MOVIE REVIEWS

Review by Filipe Manuel Neto

**A very well-made film, in which the biggest flaw is trying to make a teenage love eternal.** What happens after we die is one of the mysteries that has preoccupied the human race forever and remains unsolved. Of course, this will continue because Man's incessant search for more knowledge is doomed to hit insurmountable limits, barriers that we cannot penetrate. That is, despite his will, Man is not supposed to know everything. However, faith has proposed a lot of answers to the question of death, and there is not, I think, a single religion that does not defend the existence of life after the moment when the heart stops beating. What changes is what each religion and belief system proposes for that existence, and the way it seeks to advocate that proposal. We don't know what religion believed Tessa and Skylar, the two main characters in the film, which never touches on issues of faith or religion at any time. We only know about the teenage love story they live, during a very short period of time that ends suddenly, when they have an accident, he dies, and she is injured. Times later, she begins to notice strange things, which lead her to believe that her late boyfriend is trying to communicate with her. The script is good, the story is nice, we quickly see a strong influence of the movie “Ghost” in this cinematographic work, and much of the story takes place in flashback, but it is relatively easy for us to understand when they start and when they end. However, and despite the qualities, we have to recognize that the film does not bring anything new and that there are many overly sugary moments, in which the romance is served with excessive doses of sweetness and fussiness, normal for a teenage couple, but deeply irritating for the mentality of more adult and mature people. Let's face it, it was a summer dating! It was almost certainly not the great love of Tessa's life. I don't know that many couples who met each other in their teens and stayed together for all (or almost all) of their lives. It just doesn't happen on a regular basis, and it's difficult for us, however painful and traumatic the situation for the young girl may be, for her loss to be comparable to a mother who loses a child, or a child who loses her mother or something. And the supernatural and the existence of spirits or “ghosts” does not make sense to all people, even when their faith beliefs admit their existence. The protagonists are Kyle Allen and Joey King, two very young actors who still have a long way to go if they want to keep their careers active in the world of cinema and television. I can't say they didn't do well… in fact, considering their youth, they both seem to have done a very satisfying job, especially King, who has more screen time, better material and more experience as an actress. The chemistry between the two is also good, it works quite well and lends some credibility to their romance. There is, however, something missing, a spark of intensity and maturity. Technically, the film consistently relies on CGI and digital and computer-made special effects. It's something increasingly common, and dealing with a movie with a supernatural theme, it was difficult to escape it and avoid spending a good sum of money on good effects. I liked them, in general, especially the effect of the TV static, the mirror that breaks and the slow motion that follows (which reminded me of “Matrix” with their bullets). The bluish cloud that follows the car and that starts to drive it, after a certain moment, seemed to me cliché and exaggerated. The film makes use of a fairly regular cinematography, but well executed, with good colors and good lighting, and the editing was well done, giving the film a very safe and pleasant rhythm. The locations used for filming, the sets and the costumes are predictable, and the soundtrack is not memorable.