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THE FAULT IN OUR STARS
An unusual love story anchored by a couple of genuine movie star performances makes the 2014 drama The Fault in our Stars a stylish and life-affirming cinematic journey worth taking.
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This is the story of Hazel Grace Lancaster, a teenager with a special form of lung cancer that forces her to carry an oxygen tank with her wherever she goes, though she doesn't go to too many places due to a depression she has sunk into that has her pretty much confined to her home reading the same book over and over again. Shoved into a cancer support group by her mother, Hazel catches the eye of Augustus Waters, who lost part of his leg a year before the story begins, to his own form of cancer. Augustus carefully broaches a relationship with Hazel by reading the book of which she is so enamored, which eventually leads to the pair making a trip to Amsterdam to meet the author.
Neither your average love story nor your average disease of the week movie, screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber have constructed a story that is a little self-indulgent and has the occasional slow spot, but offers some pointed observations about living with a terminal disease, some of which that aren't usually dressed in a story of this ilk, primarily that the person suffering from said disease can get pretty much anything they want from their caregivers and they are keenly aware of this, even if they don't always take advantage of it. As we all know, the process of death is allegedly divided into five parts: anger, denial, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Our protagonists are definitely in different stages of this process. Hazel is still experiencing anger but is primarily in the depression stage while Augustus appears to be in acceptance of what is happening to him.
The different places where these two young people are is made clear from jump: Hazel wants to talk about what she's going through and Augustus wants to talk about anything but...it was refreshing that even from the first second he lays eyes on Hazel, Augustus doesn't see the oxygen tank or the tubing she must always wear in order to breathe. I love that even though Augustus is smitten from the beginning, he doesn't work too hard at getting this girl to lighten up but is unable to conceal his true feelings at the same time.
Don't get it twisted though...as obvious as the direction of this story travels, there are a couple of uncomfortable and unexpected detours that we don't see coming, especially Hazel's long-awaited face to face meeting with her literary idol, that provided an added layer of tension to this already complex story.
As mentioned, there are a couple slow spots, but director Josh Boone holds our attention through the performances of the leads. Shailene Woodley, so memorable as George Clooney's daughter in The Descendents is luminous as Hazel, a character who is an uncanny blend of china doll fragility and lion-like ferociousness. Ansel Elgort is equally charismatic as Augustus and mention should also be made of Laura Dern, who plays Hazel's mother. Dern is becoming one of those actresses who I'm beginning to think is incapable of giving a bad performance. Which reminds me, I also found it refreshing that Hazel and Augustus' parents were completely behind their relationship, which I guess should have been expected, because these parents wanted whatever their children wanted. And let's not forget a showy turn from Willem Dafoe as the author of Hazel's favorite book. A lovely film experience that offers hope and grins.
An unusual love story anchored by a couple of genuine movie star performances makes the 2014 drama The Fault in our Stars a stylish and life-affirming cinematic journey worth taking.
This is the story of Hazel Grace Lancaster, a teenager with a special form of lung cancer that forces her to carry an oxygen tank with her wherever she goes, though she doesn't go to too many places due to a depression she has sunk into that has her pretty much confined to her home reading the same book over and over again. Shoved into a cancer support group by her mother, Hazel catches the eye of Augustus Waters, who lost part of his leg a year before the story begins, to his own form of cancer. Augustus carefully broaches a relationship with Hazel by reading the book of which she is so enamored, which eventually leads to the pair making a trip to Amsterdam to meet the author.
Neither your average love story nor your average disease of the week movie, screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber have constructed a story that is a little self-indulgent and has the occasional slow spot, but offers some pointed observations about living with a terminal disease, some of which that aren't usually dressed in a story of this ilk, primarily that the person suffering from said disease can get pretty much anything they want from their caregivers and they are keenly aware of this, even if they don't always take advantage of it. As we all know, the process of death is allegedly divided into five parts: anger, denial, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Our protagonists are definitely in different stages of this process. Hazel is still experiencing anger but is primarily in the depression stage while Augustus appears to be in acceptance of what is happening to him.
The different places where these two young people are is made clear from jump: Hazel wants to talk about what she's going through and Augustus wants to talk about anything but...it was refreshing that even from the first second he lays eyes on Hazel, Augustus doesn't see the oxygen tank or the tubing she must always wear in order to breathe. I love that even though Augustus is smitten from the beginning, he doesn't work too hard at getting this girl to lighten up but is unable to conceal his true feelings at the same time.
Don't get it twisted though...as obvious as the direction of this story travels, there are a couple of uncomfortable and unexpected detours that we don't see coming, especially Hazel's long-awaited face to face meeting with her literary idol, that provided an added layer of tension to this already complex story.
As mentioned, there are a couple slow spots, but director Josh Boone holds our attention through the performances of the leads. Shailene Woodley, so memorable as George Clooney's daughter in The Descendents is luminous as Hazel, a character who is an uncanny blend of china doll fragility and lion-like ferociousness. Ansel Elgort is equally charismatic as Augustus and mention should also be made of Laura Dern, who plays Hazel's mother. Dern is becoming one of those actresses who I'm beginning to think is incapable of giving a bad performance. Which reminds me, I also found it refreshing that Hazel and Augustus' parents were completely behind their relationship, which I guess should have been expected, because these parents wanted whatever their children wanted. And let's not forget a showy turn from Willem Dafoe as the author of Hazel's favorite book. A lovely film experience that offers hope and grins.