Day seventy-five: The Age of Adaline (May, 23)

I was curious but not actually excited to see The Age of Adaline. It looked like a good story, a nice movie, but... the risk of cheesiness was too high. I tried it anyway, though. 

And the movie has some major tricky issues, as a production, but the ups prevailed over the downs, and I had a smile during the most of its almost two hours. 

For me, the biggest problem here is the excess of explanations. It is a kind of SciFi story, for Gods sake. Consistency is important, of course, but the voice over narrator explaining every bit detail is nauseating. The explanation about why the main character no longer gets old is interesting, but was too much. The perpetual need of detailed explanation in Hollywood movies is something so old, they could have lost it by now. And it is even sickening in this movie. But the story is good, the performances are credible, the characters are enthralling, and that is some of the elements that lead to a good movie, despite other against aspects. 

Blake Lively carries her character in a contrite and soulful manner, and in doing that she is great. Michiel Huisman is Kira's father, so he can do whatever he wants (sorry GoT fans, I can't say much about Daario Naharis). His character is a sign of how romantic heroes are changing - and it has been like that for a time in literature. Of course, the guy is filthy rich, fit, über hot (and to think that poor fat ordinary people is still unworthy of love stories in popular fiction). But there are other features in him: smart (a genius actually), clumsy, honest, sweet, nerdy. Those were unusual characteristics for a romantic protagonist until a few years ago, but they are getting more and more common in romantic stories.

Am I being too obvious?

Sorry, but I think it's important to highlight my point on this  matter...

Ok. But in fact I want to say something more: Fantasy and SciFi fiction usually refer to fundamental aspects of life with their surreal tales. That's why they're so gripping. Here, the essential is how we fear living and falling in love, to one point that we stop to live at all - in this case, she stops aging. Until we dare to face what looked impossible and start living again. The universe also doesn't let us escape for much longer, I think, and it is beautifully pictured in the movie. However, once more, I must say: we could have faced less explanation here, because the better stories don't need it. The world they bring, the people they present us are suffice to tell all, when well told. But this movie couldn't dare to be that much, I guess.

The Age of Adaline. Directed by Lee Toland Krieger. With: Blake Lively,
Michiel Huisman, Harrison Ford. Writers: J. Mills Goodloe et al. US, 2015,
112 min., Auro 11.1/Dolby Digital/Dolby Atmos, Color (Cinema).