“Maybe you can afford to wait. Maybe for you there's a tomorrow. Maybe for you there's one thousand tomorrows, or three thousand, or ten, so much time you can bathe in it, roll around it, let it slide like coins through you fingers. So much time you can waste it. But for some of us there's only today. And the truth is, you never really know.” -Lauren Oliver, Before I Fall
The quote above is just one of the many fascinating and heartfelt lines you can find within the pages of Lauren Oliver's book "Before I Fall." The book tells the story of Samantha Kingston, a girl who seems to have it all: perfect boyfriend, awesome friends, good grades, an exquisite social life, etc. But it's all taken away from her when she's in a car accident and is forced to relive the day over and over again.
I first read the book during the summer after my freshman year of high school, and it seriously changed my life. But what I've been waiting all this time for is the movie. FOX 2000 Pictures had the rights to it first back in 2011, but it must've fallen through because I didn't hear anything else about it for the next five years. Since it's my all-time favorite novel, five years is a long time for me. But finally, it was picked up by Awesome Films and was filmed in December of 2015.
The film follows Sam (Zoey Deutch) and her friends like Lindsay (Halston Sage), along with her boyfriend and the rest of her peers in the day of February 12 (aka "Cupid Day"), where valograms are sent around with roses to celebrate Valentine's Day. But what's most intriguing about the movie (the same with the book) is what happens after the day is over. After the accident, everything changes for Sam. She wakes up in the same day and is forced to see herself in a new light each time.
The film focuses on the choices we make as people, and how those choices effect us as well as the people around us. It's very much about death/dying (the car accident, plus mentions of suicide) but it's more about a celebration of life. About how we should soak up all the life we can, and that we never really know when our last day will be. The movie showcases the importance of the everyday, and how even the ordinary can be truly meaningful for us.
Pair those deep lessons with some drama and romance, and you've got a perfect movie in my opinion. Plus the actors are fairly established and even the newcomers have some interest. And if you check out the trailer here, you'll see exactly what I just described above.
So seriously, come March 3rd, do yourself a favor and check out this film. You won't be disappointed.
