Midnight Sun (2018)
Directed by Scott Speer
Katie, a 17-year-old, has been sheltered since childhood and confined to her house during the day by a rare disease that makes even the smallest amount of sunlight deadly. Fate intervenes when she meets Charlie and they embark on a summer romance.
10 connections found
View:
10 films that influenced Midnight Sun
What critics say influenced Midnight Sun
The film borrows elements from Twilight and Love Story and every other teen romance and terminal illness melodrama that springs to mind.
Mandy Moore had A Walk to Remember, Shailene Woodley had The Fault in Our Stars, and never forget the patient zero of these movies: the ’70s cancer tearjerker Love Story.
The 12-year-old girls who are the film’s target audience probably won’t realize what it’s derivative of: a little bit of John Hughes and a lot of “ Love Story .”
In the U.S., however, this tacky make-a-wish fantasy is merely the latest addition to that odd subgenre of terminal-teen romance — from “Love Story” to “The Boy in the Plastic Bubble” — in which a case of puppy love between a pair of preternaturally beautiful young people is rudely interrupted by the Grim Reaper.
Mandy Moore had A Walk to Remember, Shailene Woodley had The Fault in Our Stars, and never forget the patient zero of these movies: the ’70s cancer tearjerker Love Story.
The other type is the A Walk to Remember variety where the afflicted youth ultimately succumbs to their disease but before doing so, makes the decision to truly live, which usually means “date a boy.”
You may know what to expect, if you’ve seen “A Walk to Remember” or “Everything, Everything” or even “The Fault in Our Stars.”
Familiar films such as A Walk to Remember, The Fault in Our Stars, The Vow and gender-reversing Me Before You weren’t groundbreaking Oscar winners; they just knew how to tug at your heart strings with panache.
The problem, and it’s a big one, is what happens when Midnight Sun decides to follow the trail of previous attempts, like A Walk to Remember, The Fault in Our Stars, and Everything, Everything.
Both movies are just adolescent variants of 1940s weepies like “Dark Victory,” and neither is likely to have much of an impact on anybody besides the most susceptible teenage girls.
Life with XP was also depicted by Brad Pitt in a 1988 film, The Dark Side of the Sun, which shares some significant story overlaps with Midnight Sun (mostly sun exposure for love).
Advertisement
Leave any “Commando” remakes to Jason Momoa.
Mandy Moore had A Walk to Remember, Shailene Woodley had The Fault in Our Stars, and never forget the patient zero of these movies: the ’70s cancer tearjerker Love Story.
You may know what to expect, if you’ve seen “A Walk to Remember” or “Everything, Everything” or even “The Fault in Our Stars.”
My God! It’s like Everything, Everything (love story about the girl who couldn’t leave her house) meets The Fault In Our Stars (tragic cancer girl’s last dance) with a dash of Twilight (overwrought love story where one person is extremely sensitive to sunlight) and a musical twist.
Familiar films such as A Walk to Remember, The Fault in Our Stars, The Vow and gender-reversing Me Before You weren’t groundbreaking Oscar winners; they just knew how to tug at your heart strings with panache.
The problem, and it’s a big one, is what happens when Midnight Sun decides to follow the trail of previous attempts, like A Walk to Remember, The Fault in Our Stars, and Everything, Everything.
In the U.S., however, this tacky make-a-wish fantasy is merely the latest addition to that odd subgenre of terminal-teen romance — from “Love Story” to “The Boy in the Plastic Bubble” — in which a case of puppy love between a pair of preternaturally beautiful young people is rudely interrupted by the Grim Reaper.
Having said that, one must point out that Midnight Sun sadly has none of the charm of Meghie’s film, nor do Thorne and Schwarzenegger match up to Amandla Stenberg (The Hunger Games) and Nick Robinson’s (Love, Simon) beautifully nuanced performances as the teenager lovers kept apart by a similar life threatening illness.
Based on a 2006 Japanese movie, Midnight Sun starts with Katie living a cloistered life, as her disease (shortened to “XP,” so that it always sounds like she’s afflicted with a computer operating system) makes her so sensitive to ultraviolet rays that she can never be exposed to sunlight.
If it sounds a little familiar, technically “Midnight Sun” is a remake of a 2006 Japanese film, but you’re more likely thinking of last year’s “Everything, Everything,” about a different teenage shut-in who couldn’t go outside … yet finds love.
The cast is perfectly charming, but when it isn’t predictably predictable and predictably sappy, Midnight Sun — based on a 2006 Japanese film of the same name — doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
But actually, Midnight Sun is an adaptation of a 2006 Japanese film of the same name (note: XP is six times more common in Japan, where the sufferers are known as “moon children”), directed by Step Up: Revolution and Step Up: All In director Scott Speer.
Midnight Sun is a remake of a 2006 Japanese film of the same name.
Advertisement
First you’ve got your Bubble Boy riffs in which the tragically ill teenager finds out that their single parent has been lying to them and they were never sick after all.
Even the male lead being a more famous actor’s son is classic Sparks adaptation stuff (see also: Scott Eastwood in The Longest Ride).