If I Stay

Ratings: 7.1/10

Film Class: B

Genre: Romantic Drama

Mia Hall (Chloe Grace Moretz) is a talented cellist who has a bright future ahead of her, a happy and loving family, as well as a rising musician boyfriend. Basically her life was almost perfect, until a car accident threatened to take all that away from her. She has a choice, either to stay, or to leave the world. You would think it's an easy one to make, but circumstances made it to be a much harder choice for her.

There's some narrative from Mia, on-off back stories on her relationship with her passion (cello), her family and friends, and more importantly her boyfriend. 

If I Stay has an interesting plot, though cliché and rather predictable, it tells the love story of a seemingly mis-matched pair. Mia interest lies in classical music, whereas her boyfriend's in rock music. In fact, Mia's parents were once rock musicians. So I guess "rock" runs in her blood, and somehow she's attracted to "it". 

I recall a friend telling me once about how rock and classical music has many subtle similarities. I'm not a student of music history, but am sure it's no coincidence that there's such a genre of classical rock music. Not sure if it was the author's intention, (oh yeah, the movie is based on a novel if you don't already know that) but choosing to overthink it, classical and rock music might deceptively seem to be world's apart, paying homage to the saying that opposites attract, but in a way they're similar on many levels. 

It's a touching movie, proven by 4 weeping ladies (out of a possible 10) who shared the same cinema with us (and yes my wife was one of them) but I thought it lacked acting prowess which proved to be a detrimental deal breaker in this. It was one that could reach great potential, I was so ready to break down like a dramatic crybaby, hoping for that one scene to open that floodgate of tears that has been experiencing drought ever since I was the age of 10. *spoilers ahead* And that last scene could have done it, but because the male lead wasn't able to pull it off with the last song of his, doubled rummy-ied with the all too sudden awakening of Mia and the switching on of the theatre's lights, it felt anti climaxal. 

*warning, major spoilers ahead* Imagine that if he had been teary-eyed while singing the song which he had composed for Mia, with a husky voice, at the same time keeping his composure, it would certainly and definitely have made the guys cry too.

There were however 2 touching scenes which did sour my tear glands a little, one on the rooftop with her boyfriend reminiscing the day he first laid eyes on her, and the one where Mia's grandfather was beside her hospital bed telling her it was ok to let it. Personally, her grandfather, acted by Stacy Keach was the icing on the cake. The rest of the cast, unfortunately wasn't able to bring out the full potential of their roles. 

Chloe Grace Moretz is absolutely lovely to look at, but her stoic expressions were more fitting of a masked vigilante or a child vampiress. The male lead lacked a charisma that audience could cheer for and their on-screen chemistry fell short. 

Still it was a heart wrenching film, and audience could immerse themselves in the mood thanks to the melo-sounding cello (always works, worked then in the Japanese movie Departures, worked now in If I Stay).

I didn't like a couple of transition scenes,  you know how those scenes that are dark then suddenly turns bright the next scene which somewhat kinda hurts your eyes temporarily? Well, be prepared for 2 of these. And to make matters worst, there was something wrong with the sound towards the end of the movie, which I believe to be a fault of the theatre's and not the film itself. There was static in the background, which kinda hindered me from hurling my emotions forward. 

However, based on some scenes and spoken lines, it hinted as to how much better the novel might be. But since I'm not a reader, I'll have to say you should give this movie a go. Your tears would not be of regret, but of justified empathy.