All the Bright Places movie review - Aussieboyreviews
IS ALL THE BRIGHT PLACES ANOTHER PREDICTABLE TEEN DRAMA?
All the Bright Places is an entertaining, moving and saddening teenage drama dealing with suicide and grief. The film may be predictable and average, but there’s solid acting and the themes are deep.
Storyline
Two high-school students named Violet and Theodore facing individual struggles form a powerful bond that helps them find the smallest places that mean something and change their lives for the better.
Movie Images
Movie details
Director: Brett Haley
Cast: Elle Fanning, Justice Smith, Alexandra Shipp, Kelli O’Hara, Lamar Johnson, Virginia Gardner, Felix Mallard, Sofia Hasmik, Keegan-Michael Key
Writer: Jennifer Niven, Liz Hannah
Release Date (Australia): 28 February 2020
Runtime: 107 minutes/1h 47m
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Language: English
CONTENT GUIDE (warning: May contain spoilers)
The film features verbal and visual references to suicide, as well as thematic content relating to mental health, grief and death.
Two teenagers are depicted fighting and one pins the other to the ground.
The film contains several uses of the word “f**k”.
A character is asked how “high” he is.
None.
The film features a brief depiction of teenagers engaging in sexual intercourse.
mpaa rating
NR (Not Rated)
Aussie boy's thoughts
This powerful romantic drama centring on teenagers, struggles and suicide may be as average and predictable as what you’ve seen before, but it’s effectively saddening and beautifully shot. The larger portion of the film begins uplifting, but the final section gets heavy and ends depressingly. It’s a moving but also an often unconvincing way for a film to explore mental health issues and suicide between teenagers.
All the Bright Places highlights two teenagers, one appearing very gloomy and shut down with the other appearing determined but with struggles behind the closed door. The film then has them connect and eventually form a bond as they see the “wonders of Indiana”, but they do eventually fall in love and the film shifts towards the romance genre. The romance is just what makes it almost stupid in how difficult to believe it is.
The main young actors who lead through this film are clearly talented. Elle Fanning portrays a clearly unhappy and struggling teenage girl and Justice Smith appears to be the opposite, but the film does deeply focus on his problems. The direction is also impressive, as there’s not a single shot that isn’t colourfully gorgeous or visually stunning. A nice soundtrack is also played through the emotional scenes, clearly adding to the fondness.
Thank you for reading this page and for more Aussie Boy reviews, visit Aussieboyreviews.com.