6.6 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
An American girl on holiday in the English countryside with her family finds herself in hiding and fighting for her survival as war breaks out.
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, George MacKay, Tom Holland (X), Anna Chancellor, Corey JohnsonComing of age | 100% |
Teen | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Romance | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH, French
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
BD-Live
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
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.
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'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 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.
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