Review: How I Live Now

Sullen American teen Saoirse Ronan is staying with her English cousins in the countryside. She really doesn’t want to be there and doesn’t seem to suffer fools easily. She’s also got a seriously neurotic inner monologue thing going on (Shades of that cinematic masterpiece “The Host”, also starring Ronan). Eventually she lightens up a bit and even takes a fancy to one of her cousins (George MacKay). First cousins, by the way. Yep. Unfortunately, just as she’s settling in, the world goes topsy-turvy whilst her Aunt (Anna Chancellor) is away on business in Geneva. Terrorists have unleashed an attack in London, and before long soldiers are turning up to evacuate everyone to safety. Ronan actually gets a chance to go home to the US, but decides to stay put. She’s separated from her two eldest cousins, however, as she and the youngest (Harley Bird) make the trek to find them. At least, I think that’s what happens here.

 

Being based on a YA novel by Meg Rosoff and featuring youngsters fighting back when their country is invaded, you’d be forgiven for thinking this Kevin Macdonald (“The Last King of Scotland”, “State of Play”, “The Eagle”) film from 2013 was a sequel to “Tomorrow When the War Was Yesterday Before Being The Day Before it Happened Henceforth”. However, this one’s got much bigger problems than a lack of originality. I really wanted to get into the story, but either author Meg Rosoff or screenwriters Jeremy Brock (Macdonald’s “The Eagle”), Tony Grisoni (“The Brothers Grimm”), Penelope Skinner (a British playwright) didn’t want me to. It’s not a terribly interesting film at the end of the day, because although the premise is (if clichéd) a perfectly workable one, it’s frustratingly scant on explanation and depth. Fans of the novel might’ve known what was going on here, but the only thing that helped me was the fact that I had seen this basic premise several times before (The Aussie-made adaptation of “Tomorrow When Yesterday Previously Happened Three Days Ago”, and both versions of “Red Dawn”). Who are the invading/insurrecting enemy? We are only given the vaguest of hints, if that. What were Saoirse Ronan’s neurotic inner thoughts all about? They are never explained (Telepathy, from what I’ve heard about the book). Why is Ronan’s character such a neurotic bitch for half the film and then suddenly agreeable (but still a pain for the audience) for the rest of the film? The two extremes just don’t gel together as belonging to the same character. Meanwhile, the central relationship is woefully underdeveloped for something that is a little controversial. It’s ridiculously rushed.

 

The film doesn’t start out uninterestingly, with unnerving and raucous music, a 14 year-old would-be chauffeur, and Saoirse Ronan adopting a Yank accent in a Brit film. It made me want to see where it was all headed and had me somewhat unsettled. I also really liked the country scenery captured by cinematographer Franz Lustig (who did excellent work on Wim Wenders’ “Don’t Come Knocking”). Sadly it takes quite a while to go beyond ‘sulky distant relative sulks about in sulky manner with country bumpkin relatives’ nonsense. She’s horribly unlikeable, through no fault of Ronan’s, and it made it a chore to sit through waiting for the plot to kick in, and unimpressed when it finally did. Meanwhile, Lustig’s good work in the daytime scenes is undone by the ugly and murky night scenes. Talk about something being a case of night and day!

 

There’s an awful lot lacking here, as if the filmmakers had only skim-read the novel. Without more explanation as to the central conflict, it’s hard to invest. Unevenly shot to boot, and with a wholly unsympathetic lead character, I can’t imagine anyone being satisfied by this film. And how the fuck is a story about incest, bloody warfare and children being murdered, Young Adult entertainment?

 

Rating: D+