Thursday, August 13, 2015

Paper towns

--> Direction: Jake Schreier;  Cast: Nat Wolff, Cara Delevigne, Halstone Sage, Austine Abrams; Story: based on Paper Towns by John Green; Screenplay: Scott Neustadter, Michael Weber; Cinematography: David Lanzenberg;  Editing: Jacob Craycroft; Music: John Debnet, Son Lux; Producers: Marty Bowen, Wyck Godfrey; Genre: Mystery- Teen Romance:  Location: Florida – New York, USA; Distributor: 20th Century Fox Running Time:109 minutes

Technical Assessment: 3
Moral Assessment: 2.5 stars
MTRCB Rating: PG13
CINEMA Rating: V14

            Nerdy Quentin (Wolff) has been obsessed with his next door mysterious childhood friend Margo (Delevigne) but they have slowly drifted apart because of their opposite personalities. One night, Margo appears at Q’s – Margo’s pet name for Quentin – bedroom window and convinces him to help her take revenge on her cheating boyfriend and her bestfriend. Since Q still has feelings for her, he agrees and discovers the rush and thrills of breaking the rules and spending time with his long time crush. However, Margo disappears the following day. Q and his friends, believing Margo left for them clues to find her, follow a series of leads until New York. On the road trip, Q and friends discover certain aspects of Margo’s personality. After a while, Q’s friends head back to Florida to make it in time for their high school prom, while Q remains to search for Margo and when he finally bumps into her, he discovers that the image he had of her was as unreal as the paper towns in maps.
            Paper Towns is an adaptation of John Green’s bestselling novel intended as a coming of age romance but ended on the big screen as story about friendship, thanks to the enigmatic chemistry of the supporting actors playing Q’s friends who deliver their lines with power and hilarity to create several quotable quotes. The pacing is a little slow for comfort and music is used to fill the emotional gaps which the movie does not deliver. Performances are believable but not engaging enough. John Schreier’s interpretation is acceptable but nowhere near memorable.
            There is one clear cut message in the film: don’t be deceived by looks or packaging. Q is in love with his idea of Margo and fails to read who she really is. Margo’s character is a glorified perception of teenage angst and emotional fashion while all she is is a confused broken girl. Especially for teenagers who are easily swayed by the glittering lights of fame and promise of popularity, the film serves as a good reminder for them to be discerning and honest. That being said, there are a lot of disvalues presented: revenge, permissiveness and apathy, teenage sex and substance abuse. In fact, CINEMA’s main question in the entire film: where are all the parents while high schoolers do all the things they do in the film. Parents are cautioned to make sure a responsible adult accompanies their young children when watching the film.