Alright so after not shutting up about this movie for the past week, I decided to finally put my thoughts on this movie down. Before I give my thoughts, however, I will give a brief synopsis of what this movie is about.
"If I Stay" is a movie based on the book of the same name. It follows a girl named Mia Hall (played by Chloe Grace Moretz) and chronicles a life changing decision she has to make while having an out of body experience after a severe car crash puts her in a coma. It uses flashbacks to tell of her life before the accident, and shows how those moments may or may not impact that decision.
After watching the trailers for this movie and seeing that Chloe was going to be in this movie, I knew I had to go see this, as she is always in films that I thoroughly enjoy. I had no clue I would enjoy it as much as I had, and I honestly can't remember another time when I walked out of a movie theater as moved as I was watching this film.
Many aspects of this movie are likable for me. One of them is the way the characters were portrayed. These characters were deeper written than your average teen romance movies, giving them much more relatability. Also another thing similar to it that was new for me, and that I appreciated, is the film wasn't focused on just being a romance/tragedy or a teen drama. It fell into multiple genres and did them better than I can remember any film doing. Something I came to appreciate more after watching the movie is how much Mia likes classical music. I never really listened to Classical music much, but after this movie I'm going to give it a second chance for sure. It also doesn't hide the ugliness of life and the tragedy that is going on in her life. When she suffers, you can literally feel it as you're watching it.
Something else I picked up on was when you caught glimpses of an afterlife, it wasn't specific to any one religion or pushing any one agenda. Many of you may have seen films where this is obvious, and it really hinders the story and alienates people that feel differently. Also, the fact that at best Mia has some sort of Chinese religious liking, and no one else seems to have any kind of religious background, the film is sort of trying to take a more universalist stance, which is something that I find refreshing and that I hope is true about the next life.
Another reason why I think I loved this film so much is that it touches on a lot of issues that many people, especially myself, face everyday. For example, Mia is naturally a shy and quiet girl who would rather play her cello than go with a group of people. Her boyfriend, Adam, is the exact opposite. He is the lead singer for a punk rock band with an outgoing personality. This causes tension eventually, and if anyone else has had a relationship like this they will understand the difficulty in this (although for me I'm always the shy one with an outgoing girl, such is life I guess). Mia, as I stated earlier is someone who likes to be by herself rather than with people, which is why at first she is very reluctant to go out with Adam. She even tries to lie to him about not being able to go out just so she can stay in the comfort of her own home, which I can completely relate to because I do the same thing as well.
My favorite scene from this movie comes after a Halloween party. Mia dresses up as a punk rock girl for Adam, and in turn Adam dresses up as Beethoven for Mia. After the party, they are standing at Adam's car and talking. Mia asks Adam if he likes her better the way she looks that night (meaning as a punk rocker instead of her usual clothes). You can really see in her face how much she wants his approval, and how much she struggles with not seeing herself as beautiful (a reoccurring theme in Chloe's roles, which I love). His response was unforgettable to me. He says "I don't give a shit about the clothes. The person who you are tonight is the same person I loved yesterday and the day before that. Clothes mean nothing to me." A real gentlemen there.
The whole story revolves around Mia having to make a decision on whether or not she wants to continue on with this life, or go on to the next life (although I will say that the movie does such a good job telling the story I almost forgot about this). It brings up a question most of us have faced at one point in our lives. All of our at one point in our lives have felt like we've been to hell and back (much like Mia feels). Some of us have even felt like we just really wanted to go on to the next life, because the pains of life feel so overwhelming at times. The point is every single one of us has to deal with shit here on this planet that is terrible, but the people that are put into our lives make it worth continue living for.
All in all this movie will probably not be recognized as much as I feel it should. However, I highly recommend it if you're in the mood to watch this kind of movie. I cannot recommend it any higher! 9.5/10
