favorite movie #36: how i live now

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #36 - How I Live Now (2013) - Dystopian novels (quickly converted to film) have been a trend in the early 2010s. Some are better than others, but this film, How I Live Now, is a standout. Focusing less on a heroine who becomes a superhero fighting the Powers That Be, How I live Now follows Daisy, a pretty annoying American teenager who resents her family's efforts to send her to spend the summer with her English cousins. Like most kids her age, the big picture is not something she can immediately grasp. Daisy doesn't know how to react when her aunt, a terror analyst, is suddenly called away to London to deal with an impending threat. Daisy slowly and reluctantly starts to interact with her cousins Eddie, Isaac, and Piper. Eddie is closest to her in age, and the two are drawn together. Just as things seem to be getting fun, and even romantic, disaster strikes — Daisy and her cousins find themselves in the middle of a dangerous world war. The movie is filled with scenes of real beauty, ugliness, and sadness. It is memorable, and Saoirse Ronan's performance as Daisy is a stand-out.

Daisy (Saoirse Ronan) tunes out when she gets to the English countryside

A fun day in the country is interrupted by bomb fallout

The military separates men and women

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short take on how i live now

short take on ... how i live now

Every once in a while I see a movie that really captures my complete attention. That's saying a lot in the crazy frenetic, distracted world we live in. How I Live Now is a British film based on the 2004 YA novel of the same name by Meg Rosoff. The heroine, Daisy (Saoirse Ronan), is sent by her father to live with her cousins in the country. She is resentful and haughty, but it is slowly revealed that the country is in turmoil and her exile is actually an attempt to protect her from an impending war.

The sullen Daisy has no idea hoe good her life is at the moment

What looks like snow is actually something more sinister

Daisy falls for her cousin Eddie, and the movie works as a teen wartime romance while also delving into the deeper themes of loss, trust, and survival. All of the actors are excellent. The film is quiet and beautiful, which makes some of its depictions of wartime violence even more jarring than if it had been done in a standard action-adventure mode. How I Live Now is set in the British near-future, but its story has echoes of the WW2 and other past conflicts. Its the sort of film that will grow more meaningful on subsequent viewings.