First of all i would not judge this film to strongly, since we're dealing with a sort of coming-of-age drama (although not being a real good excuse, right? producers..?).
When the drama starts of we land in a cliché high school, teenage drama with shy kissing and flat expositions of insecureness etc... The two protagonists are portrayed in their childhood. fair enough. but flat. really flat.
The initial moment of miscommunication between the two protagonists, which is supposed to serve as a foundation for the rest of the drama, is just one single moment of 'both-are-too-shy- to-speak-out-their-love'. It's just one moment, not very dramatic and way too thin to make them be insecure to each other for the rest of their twenties and thirties. From there they loose me...
Important moments, where drama could be cooking and ambivalent moments and intentions - which are the key element for drama - could be exposed, the writer just jumps over those moments and continues the story with only the consequences of that drama... and leaving me dissatisfied. It gives the film very irrational time-leaps. It's like me looking at my girlfriend saying: ...ehh...what just happened? Did i miss something? Contributing to this feeling is the horrible make-up. At some point the story takes a jump of 5 and guess what? Nobody changed. Literally. a few scenes further the make-up must have thought: 'shit, we forgot something!!' and suddenly, out of the blue, Collins has a few gray hairs behind the ears...
Altogether, this makes the flow of the movie slow and unbelievable. It makes the actors being mere puppets then initiators.
With that comes the very dissatisfying acting of Claflin and his love-affairs, as most of the other extra's. Collins stands alone and stands. She is, as far as i can judge, ready for a strong character drama. Promising lady!!
