Before I Fall (2017) Review!!!

Synopsis – February 12 is just another day in Sam’s charmed life, until it turns out to be her last. Stuck reliving her last day over one inexplicable week, Sam untangles the mystery around her death and discovers everything she’s losing.

My Take – A film revolving around about a protagonist stuck in a repeated situation again & again is not something unheard of right? Keeping the aesthetics aside, we have such situations play out in films like Déjà vu (2006), Source Code (2011), Edge of Tomorrow (2014) and of course the one that started it all, the Bill Murray starrer Groundhog Day (1993), the latter still being so well-known that its title has become synonymous with the “time loop”. If you have seen the trailers, they portray this film as another endless time arc installment where days continue to repeat until a solution is found, but outside of that, it was uncertain if the aim was horror, drama, thriller, or just straight up Sci-Fi. Belonging to the now thankfully dying YA (Young Adult) category of films, this Ry Russo-Young directed film luckily offers something far more interesting than vampires and billionaires – a purpose and a plot. Yes, unlike most teen based dramas I have seen, this film is quite dark and enthralling and despite leaning into melodrama to ease, it does walk away with an intriguing message and a very effective climax. Sure, unlike the previously mentioned films, this one will never be termed as a classic, mainly due to some of its major flaws, but unlike some films of its genre, this enjoyably uses it’s the time-warp device to explore its characters. Based on the 2010 novel by author Lauren Oliver, the story follows Samantha Kingston (Zoey Deutch), a high school senior in the Pacific Northwest who sees herself – and is – popular and successful in her circles, living a charmed life along with her nasty, privileged friends, played by Lindsay (Halston Sage), Elody (Medalion Rahimi), and Ally (Cynthy Wu).

With just three months left of her high school career, she has plenty of experiences still to cram in and decisions to make. February 12 is a big date on the Thomas Jefferson School calendar – Cupid Day is when declarations of affection are made and roses are handed out. But to Sam’s surprise, she not only gets one from her current beau Rob (Kian Lawley), but also from a former childhood friend, Kent (Logan Miller), she now pretty much ignores. Tonight is also the night when Samantha makes plans to meet Rob at a senior party hosted by Kent and perhaps lose her virginity, however, when she shows up at their arranged place, Rob is drunk squared. As for her mean-girl friends, they are harassing outcast Juliet (Elena Kampouris), who aggressively criticizes them for their ugly bullying behavior. As the evening progresses, a tragic car crash occurs, but Samantha wakes up in her own bed the next morning, only to discover that it’s yesterday again – but that her memory is intact. Unhappy with the déjà vu from here, Samantha is at first confused, then despondent. But she goes about trying to solving this sudden riddle she’s trapped in which she keeps reliving the last day of her life. As she relives this day an indeterminate number of times, she is able to change some details which reveal more about what was happening in the background of the lives of her friends and family. All of this forces Sam to decide what to do with her increased knowledge and greater understanding of life and to see if she can change how the day ends. The plot isn’t particularly deep and there are a few holes, it didn’t feel like it was trying to be a sci-fi thriller, which is good because it would have been a poor one, instead, it is an intense teen film done really well. Sure, it has a lot of high school stereotypes, like the “mean group” and “outcast bullied victim”, but it gets beyond those to explore much darker themes, like I mentioned before, this is not really for teens just wanting a fun film. Every element in the film works together to carefully piece together the tone, from the Pacific Northwest setting to the cool colored costumes, and the almost permanent cloud of mist, everything throws the audience into an eerie world. Naturally Sam’s predicament offers lessons for her and the audience, but to director Young and screenwriter Maria Maggenti‘s (Monte Carlo) credit, while some of the characters and actions might have more than a whiff of déjà vu, the story pleasingly keeps you guessing as to the key to Sam’s “salvation”. The film is surprisingly insightful; in dealing with high school life, and the dynamics of being popular verses being an unloved outcast. It’s something the very flawed main character has to learn, and better herself by learning, in order to finally set things right (for her and everyone around her). The film is at its best in its update and subversion of John Hughes-esque 80s teen film tropes and Mean Girls moments and struggles most with its one-dimensional male characters (but oh, doesn’t that make for a refreshing change at least). The music is sometimes overbearing and the light noticeably unnatural, yet both strengthen the mood.

All of these elements do seem a little extreme. Like so many teen dramas, the film heightens the uncomfortable realities of high school into melodrama. It does deal with serious topics that should not be handled lightly, which can sometimes be problematic within a melodramatic atmosphere. If you allow yourself to accept the film, it becomes an incredibly immersive experience. The melodrama falls away as you enter this mystical world. Film adaptations of books are always lacking given the time constraints and budget a film has and this film has a lot of things tied well together, but there are still some weaker components that need some amping up. A smarter film would play up an element of wish-fulfillment: For Sam, who’s at the top of her social pecking order, there might be something at least momentarily attractive about being trapped in time’s amber, rather than having to face the scary unknown of life after high school. But the film never allows its mean girl to enjoy or even misunderstand her karmic punishment; by the first reset, she’s already getting with the self-improvement program. That means realizing that maybe it’s not so nice to constantly pick on her peers, including the school’s Carrie White in training, Juliet. It also means finally acknowledging the gentle advances of Kent, who’s nursed a crush on her since they were grade-schoolers and looks like boyfriend material mostly by comparison, given that Sam’s actual beau is a cartoonish beefcake moron. One of those virtuous, devoted, unpopular-but-not-socially-inept every boys that seem to exist only between the covers of teen-lit bestsellers, Kent thinks he’s weird because he “once wore Crocs for 365 days straight.” Much stranger than that is the collage shrine he hangs in his bedroom, complete with a centerpiece declaration of the film’s arc: Become who you are! Luckily, the film does a nice job of changing up each day as Deutch‘s character discovers the problems in her life and grows as a person. And being a guy who appreciates character development, this film’s strongest aspect is indeed strengthening a fairly shallow character and teaching us some life lessons in the process, before the surprising finale. Although much of the film is aided by voice–over, this feels largely unnecessary because her face is expressive enough to get the point across. The film relies on Deutch’s performance, who makes the most of her numerous telling close-ups, because the audience has to believe Sam’s development to make her goal sympathetic and she is really good here. Having seen her recently in Why Him? (2016) and Everybody Wants Some (2016), she yet again proves that she is quite a captivating actress. The other young actresses, Halston Sage, Madalion Rahimi, Cynthy Wu and Elena Kampouris also play their parts well. Logan Miller, who usually plays a bully, for once plays a nice guy here and is likable. However, Jennifer Beals and Kian Lawley are wasted. On the whole, ‘Before I Fall’ is a refreshing take on the YA genre, which despite some high school clichés is an effective experience.