Student Film: Light of the World

This summer, I worked at a leadership conference for high schoolers, and one of my students, Margo Cummins, directed a short film with the help of her peers. What can I say Margo? You never cease to surprise me.

The movie is called Light of the World, and it's quite a promising achievement when you realize less than a dozen teenagers were responsible for writing, scoring, directing, and acting for the movie. The story centers on talented teenager Elaine (finely portrayed by Remy Joslin). Elaine excels at art, impressing her friends, but disappointing her skeptical mother. Honestly, she's like the worst parent ever. Elaine's mom is a pessimistic, demanding, dream-crushing woman who should have her custody rights revoked by CPS, especially taking into account how her actions affected the film's ending. 

Elaine plans on spending the summer at art camp, but her mother has other, more realistic plans - a leadership camp (horrible idea, isn't it?). Elaine's father never shows any inclination of standing up for his daughter, and although she and all her friends know her mother is wrong, Elaine can't seem to go her own way while faced with the adversity of the woman who is supposed to love her most.

The movie's far from perfect, but hey, it's still noteworthy when considering the constraints the young filmmakers had, and when the faults did show up, they were overshadowed by the direction, surprisingly phenomenal cinematography, and believable sense of realism the film had. 

You might not believe that these teens seem to have such a solid grasp on the difficulties of life, but their short film seems to prove otherwise, showing an understanding of cinema's classic motif of action-and-reaction, stretching all the way to years after the first day the story takes place. Hopefully, this film can be the stepping stone these young artists need to take them to bigger success. Well done, guys!

Rating: 4/5

You can watch Light of the World here.

If I Stay

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Chloë, Chloë, Chloë…I'm rooting for you, girl. But you won't be on stage accepting an Oscar anytime soon if you continue to pick average movies to act in.

Chloë Grace Moretz's newest movie, If I Stay, is another strong entry in terms of her acting prowess, but in its own right, never amounts to anything above average.

Moretz, one of my favorite actresses, plays Mia Hall, a cellist born into a family of rockers. Her father was the drummer of a local band before quitting to raising Mia and her younger brother Teddy. On the morning of a snow day, Mia's family gets in a head-on collision with a pick-up truck, injuring her entire family and leaving her unconscious. Mia, however, has an out-of body experience at the hospital (which doesn't really make sense. Is she supposed to be a psychic? Or like a ghost? I mean…what's the deal? And how come her other family members don't experience the same thing?). But I digress.

After hearing that her entire immediate family has died, a nurse whispers to the comatose body of Mia that the choice whether to stay or go is all up to her. The rest of the movie is dedicated to flashbacks of the two years preceding the accident, which I saw as another mistake. Jumping into the drama too early, the film might have benefitted from pushing back the accident until we had gotten to know the characters a bit more.

Junior Mia is courted by fellow music enthusiast and high school senior Adam, and it's not long before the introverted teen is freed by Adam's sense of adventure and sincere love. When Adam's band becomes successful after graduation, the relationship becomes tumultuous as they spend less and less time together, and things become worse for the Portland-based couple when Mia plays her heart out at an audition to New York's Juliard School. A rift occurs between the two, and until the accident, they put their relationship in a hiatus.

There's nothing terribly wrong with If I Stay, but aside from another stellar performance from Chloë (without whom I can safely say I would not have given this high of a rating) there's really not much to go out of your way for. While I did find myself invested in the story, even more than in critical darlings of 2014 Grand Budapest Hotel and Joe, If I Stay was just another teen romance movie that was fortunate enough to have signed a big enough star. The characters were bleak and unbelievable, especially Adam, an annoying, needy, emotionless boyfriend who solely existed for a reason for Mia to come back to life, while Mia's friend Kim existed to be just that - a friend, nothing more than another character connected to Mia that can deliver a few lines of exposition and prove that she has people who care about her. The movie just seemed like a waste. A waste of my time, a waste of a semi-interesting concept, and a waste of Chloë Grace Moretz's talent. 

Rating: 2.5/5