Vertigo Releasing
Taking a leaf out of The Fault In A Stars’ tear-jerking teen playbook, Five Feet Apart is the latest young-adult drama to tug at our heart-strings, a largely absorbing romantic tale about two people living with terminal CF (cystic fibrosis) who fall in love in hospital.
Haley Lu Richardson is Stella Grant, a seventeen-year-old living with CF, confined to an American treatment room. She largely governs herself, carefully, meticulously arranging her med cart, creating lists in a hand-written form in a notebook while pounding away on a keyboard creating apps in her room, and also constantly updating her followers on her condition and treatment with social video posts on YouTube. She meets Cole Sprouse’s fellow CF sufferer Will, a rebellious artist who has been fortunate to land himself a spot on a drug trial. The two find an immediate attraction between them, a spark igniting and eventually, following initial resistance from both sides, fall in love. There is one issue – they aren’t allowed to touch, or even be within six feet of one another as the cross-contamination that could occur, would be fatal for or both of them. However, the relationship continues to blossom and romantically, if not physically, the two are drawn closer together. The film charts that relationship, the pitfalls and the possibilities, the agony, and the ecstasy, the threat of loss and the dreams of hope in a world which initially didn’t seem possible.
Related: The Fault In Our Stars review
There have been many similar films to this in the ‘young adult medical romantic drama’ sub-genre in the last few years. As well as the obvious comparison to The Fault In Our Stars, there is also the likes of Everything, Everything, and even the Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin-led British movie Me Before You. All have been very successful, but there’s something extra in this particular effort that really grabbed me. Sure, the film is of a similar ilk to the aforementioned, but although the medical storyline is front and centre, the metaphor for any obstacle – be it distance, whatever – between a relationship endears one to it more, and relate to it massively. It hooks you in from the off and despite a long-running time at nearly two hours, engrossed until the very end.
Sure, it is a little predictable in places and does follow a specific formula, but most movies of this kind do, and when a particular formula does work, why divert? The key to it all working is investing with the two characters at the core of the story, and with such wonderful performances from the likes of Sprouse and particularly Richardson in a break-out role, it’s something that naturally happens.
Justin Baldoni, who has carved careers out as both an actor and documentary filmmaker brings something real to proceedings, drawing out an authentic, devastating and ultimately beautiful story from a superb screenplay by Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis. Compelling, wonderfully staged, devastating, touching, and surprisingly uplifting. Highly recommended.
Extras
We reviewed the film on iTunes where extras included ‘An Artists’s Eye,’ a short look into Will’s artistic social commentary; his drawings seen in the film and how it is used to develop the character and in the story. It features interviews with director Baldoni, and Caesar Meadows, who provided the actual drawings. The collaboration between Meadows and Cole Sprouse, who plays Will. Grace Kelsey, who provided Abby’s artwork, is also featured.
There’s also a second six-minute featurette titled ‘Attention To Detail’ which focusses on director Baldoni’s work with CF sufferer Claire Wineland who served as a consultant on the movie. There’s also inside info from fellow consultant and medical nurse Cynthia Legendre.
There are ten minutes of deleted scenes, another six and a half minutes of raw on-set footage and then a more detailed 18-minute ‘fan event’ – an insightful look behind the scenes of the making of the movie.
To round things off nicely there is also a full commentary from director Justin Baldoni. An excellent set of features the movie deserves.
The one thing lacking is the existance of a Blu-ray so for who want it in HD will have to look for the digital version on your preferred platforms.
Five Feet Apart is out now on DVD and digital.
