How I Live Now

HOW I LIVE NOW

Director : Kevin McDonald

Year : 2013

Genre : Thriller

Rating : **

Despite it's good cast and high quality production values, 'How I Live Now' is a very disappointing and rather obnoxious apocalyptic thriller from the usually flawless Kevin McDonald. Based on the best selling novel by Meg Rosoff and starring Saoirse Ronan, 'How I Live Now' tells the story of 4 children who have to learn to survive in a war torn Britain that has been attacked by unknown terrorists and while the film features a number of powerfully violent scenes and moments of extremely distressing imagery, the movie itself is a very bland affair that purely relies on our fears of nuclear holocaust and the political state of our planet right now to generate any kind of thrills or scares. The cast work well and the direction is perfectly serviceable  but as a piece of seemingly portentous cinema, 'How I Live Now' falls flat on it's face thanks to a dreary screenplay, poor narrative pacing, basic archetypal characterisations and a dull romantic subplot that would better suited to a grade b teenage chick flick rather than a violent and oppressive thriller. I like Kevin McDonald as a director and I really like Saoirse Ronan as an actress, but the good aspects of the picture are far outweighed by the bad and boy, are there lots of them.

Set in the not too distant future, Daisy (Ronan), a young neurotic American girl is on holiday in England to visit her aunt and her 3 cousins. At first, Daisy is reluctant to interact with anyone, but as the relationships with her family begin to grow and a romance begins to flourish between her and her eldest cousin Edmond, the third world war suddenly breaks out in London. Before they fully readjust to life in a destroyed country, the family are split up by the army and the three boys are taken away to fight. The film then chronicles the death defying cross - country journey Daisy and her youngest cousin take to reunite with her relatives and the boy she loves.

Best known for his Oscar winning drama 'The Last King Of Scotland' and his astonishing music documentary 'Marley', Kevin McDonald has become known as one of the best and most successful British directors working in cinema today. However, all of the talent shown in his previous movies is sort of lost in this dreary and conventional story and sadly, his fantastic visual eye and brilliant camera work fail to save 'How I Live Now' from the quagmire it slowly sinks in to. The main problem I have with the movie is that I could not bring myself to believe in any of the actions of the characters and the situations they are put in. I do not believe that our country could be so easily destroyed and that the army would suddenly come in and kidnap all of the men to fight in a war, I just don't. Maybe the book tries to tell a seemingly ominous and 'this could happen' story, but I have far too much faith in our government and my country as a whole that I know that we could overcome this sort of disaster. Painting a world where all authority figures are essentially evil and men become murderous rapists, 'How I Live Now' is a profoundly bleak film that fails to deliver anything more than a rather obnoxious scenario and a climax that is far from satisfying. Yes, there is a romantic subplot that is meant to carry the film through, but even that is so generic and conventional that it fails to hold our interest and drags the picture down to a snail's pace.

While the acting is good, the chemistry between the characters is pretty unconvincing and the aforementioned romance seems tacked on and only included to attract the young teenage demograph who are much more inclined towards the 'Twilight' and 'Beautiful Creatures' franchises. Saoirse Ronan who is usually such an accomplished actress is very unlikable as a sarky and reclusive teenager, who seems much more at home sitting in a corner listening to her 'death to the world' music rather than socialising with her perfectly friendly and likable family. It's not until the boring romantic subplot kicks in that her character develops any sense of emotion or likability and I think that this proves that authors and filmmakers only believe that teenage girls are truly happy when they fall in love. Who needs education, friends or family? As long as you have a dull romance with a very typical male jock stereotype, all will be all right. I hate this ideology and I wish that book writers and scriptwriters will stop using this now highly conventional narrative string. We have seen every sort of teenage romance on screen now and 'How I Live Now' gives us absolutely nothing new to invest in.

The other kids are nice enough and each are pretty good at giving us rounded characterisations and believable  likability. Tom Holland who was so jaw droppingly good in 'The Impossible' is charismatic as Isaac, the second eldest cousin and whose naive vulnerability provides 'How I Live Now' with the more emotional and tragic moments. Harley Bird is incredibly sweet as the young and impressionable Piper, whose innocence and childlike positivism gives the film some much needed heart and while playing a completely generic archetype, Corey Johnson is personable enough as the love interest Edmond.

While the cross country journey itself showcases some beautiful scenery and the best countryside that Britain has to offer, the pacing and the overall tone of the movie is so dreary and slow that the imagery isn't enough to recommend 'How I Live Now'. The story of a group of kids crossing a war torn country was better told in the far superior German war drama 'Lore' and the sluggish love plot purely feels like intended audience pandering. I hope that filmmakers will realise that teenagers, especially girls are far more interested in great plots and captivating characters than a conventional romance and two dimensional, cardboard cut - out archetypes. While not as bad as 'Beautiful Creatures' or 'The Host', 'How I Live Now' is still a very cumbersome watch that tries to hide it's faults with an unrealistic and obnoxious war thriller to little effect.