Set in the near-future UK, How I Live Now (trailer) stars Saoirse Ronan who plays Daisy, an American teenager sent to stay with relatives in the English countryside. Initially withdrawn and alienated, she begins to warm up to her charming surroundings, and strikes up a romance with her British cousin Edmund played by George McKay. Unfortunately, their idyllic summer days are soon to be over when war breaks out in the UK and the army are tasked to take them into an evacuation camp. Daisy and Edmund are separated and she has to find her way back home to reunite with Edmund.
Before I attended the movie's press screening held by MVP Entertainment and Golden Village Pictures, I was keen to see how director Kevin Mcdonald of the critically acclaimed movie The Last King Of Scotland, would work his movie magic on a film based on the 2004 novel of same name. The book won the British Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and the American Printz Award for young-adult literature so the story had to be good.
But unfortunately How I Live Now the movie version is hugely disappointing. For a movie that is about war, it takes 25 mins for any real action to begin. The first 25 mins is just a bore. Kids do nothing but playing around the countryside and two of them falling in love. Yawn. The rest of the movie is only slightly less boring. Daisy running through the forest trying to get back home.
The problem with How I Live Now is that it's hard to be emotionally attached to the characters and feel for these kids and care for what they do and their exploits. Saoirse Rona is undoubtedly a good actress who did an amazing job in Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones but no matter how hard she tries in her role in How I Live Now, she couldn't raise the movie to greater heights which is a shame because the movie has so much promise. Blame the writers. The script is pretty weak.
How I Live Now is a perfect example of a movie based on a novel in which you might be better off reading the book. If you want to catch How I Live Now, it is now showing exclusively in Golden Village cinemas.
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