I went to a pre-screening yesterday with another big fan of the book and let me just tell you, you want to see this movie.
1. The acting was on point. Perfecto. Flawless. Ansel Elgort was Gus. Shailene Woodley was Hazel. Everyone was amazing. The relationships, the easy banter was all there.
2. It was so faithful to the book. You know how defensive I get when Hollywood wants to make my favourite books Hollywood. It was obviously John Green's Hazel walking and talking and yelling at her lungs off and saying "douchepants". It was obviously John Green's Gus limping and staring at Hazel and loving her.
3. The soundtrack. It was amazing. Hazel was crying and Birdy was singing her to sleep. At the end, Ed Sheeran sung us out of the cinema, weepy but still alive and ready to face the world again.
4. The impressively seemless book dialogue to character dialogue. The book is written in quite pompous prose at the start to reflect the tragic romantic genre. Actually hearing written words aloud though can sound clunky and strange. The balance between the prose's beauty and the way a real life Hazel would speak was really well done.
5. It was funny. They made a real effort to make the first have as enjoyable, ridiculous and cute as possible. We knew the lines, but the screenwriters mixed it up a bit so even fans were pleasantly surprised. For instance when Hazel's mum pulls up after support group and says "You ready for Top Model?" and Augustus raises his eyebrows, awkward.
6. It was sad. I cried 4 times, all at the same places that I cried in the book. Tfios makes you feel feelings. Hearing the sniffles and sobs around the cinema, I was reminded how one story can mean different things to different people. I was crying for the characters. I was crying for not appreciating every second I get in this world. I was crying for my friend's mum who suffered from breast cancer. I was crying for Esther Earl.
7. It was beautiful. It's crazy how something so broken and awful can be beautiful.
I came away from the movie feeling like I'd cried everything out of me.
I felt light.
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