I am Movie Monkey and am a true film addict.
Hope you enjoy my reviews. May contain spoilers.
Life In A Year
- Genre: Drama
- Release Date: 27th November 2020
- Director: Mitja Okorn
- Starring: Jaden Smith, Cara Delevingne, Cuba Gooding Jr, Nia Long, Chris D'Elia.
Daryn (Smith) and Isabelle (Delevingne) are two young people from very different backgrounds.
Daryn is a successful academic student, Captain of the school track team and lives with his affluent parents in a large and luxurious house in Pittsburgh.
Isabelle grew up not knowing who her Dad was and her Mum left her at the age of 6 with her babysitter, who she still lives with.
Isabelle and Phil live in an apartment in a rougher area of town and she chooses not to attend school.
Cuba Gooding Jr plays Daryn's Dad, who is overbearingly enthusiastic about his Son's educational and athletic abilities and the regime that he needs to fulfil in order to achieve his goal of securing a place to study at Harvard University.
He even has a noticeboard at home with his track medals, certificates and the plans he needs to keep to on a daily basis.
Daryn tells his parents that his school friends have invited him out to a rap concert and asks if he is allowed to go. His Dad is reluctant but his Mum thinks that he deserves the night off from studying.
Whilst trying to get into the venue, Daryn and his two friends meet a girl outside who dresses like a rebel and has bright blue long hair. She tells them her name is Isabelle and Daryn is immediately smitten. They fail to gain access to the concert venue and return home.
The next day, whilst out on his morning run, Daryn discovers Isabelle working in a local cafe. After calling his friends for some moral support, they go into the cafe to talk to her. He asks her out on a date and she reluctantly agrees that he can walk her home after work at 10pm.
Courtesy of YouTube
After walking her home they agree to go on another date, then another, and another.
Over the next few weeks they spend a lot of time together and realise that they get on really well as they get closer to one another.
She eventually invites him into her apartment and he sees her noticeboard full of postcards and pictures of beaches.
Isabelle says she dreams of going to the beach one day. They kiss and whilst he holds her close he touches her hair.
She recoils and freaks out. She explodes into an argument and tells him to leave but he declares his love for her.
She whips off her hair in anger, which is actually a wig, to reveal her bald head.
She has terminal cancer and only has approximately a year to live.
Back at his home and emotional from the revelation that his girlfriend is dying, Daryn decides to create his own noticeboard of plans and includes a collection of lifetime milestones for them to complete together during the commencing year that she has left to live.
These include things like graduate from college, buy a house, first pet and celebrate all her birthdays.
They start to complete the milestones in lots of funny and memorable ways and enjoy spending time acting silly with each other.
Isabelle takes Daryn to see her friend Ron who runs his own recording studio and gives him the opportunity to record some of his own rapping. At the end Ron gives him a completed cd of his song.
Daryn receives a rejection letter from Harvard saying that he has been added to a waiting list instead. His school grades start to fall and his Dad thinks that Isabelle is proving to be too much of a distraction to him.
Whilst accompanying Isabelle to one of her cancer treatment appointments, they discuss the empty chair in the corner of the room and that it's usual owner has passed away, making the situation all the more real for Daryn.
Daryn's parents tell him that they would like to meet his girlfriend so they invite her and Phil to their house for a meal on Christmas Eve. The evening starts off well but soon turns negative when they start talking about education and life goals.
Daryn admits to his parents that he has only been put on a waiting list for Harvard.
Isabelle and Phil leave the house on bad terms.
During a meeting with Daryn's Headmaster, he and his Dad discuss his academic achievements but as he is speaking he comes to the realisation that they are all his Fathers dreams and not his own. They drive home in silence and on returning to the house, Daryn trashes the life plan noticeboard that his Dad created.
His Dad grabs him and holds his fist above him as if he is going to punch him but his Mum intervenes.
Daryn spends the night at Izzy's and the next day they go on a road trip to Philadelphia where they busk on the streets and find an orphaned hedgehog which they adopt as their new pet.
They also go to a music concert and Izzy gives Daryn a copy of his rap cd and tells him that he should try and give it to a famous rapper in the VIP room.
Izzy distracts the security guard so that Daryn can sneak in but he doesn't get chance to pass it onto him. Izzy sees this but Daryn later lies about it and this upsets her.
The following day, unbeknownst to her until they arrive, Daryn drives her to her Mum's house.
Although her Mum still sends her postcards, which is where Daryn got her address from, she hasn't seen her for years. She reaches the house but is upset when she finds out that her Mum has another younger Daughter and she doesn't want to talk to her.
Back in the car, she and Daryn have an argument and they end up crashing the car. When they get out Izzy collapses and Daryn panics.
She wakes up back at home. Daryn is speaking with the nurse and Phil about all of the medication that Izzy needs to take and that her pain levels will soon increase.
He enlists his school friends to help with the pharmacy and grocery shopping.
Daryn's Mother arrives and says that she will look after Izzy whilst Phil goes to work at the club he performs at.
Daryn returns to Ron's recording studio and records a new track for Izzy but when he gets back to the apartment he finds her collapsed on the floor, bleeding from her mouth whilst his Mum calls 911.
At the hospital the Doctor tells them that they will be adjusting her medication but that there isn't anything else they can do for her as her cancer is too advanced and her organs are shutting down. She only has a few weeks left.
Back home, Izzy asks Phil to help her with something. The next day Phil sends Daryn on an errand to the club he works at but it turns out to be a ruse just to get him to the club where Izzy has organised their wedding day in secret.
Izzy is wheeled into the room in a wheelchair and they are married.
That night whilst sleeping in bed, Daryn wakes to hear Izzy's very laboured breathing. He starts to panic but she calms him. She tells him that she loves him and then passes away. He emotionally holds her close, consumed in grief.
After the funeral Daryn and his Father reconcile and he tells him that he is moving to New York to make music.
Both his parents are happy for him and say their goodbyes.
As he drives off with his pet hedgehog on the passenger seat, his friend texts him and tells him to turn the radio on.
He tunes in and hears the host saying that he received a request from a dying girl to play her boyfriends new rap song during his show.
He plays the song which makes Daryn emotional and he continues to listen in as he drives off to his new life without her.
I usually try and avoid Dramas, especially ones with such titles like this as I know it'll be upsetting and I'll end up blubbing like an emotional wreck!
But I know I wanted to watch this one mainly out of intrigue after reading a couple of reviews in which Jaden Smith was slated for his acting.
I personally think that both him and Cara played the lead parts amazingly well.
The characters were very believable and evoked a whole range of emotions in their performances.
The narrative was sentimental and poignant but there was also plenty of funny moments too to break it up from the bleak side.
It certainly was a tearjerker!
The ending dialogue was beautiful and really brought the movies message to home and got me blubbing like a baby (I knew I would!).
Movie Monkey Rating: 4.5
Hey man, thanks for your review. I even like dramas a lot but these films with teen characters rarely captivate me so much, perhaps because I have seen too much. The "coming of age" thing has generated many great films, so it is worth giving a chance to this category. Thanks for the sugestion. I'll be following you to read your reviews! Success.
Hey @thomashnblum, thanks for the follow!
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Good review @moviemonkey. I'm a fan of drama movies.
The last movie I saw with Jaden Smith in it was After Earth, and I personally didn't like it. I haven't seen Life In A Year yet, I hope this time he gave us a better job
Hey @elsimarwrite I quite liked After Earth but I am a sci fi fan so I probably liked it more than most did. Some of the best films I`ve watched had awful reviews which goes to show that we all like different stuff.
This one is definitely worth a watch. Let me know what you think!