Before I Fall (2017)
Directed by Ry Russo-Young
Samantha Kingston has everything. Then, everything changes. After one fateful night, she wakes up with no future at all. Trapped into reliving the same day over and over, she begins to question just how perfect her life really was.
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4 films that influenced Before I Fall
What critics say influenced Before I Fall
Harold Ramis certainly didn’t invent it, but his Groundhog Day made the narrative loop device a mainstream mainstay, lovingly aped in everything from Source Code to Edge of Tomorrow to 50 First Dates.
It might seem that Before I Fall is simply Groundhog Day for the High School set, but that’s giving it far too much credit.
While it sounds a lot like Groundhog Day meets Mean Girls, Before I Fall follows more in the footsteps of other recent destiny-obsessed young-adult novels-turned-movies such as If I Stay and Beautiful Creatures .
The story of a popular high school senior (Zoey Deutch, from Dirty Grandpa ) caught in a time loop that forces her to relive a crucial day in her life over and over, this neatly written Heathers- meets- Groundhog Day high-concept package delivers both technical polish and a toothsome yet likeable cast.
Like “Groundhog Day” for audiences too young to get the reference, “Before I Fall” suggests that the decisions we make really matter, though it’s not at all clear about why Sam Kingston (“Vampire Academy” star Zoey Deutch) is caught in an infinite loop, or what she needs to do to break it.
Slowly, though, this story of a popular high school senior who finds herself trapped in a Groundhog Day-like time loop begins to establish a more profound emotional plangency and thematic weight.
Shot in elegant widescreen and set to a soundtrack of empowerment ballads, “Before I Fall” forgoes the overlit Disney Channel look, embracing a cooler, steely-blue aesthetic that’s more in line with such bygone cult faves as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Veronica Mars” — plus, it unfolds in that post-Judy Blume space where it’s OK to broach such touchy issues as teen suicide and contraception.
Director Ry Russo-Young’s (Nobody Walks (2012), You Won’t Miss Me (2009)) adaptation of Lauren Oliver’s wildly successful 2010 Young Adult novel is only fitfully entertaining and hilariously earnest.
Adapted from Lauren Oliver’s successful YA novel of the same name, helmer Ry Russo-Young’s fourth feature Before I Fall sees the indie director ( Nobody Walks , You Wont Miss Me , Orphans ) successfully transitioning to mainstream filmmaking.
While the story easily could have fallen into a broken-record rut, “Nobody Walks” director Russo-Young finds ways of making the day in question feel fresh each time Sam lives it, while giving the overall presentation a look, feel, and voice that’s distinct from the vast swatch of YA movies.
But Russo-Young (Nobody Walks) has some surprises in store, and while it’s best not to reveal them, it is worth noting that, though Before I Fall bites Groundhog Day ’s conceit, Sam’s reasons for being in this loop are different than those experienced by Bill Murray ’s character.
The striking ideas of this movie are used for something that wants to mix the emotional immediacy of “ The Fault in Our Stars ” with a familiar type of rag-tag group crowd-pleasing.
Based on Lauren Oliver’s 2010 novel, the movie could fit in a triple feature with recent Young Adult (YA) dramas “The Fault In Our Stars” and “Paper Towns.”