Based on the novel ‘Our Chemical Hearts’ by Krystal Sutherland, filmmaker Richard Tanne, who adapts the book and directs, crafts an engrossing, deeply moving tale of love and loss in teenage America.
Chemical Hearts revolves around the character of Henry Page (Austin Abrams), a motivated teenager who is a hopeless romantic despite never falling in love himself. He bags himself the coveted position as the editor of his high school newspaper as he enters his senior year. Early into the new semester he also meets Grace (Lili Reinhart), and almost instantly is attracted to her. She’s seemingly different to the others; she’s beautiful, intelligent, unconforming, and utterly elusive. There’s more mystery to her too; she walks with a cane, wears oversized clothes, and wanders off to an unknown place after school. She is also chosen to work on the newspaper, bringing them even closer together with Henry slowly falling for Grace despite her consistent resistance due to a tragic secret she’s holding from him.
Chemical Hearts has all the knockings of a typical teen tearjerker in the vein of Six Feet Apart or the previous The Fault In Our Stars, but Richard Tanne’s film, and clearly the source material on which it is based, has a very different tone and message. While the movie follows the favoured formula, Chemical Hearts shifts away from physical health an love in the glaring face of a definite end – as in those two aforementioned pieces – and focuses more on previous loss mental health, all the while coupled with the angst of teenage life as the two characters deal with the turmoil of the latter days of school, their evolving bodies and wounded hearts as they approach adulthood. While sometimes the story sways into the trappings of the nature of the genre, it doesn’t completely conform and offers enough to keep even those who aren’t the target audience absorbed to the very end.
The two actors at the centre of the piece are exceptional as Henry and Grace, Lili Reinhart particularly delivering a heart-breaking performance as the latter, while there are excellent turns from the supporting cast also.
An endearing tale of first love amid devastating loss that will remain with most viewers long after the credits roll.
Chemical Hearts
Summary
A well-staged tale of first love amid devastating loss with excellent performance from its central cast.
Chemical Hearts is released on Amazon Prime Video on 21st August 2020.
