Movie Update: AFTER (2019)


"Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same." 
- Wuthering Heights

Initial Release: April 12th, 2019
Director: Jenny Gage
Starring: Hero Fiennes-Tiffin, Josephine Langford, Pia Mia, Inanna Sarkis, Selma Blair, Samuel Larsen
Rotten Tomatoes: 21%
IMDb: 5.9/10

I simply don't know where to begin. It's safe to say that I'm actually looking forward to seeing the movie as I've read the book. I'm extremely ready to unleash that "wild" fangirl soul that I had in college when I see the movie.

After is actually adapted from a One Direction fan-fiction by Imaginator1D (on Wattpad) or Anna Todd. I believe that Anna is indeed an amazing writer and she manages to captivate me through the fan-fiction and provide twists here and there through her writing. Moreover, the timing was also perfect when she wrote the fan-fiction as One Direction was at their peak; hence, it's no surprise that the book became a hit and had millions of readers all over the world.

For those of you who don't know, After follows the story of Tessa Young who falls in love with a mysterious, bad British boy, Hardin Scott. It covers their love journey to say the least.

If I'm hooked with the book, I can't say the same to the movie. I wouldn't say that it's really bad, but it's just don't have the soul of the book, like at all. Why?

First, actually I really like the choice of actors and actresses, especially for Tessa (Josephine Langford) and Hardin (Hero Fiennes-Tiffin). Their individual vibe truly represent the characters of Tessa and Hardin. Hero is able to deliver the mysterious, charming British boy; however, Hardin in the book is known to have a lot of rage and anger issues. In the movie, Hardin doesn't have that fire and rage at all. So, that's the missing point for me.

Then, I'm not a fan of how the movie tells the relationship between Tessa and Hardin as well. Maybe that's why I didn't really get their chemistry. The book shows how complicated their relationship is, they often fight, argue and that's what makes their relationship interesting. That's how we can see that their relationship actually grows from the first time they met to when they are in the relationship. It just doesn't show any spark. The movie only shows "the simple" side when actually their ups and down are what makes us (or at least me) fall in love with their characters.

Talking about the "simplifying" the plot, I think it's huge when in the movie they describe the "bet" that Hardin does only to make Tessa fall in love with him. The book describes that Tessa's virginity is actually the bet and that shows how cruel Hardin is and how complicated their relationship should be. This is just one of the reason why I'm not into the story-line in the movie.

Moving on to the other characters, one of my biggest annoyance is how little the movie depicts the other characters. Sure, it's hard to put 500 pages into a half an hour film but it does not mean that other characters role should be neglected. Take Landon for example, Landon should be Tessa's BEST FRIEND and we barely see him. Zed should also have a bigger role to Tessa's life as well rather than just a "passing through" friend. Moreover, Tessa's mother, Carol, is described differently in the movie. During the first book, I truly hate Tessa's mom but in the movie she isn't described that way but instead "nicer" than she is in the book.

Well, this turns out to be a long one. All in all, I just want to say that the movie simply doesn't have the soul of the book.

Personal ratings: The book is wayyyy better / 10

See you on the next post!

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