Chemical Hearts (2020) Movie Review

 Starring Austin Abrams and Lili Reinhart, Chemical Hearts is not just a movie about love. Henry, our eyes and ears, is a high school senior with an ability for writing. He is the kind of person who needs to write what he feels to know what he feels. When Henry's senior year starts, he has nothing in mind but becoming the editor of school newspaper. On his interview, he meets Grace, the transfer student, also a senior, and also has a magical touch for writing. When their teacher offer the position to both of them together, Henry wants to know Grace a bit more. So, with a basic "hey" from Henry, our poetic romance begins. Henry falls for her, but she has much more in her plate than he knows. Chemical Hearts gives us a new perspective for love and loss.The movie is based on the book "Our Chemical Hearts" by Krystal Sutherland. The screenplay was written by the director himself, Richard Tanne. 

With it's 93 minutes runtime, Chemical Heart is not a minute longer than we needed. Every second you spend watching feels like well worth. Unlike most of the teen romance titles, Chemical Hearts doesn't promise you any heartwarming kissing scenes. (although it does offer that) As I said in beginning, it's not at all about teenager love, it's not a fairy tale, and I loved it just for that. There's so much to like about this one, so let me just start listing, since we don't have time to chat about romance all day, do we?

The movie is like a protest for all the christmas romance industry. In 93 minutes, you will laugh at some points, and cry at some points. The plot is tempting, and the acting is convincing. The movie is so good at the first look, you can't deny. Of course, there are cons for the title as well, but before getting to the cons, I must say, nothing major there. 

First of all, the movie in general has a slow pace, and has nothing too bizzare in it to get beyond that and lock you on screen even for 10 hours. Yes, the soundtracks are giving it a pump and keeps it alive, but not enough sadly. Still though, it's a dark plot to begin with, and it's just a drama, romance is just a sidekick, so I guess it's not that big of a deal after all. One other thing I didn't like, was the lack of character development for the minor roles, well, actually not that minor roles, that's the problem already. See, for example Henry's best friends seem like a big deal, well at least in the first scenes, but they have these rather static characters, they don't develop in any way, they're just there. Seems pointless to have them nearly, they don't really change anything at that point of view. We just don't know if Henry is actually that close with them to talk about his love life or not, well he must be, but we don't see any proof for it. Still after all, all these cons show minor impact on the story. Story seems valid and vivid all movie long. It's a touching story, and the shooting doesn't dissappoint. Character development in the end, was the biggest problem for me, probably the only big problem.

To sum up, Chemical Hearts is a magical work, and like all magics, there are things going on in the background that doesn't seem right. Still, who doesn't like magic anyways? 

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Ok ok, so what I'm trying to say here is that, it's a decent title. It's totally worth your time,  it's well developed, well displayed. Richard Tanne shows his worth, for sure. It's safe to recommend it, and it's safe to watch it. So... watch it, and don't forget to thank us later. 

 

Stay safe, watch out!

  

Cinemortals Rating : 7/10

Reviewed By : Batuhan