Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

How I Live Now Blu-ray Movie Review

Love on the Run

Reviewed by Michael Reuben February 13, 2014

How I Live Now is a coming-of-age story set in a world that initially appears to be the present but gradually reveals itself as a dystopian near-future. The film's sixteen-year-old heroine (fifteen in author Meg Rosoff's 2004 novel) feels, as most teens do, that her life is overwhelmed by forces that seem earth-shattering to her, while the rest of the world ignores her anguish. But when truly earth-shattering events do occur, she and everyone she knows are equally caught up in something much bigger than they can possibly understand. Only then does the young heroine truly begin to discover herself.

Three screenwriters labored to refashion Rosoff's novel for the screen, a tricky assignment because the novel relied on the distinctive tone of its first-person narration. Director Kevin Maconald (The Last King of Scotland) wanted to focus on the novel's underlying love story, while still conveying the full scale of its epic events. Macdonald initially planned to cast the film with unknowns and, during a long development process, auditioned many teenage actresses. But one person stuck in the back of his mind: Irish prodigy Saorise Ronan, who was nominated for an Oscar at thirteen for Atonement.

By the time the script was completed to Macdonald's satisfaction, Ronan was eighteen and had compiled impressive credits playing a ghost (The Lovely Bones), a vampire (Byzantium), an assassin (Hanna) and the victim of an invading alien (The Host). She was both the right age and eager for a role as a "normal" teen, albeit one in extraordinary circumstances. Macdonald carefully surrounded his star with a strong cast and precisely constructed scenes, but it is Ronan who keeps your eyes glued to the screen in How I Live Now. She disappears completely into her character without losing the indefinable fascination that makes someone a natural movie star.

In a nod to the novel's first-person voice, we hear young Daisy (Ronan) before we see her. Daisy isn't her real name, but it's what she's chosen to call herself. Inside her head is a discordant chorus of conflicting voices spouting fragments from different conversations, most of them angry. It's an effective introduction to the resentful girl with the look-at-me wardrobe and the keep-away scowl who disembarks in London after a flight from New York. Decked out with bleached blond hair, heavy eye liner and facial piercings, Daisy is met by her easygoing fourteen-year-old English cousin, Isaac (Tom Holland, The Impossible), who jams her into the filthy front seat of a truck (or "caravan") and begins the long drive to the farmhouse of her English Aunt Penn (Anna Chancellor).

Daisy has been packed off for the summer by her American father, her mother having died in childbirth and her relationship with her father's second wife being less than cordial. Her English cousins, Isaac, eighteen-year-old Eddie (George McKay) and ten-year-old Piper (Harley Bird), are excited to meet their American relative for the first time. Daisy does not share the enthusiasm. She is even less thrilled when the overeager dog of her cousins' friend and constant companion, Joe (Danny McEvoy), knocks her down at the gate to the house.

Gradually, though, Daisy warms to her new surroundings, her shell pierced by her younger cousins' unflagging good cheer and their refusal to accept her sullen reserve. Then there's quiet Eddie, who seems to look right through Daisy's disguise to the core of hurt feelings within. Being seen in such sharp focus is intoxicating. Even though they are first cousins, the sexual tension between Daisy and Eddie is undeniable.

Aunt Penn appears only for a brief time, and like most of the adult world in How I Live Now, she is seen indistinctly, in this case by the glow of computer monitors. She has some undefined role in negotiating, or agitating for, peace in a European community that is rapidly spiraling toward war. An essential element of the story is that the nature and causes of the conflict, and even the identities and affiliations of the combatants, are never explained. As Aunt Penn already grasps, and as Daisy comes to experience, such issues are rendered moot by modern weaponry and tactics, which are so powerful and indiscriminate that friend and foe are equally at risk. Still, Daisy's brief time with Aunt Penn is important to her, because it supplies a connection to the mother she never knew. Among other things, Daisy learns that the farmhouse where she is now staying was her mother's favorite place in the world.

One day, Daisy and her cousins hear the distant sound of a nuclear blast in London, followed by a rain of ash. (Harley is initially excited, thinking it's snow.) As power fails and martial law is declared, the kids take refuge in the barn and fend for themselves, but opposing military forces are sweeping the countryside, and they are rousted by a regiment of what appear to be British soldiers. With tears and shrieking, the children are separated, the boys sent in one direction, Daisy and Harley in another. Eddie says that everyone should get back to the farmhouse any way they can.

Daisy's long journey home occupies the second half of the film, and it's a difficult, often harrowing trip, because Daisy not only has to take care of herself, but also has to protect Harper, who is frightened and understands even less than Daisy what is happening. After managing a narrow escape from a military compound where they have been billeted with a major and his wife, the pair make their way across wild and forbidding landscapes where they encounter the remnants of atrocities and fresh ones in progress. All along, Daisy dreams of Eddie, sometimes dead, sometimes alive.

By the end of How I Live Now, Daisy may still be a teenager in years, but she is a grownup in spirit. She sees the world differently, and she has chosen a life she wants. It isn't a life she ever would have envisioned when she first flew into England, but it is more substantial and fulfilling than anything she could have imagined. Above all, she no longer needs to hide behind disguises. She is no longer uncertain about who she is.

How I Live Now Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

How I Live Now was Macdonald's first experience with digital photography. (The cinematographer was German cameraman Franz Lustig.) Initially he considered shooting the "pre-war" section on film and the rest digitally to establish contrasting visual styles, but he was quickly won over by the ability of digital cameras to shoot long, uninterrupted takes. Macdonald also loved the portability of the small Canon EOS C300 cameras that allowed him to follow his young cast freely, wherever their instincts might take them. Larger, more formally composed scenes were shot with the Arri Alexa. Macdonald ultimately chose to distinguish the two sections of the film by shooting the pre-war sequences hand-held, and the remainder of the film with the camera locked down or moved on a dolly.

Magnolia Home Entertainment's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray was presumably sourced from digital files, since the output of the various cameras was harmonized and finalized on a digital intermediate. The image is exceptionally clean, sharp and detailed, with solid blacks that can readily be seen in dark scenes such as Daisy's conversation with Aunt Penn and several nighttime sequences outdoors. Daisy's eyelashes, thick with mascara, are delicately etched, along with the individual strands of bleached hair and their black roots (Saoirse Ronan wore a wig). The messy interior of the farmhouse is visible in all its random chaos, and the various landscapes traversed by Daisy and Harper are often beautiful even in their bleakness.

The color palette favors warm earth tones before London is attacked, then turns much cooler and bluer, as a mild form of nuclear winter grips England. Given Magnolia's usual practices, the use of a BD-25 and the relatively low average bitrate of 18.00 Mbps are surprising, but digital footage compresses well, and there are enough quiet scenes of dialogue and stillness to allow a skilled compressionist to allocate the available bit budget adequately.

How I Live Now Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

How I Live Now's lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 track creates an effective but restrained sense of the sounds of country living, so that when those sounds are removed by the destruction of London and the subsequent military engagements, the absence is felt. The nuclear detonation is a sonic showcase in itself, preceded by intense sounds of fleeing animals and presented as a deep rumble of explosion that travels around most of the listening space. A brief attack with machine guns is almost too loud (it's meant to shock the viewer), and a firefight on a highway makes a strong impression, because the stakes are so high. The sound mix is equally effective at subtler cues such as wind in trees at night or the ominous sounds of an abandoned base (tarps flapping in the wind, animals running free, etc.). It's an effective mix that supports the story without calling undue attention itself.

The dialogue is very clear, except for an occasional line by young Harley Bird, who sometimes mangles a few syllables. The accomplished score is by Jon Hopkins (Monsters).

How I Live Now Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Deleted Scenes (480i; 1.78:1, enhanced; 4:58)
• Daisy confronts Eddie
• Daisy questions the major
• Church



• Making of How I Live Now (480i; 1.78:1, enhanced; 5:52): While somewhat longer than the AXS TV featurette listed below, this is more of a pre-release promotional short than a true "making of". It contains relatively little information.



• Interviews (480i; 1.78:1, enhanced): A "play all" function is included. These are the most substantive of the extras.
• Kevin MacDonald (director) (14:16)
• Charles Steel & Alasdair Flind (producers) (7:43)
• Saoirse Ronan ("Daisy") (6:00)
• George MacKay ("Eddie") (7:26)
• Tom Holland ("Isaac"), Harley Bird ("Piper") & Danny McEvoy ("Joe") (10:59)
• Meg Rosoff (author) (6:44)



• Behind the Scenes Comparisons (480i; 1.78:1, enhanced; 6:17): A "play all" function is included. Each short excerpt shows behind-the-scenes footage from the set while the finished scene plays in an inset window.
• Airport Scene
• Riverbank Scene
• Bonfire Scene
• Separation Scene



• AXS TV: A Look at How I Live Now (480i; 1.78:1, enhanced; 2:57): This is the typical AXS TV promotion piece that expands the film's trailer with a few interview segments.



• Trailer (1080p; 1.85:1; 2:13). The trailer focuses on the war element and downplays the love story and the family element, which is an odd approach given the nature of the film.



• Also from Magnolia Home Entertainment: The disc includes trailers for The Last Days on Mars, Mr. Nobody, Best Man Down and Bad Milo!, as well as a promo for AXS TV. These also play at startup, where they can be skipped with the chapter forward button.



• BD-Live: As of this writing, attempting to access BD-Live gave the message "Check back for updates".

How I Live Now Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

How I Live Now is such an unusual blend of elements that it was a daring novel to begin with. Transforming it into a film was a risky enterprise that could have gone wrong in countless ways. Macdonald's choice of emphasis, his deceptively simple visual style, above all his impeccable casting choices resulted in a gripping film that feels both familiar and hard to categorize. One might have asked for a few more extras on Magnolia's disc, but the presentation itself is first rate. Highly recommended.