Director / Ry Russo-Young (NOBODY WALKS, YOU WON’T MISS ME)
Stars / Zoey Deutch, Halston Sage, Medalion Rahimi, Cynthy Wu, Elena Kampouris, Logan Miller and Kian Lawley
One thing is for certain in BEFORE I FALL, Samantha Kingston is going to die.
This is no spoiler to the film – I promise! Rather, the mysterious death of the lead character and story teller of this teen drama constitute the basis of the plot.
Based on the 2010 best-selling novel by Lauren Oliver, Sam (Deutch, who resembles a younger Rose Byrne) lives her last day on February the 12th, Cupid Day, which is the equivalent of our Valentine’s Day. It is a day that Sam relives, over and over again, as she tries to piece together exactly what happened to her whilst righting any wrongs she finds along the way.
BEFORE I FALL stumbles into cinemas sporting good intentions – tackling the important issue of teen bullying and the often devastating impact it can have on its victims. Despite this, the importance of the key themes in this GROUNDHOG DAY style movie are unfortunately hindered by a rather lacklustre screenplay.
After an enticing opening, the first hiccup BEFORE I FALL has occurs very early in proceedings when it becomes quite obvious where the story is heading. Had that occurred in the next act, this wouldn’t be too much of a problem. Instead, too much screen time is squandered on developing stereotyped characters and their friendships, relationships, flings etc. which make the film more trivial than I’m sure is intended. In doing so, the thematically predictable outcomes lose momentum and some worth by being delayed to the finale. Another blemish lies in its ability to convince. Sure enough, we have a dead girl talking to us. What is there we need to be convinced of? But as it turns out, even accepting this flimsy film premise for what it is has its own facts that are hard to swallow sometimes.
If you need another reason in addition to its meaningful theme to give BEFORE I FALL a go, then look no further than its setting – the Pacific North-West of America, which is beautifully and hauntingly captured – and its rather infectious music score. The film depends heavily upon both of these characteristics and they certainly do work to its favour when the screenplay is stuck in a rut.
2 ½ stars
Viewer Discretion/ M (mature themes involving drinking, sexuality and bullying, all involving teens. Also contains some violent images and coarse language)
Trailer / BEFORE I FALL
Moviedoc thanks Village Roadshow and Village Cinemas, Jam Factory for the screening invite to this film.
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