How I Live Now
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, George McKay, Tom Holland, Harley Bird
Director: Kevin Macdonald
Rating: 4/5
How I Live Now marks the return of Kevin Macdonald not only to the director's chair, but also to live action movies.
His last movie was a documentary project, and so his last fiction film came in the form of The Eagle back in 2011.
How I Live Now is a big-screen adaptation of the Meg Rosoff novel of the same name and sees Macdonald back on fine form.
Set in the near-future UK, Ronan plays Daisy, an American teenager sent to stay with relatives in the English countryside.
Initially withdrawn and alienated, she begins to warm up to her charming surroundings, and strikes up a romance with the handsome Edmund (George MacKay).
But on the fringes of their idyllic summer days are tense news reports of an escalating conflict in Europe. As the UK falls into a violent, chaotic military state, Daisy finds herself hiding and fighting to survive.
How I Live Now is a movie that is flying under the radar a little this month, but it is a film that you just have to see.
You think you know what you are going to get with this movie after the first twenty minutes; a teenage love story where a young girl is brought out of her shell. But then the story takes you in a direction that you did not expect, as a dark edge creeps in.
How I Live Now really is a terrific watch from start to finish as you never know where it is going to take you next.
This is very different to any other 'teen' movie that you will have seen as there is an intensity and a danger in ever scene as the story starts to unfold.
Saoirse Ronan is on top for as Daisy; this is a strong and complex female character that she is really able to get her teeth into.
Daisy is a character that you could quite easily dislike - she is a real bitch early on.
However, Ronan strips back the outer layer of the character to show a very lonely young girl; she has been packed off to England by her father, who is concentrating on his new family.
At the beginning, Ronan plays her with enough likeablity so that when things get tough, we root for her to succeed.
George McKay also gives a great performance as Edmond, a teenager that desperately ties to protect his family.
I suppose Macdonald could have taken the intensity, darkness and violence a little further to truly make if an edge of your seat watch, but the movie doesn't suffer because he didn't.
How I Live Now is a coming of age that is as brutal as it is beautiful and is a movie not to be missed.
How I Live Now is released 4th October.