IF I STAY MOVIE THOUGHTS AND FEELS

I just got home from the movie theater after watching If I Stay, one of my most anticipated book-to-movie adaptations this 2014. And I had these nagging thoughts that I really really want to blurt out. Or write. For those who haven’t read both the books, this post will most probably spoil you the book 1 and book 2 (not really), i.e. If I Stay and Where She Went, respectively.

First, I wanna throw out that I have mixed emotions with the movie. Or how it was adapted.

And then I’m gonna throw this background story on you:

If I Stay is based from the bestselling novel of Gayle Forman. It follows the life of Mia Hall where she had an out-of-body experience after a very tragic accident she and her whole family have been through that caused the lives of all of them except for her, who’s battling with life in the ICU. The title of the book is very straight forward because it’s a war with herself if she’s going to stay even though she’s the only one left in her family or if she will not stay and join them.

So the story revolves around there with a bit of flashbacks on the side to tell about Mia’s story.

I liked the book. Maybe not so much as I like Where She Went, but I still liked it. I liked If I Stay even more so when I read it the second time. There’s something about the book that got me so hooked. I liked the writing of Gayle, how emotional it can be. I liked how it switched from present to past. And I can’t just imagine how it will play out in the movie without being too weird or obvious or cheesy. Adam and Mia, while their love save Mia from comatose state, it felt like a side story to me at the time I’m reading the book.

But enough about my sentiments about the book, let’s talk about the movie!

Again, I have mixed emotions.

I like the movie but not much. I wasn’t that affected with the movie than I was when I read the book.

But I didn’t hate it because the movie was very honest to the book. But I have issues that I’m gonna talk about.

Why I like the movie:

• It is quite honest to the book. Fortunately the book was short so they were able to capture a lot of scenes that were from the book and not cut too much. And I like it when book-to-movie adaptations do that.

• The casting was great. Chloe Grace Moretz and Jamie Blackley were awesome. Also Mia’s parents, they could like carry the whole movie, you know. I also liked Gramps. Amazing amazing casts. A lil back story on the casting: I’m not a 100% all for it when they announced who will play Adam Wilde in the movie. Adam Wilde is my favorite character in the story and I don’t want it to be ruined by casting someone who won’t play him well. Then they cast Jamie Blackley and I don’t know him! And Gayle was like, “you’ll see, he’s the perfect Adam”. I was like, okay, we’ll see. And then.. And then.. I heard him sing. I heard him sing all those Willamette Stone songs and I instantly have a change of heart and be like “yeah, Jamie Blackley is indeed Adam Wilde.” And I’m a bit heartbroken Willamette Stone isn’t a real band. God I love his voice.

• I appreciate how involve the music is in the movie. I like that Chloe really learn how to play cello and Jamie is a natural rocker. And the music was so good. I couldn’t ask for better OST. This is definitely the one of the best.

• The flashbacks. It’s not cheesy. They pulled it off so well. I have issues with flashbacks but they put it off so well, so I liked it too.

The issues I think where they fell short:

• Adam and Mia make out a lot. PLEASE. It bothers me. It wasn’t like that in the book.

• They focused so much on their love story. The flashbacks were mostly (if not all) about their love story. Although I get that they did that to build “logic” for her decision. But then again, the book is more than they love story. Yes, she stayed because of Adam, or because of what Adam said to him. But their back story in the book wasn’t centered on them. It kinda fell flat on building up our emotional investment towards Mia’s parents and Teddy (Teddy’s flashback scene when their mother gave birth to him was cut out – I love that part) so we, as viewers could struggle a bit whether we want Mia to stay or not. Because that’s what the book felt like to me. I was invested emotionally with her parents and Teddy that knowing they’re gone I’m torn whether I want Mia to stay or not (even though I have the second book already at that time which clearly means that Mia will live). That’s why my favorite scene on the book was the soliloquy of her grandfather in the ICU. In the book, I don’t really much care about Adam. I full-on cared about Adam on Where She Went. I’m just saying that’s what the book felt like to me. Adam and Mia’s love was just part of her history. But then again, yes, she stayed because Adam wanted him to stay. But still. So basically, I struggle with the intention of this movie or where it directed me versus what the way I was being directed when I read the book. So I get what Rotten Tomatoes are saying about If I Stay being manipulative rather than moving. Although, okay, there are quite a lot of cutesy giggly lovey Adam-Mia scenes that I liked.

• Some flashbacks get too long and I was like “can we switch now to the ICU scene”. And sometimes, those flashbacks were even an Adam and Mia scene. Some of the flashbacks are dragging and it felt like the present scene in the ICU was the back story instead of the main story.

But if there’s one thing I hated more than anything in this or about this movie, it is when the critics compared If I Stay to The Fault in Our Stars. LIKE GODDAMN CRITICS HAVEN’T YOU DONE YOUR ASSIGNMENTS?

Guys, they are different. Not all tragic stories are like The Fault in Our Stars. Not all movies with magic are like Harry Potter. Not all vampire movies are like Twilight. Not all dystopian movies are like The Hunger Games.

THEY ARE ALL DIFFERENT. They have different intention. They have their own story to tell. Heck, they even have different authors.

And for what it’s worth, If I Stay was published on April 2009 and The Fault in Our Stars was published on January 2012 so get over yourselves.

To end this post, thought I’d share my favorite scenes in the movie:

• That scene near the end when Mia was decided she doesn’t want to stay, and she’s ready and all then she heard a classical music and it was so good! It was so awesome then Mia looked for the sound until she went back to her ICU room and that realized Adam put a headphone on her comatose self while playing some classical music from his iPod. And all I’m saying was “oh this is such a good scene”.

• Mia’s Julliard audition. It was perfectly done by Chloe. Amazing. Jaw dropping. Goosebumps all over. Awesome.

• When Mia’s dad bought her her own cello. It was a simple scene but it was emotional when Gramps said her dad bought it when he sold his drum set.

• Fight scene of Adam and Mia. The dialog exchanges were so natural I liked it. Adam was like “yeah, whatever.”

Personal Rating: 88%

That’s it! Thanks for reading! Share your thoughts about the movie! Have you liked it? What did you and didn’t you like about it?

Love, Kaye

P. S.

“Where She Went”, the sequel to If I Stay, is one of my favorite books of all time. I don’t even know why. It just grabbed me by the throat and didn’t let me go until its ending. Where She Went is in Adam Wilde’s POV. It follows Adam’s story 3 years after Mia’s and her family’s car accident. We know she chose to stay in this world but did she actually stay with Adam? What about Julliard? Did Adam go with her in New York? Well, “yeah, whatever”.
The If I Stay fans are having this petition for Where She Went movie. I'm kinda torn. I don't know if I want to have one. It's on of the books that I want to be remained a book. But then I want to hear Jamie sings again.

P. P. S.

You should all listen to If I Stay OST, it's one of the best. Jamie Blackley was the voice behind all Willamette Stone songs in the OST. It's awesome!