The Boy Downstairs review: Heart wrenching and laugh-out-loud funny, this coming of age romantic comedy is about two people finding themselves, in love and in life.
The Boy Downstairs review by Tina Baraga.
The Boy Downstairs review
After a few years in London, aspiring writer Diana (Zosia Mamet) moves back to her hometown of New York City for a fresh start. On the first night in her new apartment she comes across a daunting realisation. She has moved into the same building as her ex-boyfriend Ben (Matthew Shear), who she left before moving to London.
Shocked and confused, Diana attempts a friendship with Ben, but comes across many obstacles, including his new girlfriend Meg (Sarah Ramos), a real estate agent who coincidently also let Diana her new flat, as well as Ben’s obvious lingering feelings for her. Ultimately it is her own feelings that Diana ends up confronting, proving that you can move continents but you cannot escape your true emotions.
As much a film about love and relationships, The Boy Downstairs is also about growing up and finding yourself at the crossroads of your childhood dreams and the harsh realities of adulthood. The same questions you ask yourself about a relationship are also the worries that lay heavy on your dreams and aspirations. What if I/we don’t make it? What if it just isn’t meant to be? What if I/we fail?
The Boy Downstairs review
It is these doubts and fears that Diana’s character grapples with throughout, albeit in her own quintessentially charismatic and awkwardly funny way and with the help of her landlady Amy (Deirdre O’Connell), who quickly becomes a substitute mother figure to Diana’s young confused mind. “You can’t not go for what you really want because you are scared of not getting it”, she tells Diana in one moving scene.
By writing characters that are awkward, indecisive, full of dreams and simultaneously scared out of their wits, first time director and writer Sophie Brooks (Maple Leaves) has created a film that is relatable and down to earth. What starts off as a dramedy about two exes awkwardly rekindling their relationship leads to a much deeper and more profound story about growing up and trusting yourself. The Boy Downstairs is a coming of age story for the millennial generation.
The Boy Downstairs review by Tina Baraga.
The Boy Downstairs is released in UK cinemas on Friday 8th June 2018.
