How I Live Now

Beautifully constructed, and always wistful, this enchanting little film features hard choices (not always wise ones), an air of dread and strong acting. Ronan centers the film as her character goes from cranky kid to driven survivor. The failure to explain the background in more detail is not a failure at all. It is not relevant for anything more than was portrayed. It just gets the story started. This is about the characters and their will to survive.

There aren't many wrongs here and the film's refusal to fix all problems increases the sense of loss and admiration for the courage of Ronan's character. Well done.

How I Live Now is an interesting look at what happens to a group of young people who are left to fend for themselves once World War 3 breaks out. The main character is a self obsessed girl visiting from America, who has to grow up in a hurry once her and her cousins are rounded up and separated by the army. The cousins all vow to make their way back to their house no matter where they are taken. This story is fairly well made, with equal time spent developing characters and allowing the story to unfold. The acting is good for the most part, with Saoirse Ronan doing a terrific job in the main role. Although it sometimes seems a little too unbelievable in parts, overall this post apocalyptic film strives for a smaller more intimate portrayal of the aftermath, and does a decent job accomplishing just that. 3 Beards Out Of 5

Daisy (Saoirse Ronan) is a young, broody, moody, American girl who is sent to stay with extended family in the English countryside. At first cynical about her summer arrangements and outwardly cold towards her jolly hosts, slowly she begins to thaw to their hospitable nature and thus begins to discover something within herself in this new setting – a home away from home. But just as she finds her place in the world, an unthinkable event occurs and everything is thrown into turmoil. In a World War III type scenario, she is taken away from those she now considers family in the first and with only the companionship of her young cousin Piper (Harley Bird), she must journey back across the warn torn English countryside, to the place she wants to call Home.

It's a curious pick n' mix type story that in some ways feels like two genres melded together. The immediate narrative feels very much like a teen 'chick flick', but this is played out over a dark backdrop that at times feels course and close to the bone.

To me, the running commentary of Daisy the American girl, outlining her disciplined set of rules and paranoia, felt a little cheesy in its attempt to force home the difference between English and American culture. So too do some of the romanticised elements of country living, such as the young fourteen year old cousin (Tom Holland) who drives without a license, or the dashing older cousin (George MacKay) who raises eagles and will suck the dirt out of a bloody cut. It's a pity because I felt some of the subtler signifiers, such as the character of the motherly aunt (Anna Chancellor), or indeed the setting of the old country home with it's beautiful but cluttered wood interior and the backdrop of rolling English countryside, spoke a thousand words that other forced elements could only ever hope to convey. In this way I felt the scenario in itself, a city girl living in the countryside, should have been self explanatory.

If you can manage to overlook some of the hammier elements of the narrative, the movie really gets interesting in the build up, and realisation, to war. Movies about atrocities of war generally maintain a degree of separation for the Western World viewer because of differences in geographical location, time or culture. Whereas, where zombie movies may deal with scenarios in a world as we know it, again we feel separated by the fantastical suspension of disbelief that has to be made in order to accept a universe where zombies can walk the Earth. How I Live Now is set in a time, a world, a space that is starkly familiar to our own and so the degree of separation --that this could really happen to us!-- is only a small leap of faith. Indeed, the detached manner of the news reporters add a level of verisimilitude as they sound very much like reports we might see on our own t.v. screens on any given day. And so the rate and horror at which we see State structures deteriorate after the bomb is dropped, can be felt vicariously.

By actually detaching itself from the politics, How I Live Now manages to depict a faceless horror to war that is far more disturbing than if we had all the answers at the ready. We are never quite certain, for example, what spurred the bomb in the first place: if it was an invasion from abroad or a movement from within. Are the government forces that split Daisy from her male cousins simply making poor decisions on her behalf? We are left wondering who the real enemy is, but that doesn't really matter anyway, as soon we learn that even in a war of 'sides', those caught in the middle can only become victims. The pile of bodies that Daisy shifts through is a scene that echoes real life atrocities and dumps the reality at our door. The story is powerful in this way, because even though it speaks through a 'pop' veneer, still it touches upon the human condition. Our heroine cannot hope to change outcomes outright, but rather, in a grim reality, try only to traverse a topsy-turvy environment haphazardly.

So overall, does the movie work? Perhaps not entirely for the reasons I stated above. The over romanticised elements may prove too much for some. Again, we have some Lassie Come Home moments in the later half of the movie which bordered on cheese for me. And yet I can't help but feel drawn to this flick – I have to give it kudos for its attempt to nit 'realism' and romanticism together. It's a quirky number with genuine flavour and thus, despite my criticism, manages to stick out in the mind while other more generic movies fade away from memory.

Didn't know quite what to expect from this but was quickly captivated by this film. Saoirse Ronan gives a superb performance and really holds the film together. Initially its a fish out of water story about Saoirse Ronan's character, a difficult but intriguing American teen landing into an eccentric English rural family who live on a remote farm. She quickly starts to fall for her handsome cousin but then world events intervene as a nuclear device is detonated in London and the film shows them dealing with the new reality of soldiers at the door, mass evacuation and the family being split up. The depiction of what UK would be like under martial law, with guerrilla attacks, forced labor camps and a society breaking down was both chilling and fascinating. Ultimately, it becomes a survival story as Saoirse Ronan's character tries to get back to the farm and she has to make her way through the nightmarish landscape of an England descending into chaos. With a great soundtrack and many poignant moments, this is a well crafted film on all fronts. Recommended.

HOW I LIVE NOW is a poignant, disturbing, enthralling, and horrific film. Wonderful soundtrack and natural imagery that contrasts beautifully with the ugly and treacherous human world. Allegorical qualities: We don't know many of the specifics of who the terrorists are, the backgrounds of many characters, their full names, exact locations in Britain, etc. In those and many other respects, HILN is more for the heart than the head.

Good performance by Saoirse Ronan as Daisy, a brash, cantankerous, and troubled American teenager who is sent to live with some distant relatives in the English countryside. Ditto for the others who play the various teenagers and children. However, the relationship between Daisy and Eddie develops a bit suddenly and unconvincingly; with everything else that is happening here, the character development suffers. I have not yet read Meg Rosoff's original novel, but I would guess that it is yet another book that can never be done justice on screen. Nevertheless, I found this film well worth watching, and it should prove especially useful as a basic illuminator for the book.