Objectively, I should have been bored by this movie, but it did not, not really, leaving me surprised in the positive sense. Nothing much does happen, in fact, but still the stories progress all the time. Nevertheless, the half hour spent with grieving Colton felt for me as a bit on the edge. I don't think this could happen in the real world, at least not lasting that long, given school staff with good intensions, and fellow students eager to be helpful but not knowing how.
About the movie itself I am confused. Didn't we see two stories, and thus two films?? This question is complicated by the undisputable fact that school, landscape, and other "décor" pieces (bridges, train rails, a house being built but seemingly abandoned, and so on), are obviously common and effectively employed in both stories. And of course, Whitney's diary that Colton found, and villagers searching for Whitney as observed by Colton. I assume this was all intentional. However, if that is the case, I would rather have sequenced the scenes differently, or at least given both respective stories a balanced amount of running time.
Prior to booking tickets, I was a bit hesitant by the words "magical realism" appearing in nearly all reviews. But it did not bother my watching experience, after all. Maybe the dead black cat in the first half, getting a nice burial ritual provided by Kyle and Colton, yet miraculously reappearing near the finale in living form (no one says it is the very same cat, but the suggestion cannot be overlooked), meant something along that line??
Anyway, it's all about friendship, loss, grief, loneliness, being an adolescent, and other real-world problems, more of less mixed into the plot (two plots??). All these topics will be recognized by everyone, albeit for each in a different way, dependent on their own past and expectations.
This movie is technically well made, but we are left on our own devices to draw a conclusion or to obtain a morale or message from what happened. At least, I for myself am still looking for a morale or a message. For me it has not enough substance to recommend it to friends, but (disclaimer) I'm a nerd without feelings, so my judgment may be of little value. Finally, I'm at a loss at understanding the title, apart from those same words repeatedly sprayed in graffiti by Kyle and Colton.
