Culture

Rating: A

Of the big movies released over the break, perhaps the dark horse of these was The Fault in Our Stars. It’s an absolutely spot-on film adaptation of the New York Times number-one best-selling young adult novel by vlogbrother John Green, and it’s exciting that two more of his novels will be adapted in the coming years, riding this film’s tear-jerking success.

TFIOS is a cancer story that deliberately defies the typical cancer story. Instead of featuring healthy people learning about the fragility of life from stoic sick people, this is a story about two extremely self-aware and empowered teenagers making whatever remains of their lives meaningful. Every member of the cast is perfect for their role, and indeed Shailene Woodley was actually hand-picked for the lead part by the book’s author.

Teenaged cancer patients Hazel Grace Lancaster and Augustus Waters stake their hopes on visiting their favourite writer, an irritable recluse living in Amsterdam, and in the process have to face the cruelty of a universe that is totally indifferent to the plight of humanity, let alone individual “cancer kids.” But of course, what the film really embeds in you is the idea that we are all dying of something; to be alive is to be dying slowly. Hopefully we can all be as lucky as these two, who find each other and really make the most of their time with loved ones before the inexorable end, at which point literally every person in the theatre audience was bawling. Ahem.

If I have one teensy niggle about the film it’s that the characters are actually too good. The charming, witty, hyper-adjusted Augustus, in particular, seems totally unlike any troubled 17-year old boy I have ever met, and resembles more the selflessly empathetic thirty-something John Green who wrote him. He seems impossibly wizened and, as such, I’m predicting, will replace even Edward Cullen as the new gold standard against which 17-year-old boys everywhere will now be measured by 16-year-old girls.