Starring: Miles Teller, Shailene Woodley, Brie Larson.
The Spectacular Now, follows the life of a high school boy as he navigates through his life - that consists of break-ups, romances, parties, school, work, family issues and an alcohol dependency.
What I personally liked most about The Spectacular Now, was that it wasn't a tragic story. Although at times you thought the main male character was going to fuck over the good girl, he never did. At first it seems as though he's just using the good girl, maybe even unintentionally but it turns out he genuinely is just a legitimate good guy, which is so rare to see.
The Spectacular Now was such a peaceful film, in the sense that it seamlessly flowed from one scenario to another. It was so easy to watch and get caught up in, as it all seemed so natural and effortless. There was a sense of reality to it and I feel like this is because the story is only really focused on the relationship between Sutter (Teller) and Aimee (Woodley), which is very much like real life where the couple are in a whole world of their own.
The film, as well as being very realistic, gave a very accurate portrayal of life. We saw accurate emotions to situations that were happening. Nothing was too dramatic, even where it could have been and nothing was downplayed, everything seem very balanced and I think that is due to both the great script and acting skills. Just like the realistic portrayal and honesty of the relationship, the representation of the teenagers as a whole was very accurate also, which I feel makes the film more like-able.
Again, the script was something that played a huge part for me, it was so beautifully executed. The language used, the narrative and the simplicity of it all, combined with the incredible cinematography, created such a wholesome film. This is obviously a huge kudos to the novel by Tim Tharp.
The cinematography produced by Jess Hall, matched the films nonchalant vibe of the movies script. The shots were all very flowy and dreamy, yet very to the point. The scenes created were beautiful and innocent, especially Aimee's room, which I feel was set out perfectly to match her personality.
Also the colours used matched the films kind of aura, with bright tones at times but also very mellow and neutral tones.The scene captured were very freeing and spacious, especially as they used a lot of wide shots with big background noise but it was always very focused on the people rather than anything else. I feel this accurately represented the couple as a whole and that factor aligned faultlessly with the narrative.
As a whole, I very much enjoyed watching The Spectacular Now and seeing the acting of Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley for the first time. I was pleasantly surprised by how effortless it all seemed and the lack of gimmicks that the film included, I feel like it all added up to a very sincere and genuine production, which is definitely needed more these days. I would hugely recommend this film, especially for all those that have left school up to early thirties.
