Day thirty-four: What If (April, 12)

It would be fairly simple to talk about What If. Browsing the Netflix's titles, seeking for a movie to whach, I saw this movie with Daniel Radcliffe and Zoe Kazan. I've missed at the theaters, too afraid to get disapointed (after all, Harry Potter is not a lightly subject). But at sunday, April 12 I took a risk and decided to finally see it. 

I could say a lot of things about this smal sweet romantic comedy. It is previsible in many aspect, surpring in others. There's the awkward kind boy in a horrible moment of his life. There's a nice girl, perfect for him... except she has a living boyfriend of 5 years, which, of course, is a sort of an innocuous douchebag. I'm not breaking any anti-spoilers rules here. This plot is so well known that there's not much to spoil. Except for the little detais that make a the difference. 

But I'm not talking about them. What I want to mention is what turned this small sweet film in something that always will bring a smile to my face. 

Soon after Wallace (Hadcliffe) met Chantry (Kazan - terrible names, I know), he is in his favorite brooding place, the roof of his sister's house. The view is beautiful, it is a place where he can think about his mess of a life and all that. Again, there's not a big spoiler here. At this scene, he is staring at the paper in which Chantry has written her cel number. In its verse, there is the sketch of a kind of a fairy. He stares into it for sometime, until he releases the paper in the air. It floats, floats... until it got stuck in a tree branch, and suddenly it becames another thing. And it is so cute, that it brought a big smile to my face (that one that I'll relive everytime I refere to this movie).

But that is just the first part of my story with this film.  Thereupon, there's a close-up in a movie theater showing... The Princess Bride, one of my favorites films in the universe. Wallace, inside the theater, watching the first scenes of Rob Reiner's movie (one that I've talked about just three days ago) has (can you guess?) a smile on his face. The recognition before a story that brings him so many good memories is the same as mine. 

And from that point What If acquired another sense to me, even if it is sometimes a little slow or there are too many people falling from places (the first fall is too fun, though, and I couldn't stop laughing for a while). 

Ah, the last but not least: Toronto as Toronto itself (and not NY) is always a great set...as is the stunning Dublin. And the soundtrack is also cute, as the movie. 

Adam Driver as weird as ever: always good :)

Whati If (At Canada and England, it is called The F World). Directed by Michael Dowse.
With: Daniel Radcliffe, Zoe Kazan, Adam Driver. Writer: Elan Mastai and from the play by
T.J. Dawe  and Michael Rinaldi. Ireland/Canada, 2013, 98 min., Dolby Digital, Color (Netflix).

PS: A Zoe Kazan's movie that I love is Ruby Sparks, 2012, written by Zoe herself. It is an undervalued film, but it is an insightful view of the power of fiction (and dreams) in our lives.

PPS: Fragments: Daredevil, 2015 - season 1, episode 4.