Movie Review: ‘Chemical Hearts’ - An Aesthetic Journey of Love, Life and Trauma

Picture Credits - Google 

Exploring the layers of pain and trauma this film is an aesthetic journey of love, life and trauma.

Introduction

Movie Name - Chemical Hearts 

Director - Richard Tanne 

Cast - Lili Reinhart, Austin Abrams

Genre - Romance, Drama 

Language - English 

Duration - 1 hour 33 minutes

Plot - Spoiler Alert!

In this film Grace is a transfer student whose boyfriend died in a car accident. In the accident she got injured and was left traumatized. Now, she is a girl who likes to read Pablo Neruda and dresses in baggy men's clothing or a girl not yet dead. And not alive either.

On the other hand Henry is a subsequent love interest kind of guy. He is understanding and gives you all the space in the world you need. He is the kind of guy who does not know how to not love or not care about someone they hold dear. And even with all the pain he receives he does not complain or judge but stays true to himself and his feelings. 

Grace and Henry share the kind of love that is traumatized and not easily comprehensible. But so subtle and real that you almost fall in love with it. Henry is someone who loves to write but does not have defining moments in life to talk about.

She and Henry are made the co-editors of the school magazine. Henry likes to hang out with her. Though she gives him mixed signals she hangs out with him, be it walking along, laughing etc. 

Henry finds out about her secret, seeing her beside the tombstone of a boy. He finds out that he died in a car accident in which Grace was with him leaving her injured.

Although Grace and Henry have an intimate encounter, Grace realises she is still in love with a dead man. Henry does not like it and they both then choose their own different paths. 

Underlying themes 

It is a movie that will not blow up your mind, pierce open your heart, or steer your life in a direction you never expected. But it certainly is a good story with some pretty good lines and lessons to live by. 

Unlike the conventional teenage bluff of once upon a time to happily ever after, it illuminates love, life, loss in a different light. Perhaps the light of reality. Grace is not shown as quirky or some unreal person. She appears to be deep, handling a storm inside of her.

What happens when you lose the epic love of your life right in front of your eyes ? You surely get traumatized but eventually move on towards your happily ever after. Braver and stronger, radiating love more than ever. And that is what it is then when he has a crush on Grace, the new girl. 

Normally expected from a human being to heal oneself from all the pain and trauma and restore all the love, faith and sparkle they lost. But this particular story deals less with love and more with trauma.

The teenage limbo and all the fears and insecurities of life. It discovers the layers of pain with such reality and justice that you feel like your own heart is getting crushed.

Based on the novel ‘Our Chemical Hearts’ by Krystal Sutherland this film will not shred your hearts to pieces but instead it will mend the already shredded parts you never knew existed inside of you. 

Director’s Inspiration 

At the point when our dearest books are adjusted for movie or TV, there's consistently the concern that it will not be done "right." Through script changes, projecting decisions, contrasts in inventive sentiments from the first writer to the chief or maker, a story can advance in significant ways all through the variation of interaction — now and then for better, sure, however regularly in negative ways.

So while Our Chemical Hearts creator Krystal Sutherland concedes that the Amazon YA movie variation ‘Chemical Hearts’ featuring Lili Reinhart is unique in relation to what she composed, she guarantees that chief Richard Tanne "did a particularly great work of catching the spine of the story."

The Bottom Line 

Pablo Neruda's sonnet and a piece of good background music makes it all the more amiable. The actors Reinhart and Abrams also carried their respective characters with grace and closed perfection.

All-in-all, this film is built around the shades of blue and grey that are being mixed in composition to attain the sunflower yellow without the need for forced yellow warmth . Lastly ,for the complicated tender souls out there , it's a good watch.

My Ratings for the Movie - 5 on 5

Written By - Manika Gupta