Delightful drama

When a new literary cultural phenomenon takes the world by storm, it’s a fair bet that Hollywood will get its grubby mitts on it and follow up with a movie to cash-in.

That is the case here as John Green’s The Fault In Our Stars, dubbed ‘the new Twilight’ gets the celluloid treatment. Thankfully, despite a few niggling flaws, it’s a much better movie than its vampire-themed counterpart.

The story takes place in the heart of Indianapolis, US, where 16-year-old Hazel Grace Lancaster (Woodley) is struggling to cope with terminal thyroid cancer that has spread to her lungs.

Believing her to be depressed, Hazel’s mother eventually convinces her to attend a cancer patients’ support group at a local church in an attempt to make friends before the inevitable.

At the support group, Hazel meets Augustus Waters (Elgort) and the two instantly bond and share their experiences of cancer. Augustus has osteosarcoma, which despite being in remission, has led to his leg being amputated.

When they part after the first day, they each task each other with reading the other’s favourite novel. Augustus reads An Imperial Affliction by Peter Van Houten (Dafoe), a book which Hazel strongly relates to as the central character parallels her struggles with cancer.

However, he is left frustrated by Van Houten’s decision to end the novel mid-sentence. Hazel reveals that after publication, the author had retreated to Amsterdam and had not been heard from since.

The two eventually track down Van Houten, and the film follows their trip to Amsterdam and beyond, where they learn to deal with the reality of their condition and the true meaning of love and making use of the time you have left.

The strongest aspect of this film is the acting. It is consistently superb; the two leads in particular convey all the emotions one would expect while trying to come to terms with such a horrible disease.

I would not be surprised at all to see Woodley getting an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Hazel. She brings such courageous defiance and emotional vulnerability in equal measure to her role, and you frequently find yourself forgetting that she is a perfectly healthy actress in front of a camera.

The dialogue is also strong, which is no doubt thanks to the abundance of source material to pick from. When the characters interact, it feels like we’re eavesdropping on a real-life conversation rather than a script. There’s none of the overblown melodrama or forced sympathy that often plagues movies like this, and it is credit to the scriptwriters that they allow the character’s relationships to breathe.

The score also fulfils its purpose with aplomb. Soft piano notes resonate during the more emotional interchanges, while a more upbeat tempo accompanies the happier moments, but never so intrusively as to distract us from the events on screen.

Unfortunately, the film has some notable flaws. The most striking is the long-running time. Clocking in at over two hours, it is in severe need of some judicious trimming.

The director seems to have been too wary of an inevitable backlash from screaming fan-girls enraged at scenes being taken out of the book. Therefore, scenes tend to drag on much longer than necessary and there’s some excess fluff which would be much better served on the cutting room floor for pacing reasons.

The casting of Augustus is also a little off, with Elgort’s boy-band-ish looks being just too perfect. His mannerisms and delivery err too strongly on the side of cocky and irritating than charming.

Occasionally, the film overplays the drama and the emotion when more subtlety or even levity is required. It unashamedly aims for your tear ducts with laser accuracy and yet struggles to retain its focus.

Overall though, this is a solid film and a trip to the cinema offers a perfect opportunity for men to get in their better half’s good books this Ramadan.

Despite the fact it could have done with better editing, the film manages to carry its strong emotional weight competently while delivering one of the strongest acting performances of the year.

And yes, it’s a better love story than Twilight.

* Showing in Cineco, Seef I, Seef II, Saar Cineplex