One Day: Movie review
Can you fall in love with your best friend?
One Day, based on David Nicholls' best selling book by the same name is a modern day classic love story which chronicles the lives of two bestfriends Emma Morley (Anne Hathaway) andDexter Mayhew (Jim Sturgess) over a period of two decades.
The film essays the journey of Em & Dex through a span of 20 years, right from the day they had met for the very first time. The film then shows what's happening in the lives of these two on that exact day for the next twenty years.
Emma Morley & Dexter Mayhew are quite the opposite of each other. Spontaneous and instinctive, Dexter believes in living life to the fullest while Emma is more of a thinker who prefers being safe than sorry. Both strongly opinionated, what doesn't hamper their relationship is the fondness and willingness to speak their mind only when with each other.
What begins as a subtle attraction bordering on a fling on a graduation night, goes on to become a rock solid friendship, a love-hate relationship the two get addicted to as years pass by.
They confide in each other their fears, plans for future, financial status, on-off flings but their eternal 'romantic' love for each other which they pretend doesn't exist.
After many years of missed opportunities, lessons learnt, baggage of regrets, moments having passed by; will the two ever confess to themselves and each other what they really feel?
Is the friendship they keep falling back on, the only 'relationship' they've actually waited for all their life? Is Emma the only girl the otherwise Casanova Dex has ever loved? Is Dexter the man Emma has always wanted ever since she's had a crush on him since college? At times the one special person that you seek all your life is standing right in front of you and you fail to realize it.
Having read 'One Day' the book, the film pales in comparison to a great extent. The film rushes through various chapters resulting in the making of unestablished central characters. Worst affected is the character of Emma Morley. She only comes across as cranky, matronly, elderly and uptight. Emma is good at conversations, better at banter, sarcasm. Unfortunately none of her 'interesting' traits have been incorporated In her onscreen portrayal. The film gives a feel as if we are flipping through the book in a hurry, at times omitting few chapters altogether or overlooking the crucial ones. Thanks to the hasty pace, not a single Emma Dexter moment lingers in your heart forever.
Casting seems another issue. Anne Hathaway looks older than Jim Sturgess physically and the two lack the sparkling chemistry this film needs, thus making it too mediocre a product when compared to the book. Anne Hathaway has an on-off British accent and that disappoints too. The actress has her moments but too far and few.
Jim Sturgess on the contrary is impressive with his apt portrayal of Dexter. Confidence bordering on arrogance, arrogance stemming from ignorance, naivete, stubbornness leading to self-destructive demeanor... Jim Sturgess does it all with conviction. It is he who makes you laugh and cry.
Lone Scherfig does make your eyes moistened but not the way the book does. Books are always better than their cinematic adaptations and so is the case here. However for those who are not into books, this is one romantic drama you must not miss out on.
Heartrending, real, endearing, tragic, melancholic, slice of life... 'One Day' is your story, it is our story.
Can you fall in love with your best friend?
One Day, based on David Nicholls' best selling book by the same name is a modern day classic love story which chronicles the lives of two bestfriends Emma Morley (Anne Hathaway) andDexter Mayhew (Jim Sturgess) over a period of two decades.
The film essays the journey of Em & Dex through a span of 20 years, right from the day they had met for the very first time. The film then shows what's happening in the lives of these two on that exact day for the next twenty years.
Emma Morley & Dexter Mayhew are quite the opposite of each other. Spontaneous and instinctive, Dexter believes in living life to the fullest while Emma is more of a thinker who prefers being safe than sorry. Both strongly opinionated, what doesn't hamper their relationship is the fondness and willingness to speak their mind only when with each other.
What begins as a subtle attraction bordering on a fling on a graduation night, goes on to become a rock solid friendship, a love-hate relationship the two get addicted to as years pass by.
They confide in each other their fears, plans for future, financial status, on-off flings but their eternal 'romantic' love for each other which they pretend doesn't exist.
After many years of missed opportunities, lessons learnt, baggage of regrets, moments having passed by; will the two ever confess to themselves and each other what they really feel?
Is the friendship they keep falling back on, the only 'relationship' they've actually waited for all their life? Is Emma the only girl the otherwise Casanova Dex has ever loved? Is Dexter the man Emma has always wanted ever since she's had a crush on him since college? At times the one special person that you seek all your life is standing right in front of you and you fail to realize it.
Having read 'One Day' the book, the film pales in comparison to a great extent. The film rushes through various chapters resulting in the making of unestablished central characters. Worst affected is the character of Emma Morley. She only comes across as cranky, matronly, elderly and uptight. Emma is good at conversations, better at banter, sarcasm. Unfortunately none of her 'interesting' traits have been incorporated In her onscreen portrayal. The film gives a feel as if we are flipping through the book in a hurry, at times omitting few chapters altogether or overlooking the crucial ones. Thanks to the hasty pace, not a single Emma Dexter moment lingers in your heart forever.
Casting seems another issue. Anne Hathaway looks older than Jim Sturgess physically and the two lack the sparkling chemistry this film needs, thus making it too mediocre a product when compared to the book. Anne Hathaway has an on-off British accent and that disappoints too. The actress has her moments but too far and few.
Jim Sturgess on the contrary is impressive with his apt portrayal of Dexter. Confidence bordering on arrogance, arrogance stemming from ignorance, naivete, stubbornness leading to self-destructive demeanor... Jim Sturgess does it all with conviction. It is he who makes you laugh and cry.
Lone Scherfig does make your eyes moistened but not the way the book does. Books are always better than their cinematic adaptations and so is the case here. However for those who are not into books, this is one romantic drama you must not miss out on.
Heartrending, real, endearing, tragic, melancholic, slice of life... 'One Day' is your story, it is our story.
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