. Let me add that she also served as an executive producer and was given a say into every aspect of the film.
Whether this was the story of Henry or not, I fell in love with Grace, the mystery behind her and her battle with the tragedy she faced and has still to recover from. And in no way to me, this was a love story of sappy endings and hopeless teenage dramas.
Was I more like Grace or Henry? I don't know, maybe. I definitely relate to some of the emotions Grace faced and although I have not gone through such tragedy as her, it is safe to say that her character made me see a side of first love I had never thought about before. The kind of love where your first time is awkward, or when you stumble over your own words and you feel emotion after emotion without really understanding why. It is also sometimes a reminder that grief-of any form- is not an easy thing to overcome even when they are people waiting to help you.
This is made perfectly clear when Grace tells Henry that she wasn't going to be ready if she wasn't ready which sound weird but in a sense, it's the message that everything in life can move on when you, yourself, allow that to happen and like Henry said: " Scars are not a reminder of something that happened but of something that was created ".
I don’t want to spoil anything for any of you lovely readers so I won’t describe my favourite scenes and moments but I can assure you that you will cry a lot (especially if you’re an emotional wreck like me ), maybe laugh and sometimes even wonder if we really are such lonely, weird creatures (the answer is yes).
I haven’t read the book and I really want to, not because of the movie but because I know there are even more quotes to fall in love with and more scenes to cry to which many who have read the book were disappointed that they were not included. However, I want to remind you something that the author herself has said and that is “the movie is different from the book tonally “. The director did not pick the book to just turned it into another adaption but to rather give it a real twist of raw emotions while staying on the same levels of what the book wanted to pass to the readers but this time to the viewers.
I suggest that every teenager who watches this movie takes a minute after it ends to think alone and quietly of what they are suppressing inside their hearts, who knows maybe it's time we all start dealing with our sh*t if we want to make it to adulthood.
I hope you enjoyed the first movie review of this blog and let me know if you want me to make this into a daily column.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
See you soon,
Leni Chris aka Missreader
xxxxx
P.S Bonus point for Lili's character who read Neruda's poetry :)
