Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Sam Claflin | ... | Will Traynor | |
Vanessa Kirby | ... | Alicia | |
Emilia Clarke | ... | Lou Clark | |
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Eileen Dunwoodie | ... | Café Customer |
Pablo Raybould | ... | Frank | |
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Gabrielle Downey | ... | Daphne |
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Henri Charles | ... | Thomas Clark (as Henri Kirkham) |
Samantha Spiro | ... | Josie Clark | |
Brendan Coyle | ... | Bernard Clark | |
Jenna Coleman | ... | Katrina "Treena" Clark | |
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Alan Breck | ... | Grandad |
Matthew Lewis | ... | Patrick | |
Muzz Khan | ... | Syed | |
Janet McTeer | ... | Camilla Traynor | |
Charles Dance | ... | Stephen Traynor |
Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick. What Lou doesn't know is she's about to lose her job or that knowing what's coming is what keeps her sane. Will Traynor knows a road accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he's going to put a stop to that. What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of color. And neither of them knows they're going to change each other for all time. Written by nattattck-11
Emelia Clarke's work on Game of Thrones is the only reason I watched this movie in the first place. She is occasionally transcendent in that role, where she must keep her eyebrows restrained, and I wanted to see what would happen if her amazingly mobile brows were set free ... free as her dragons.
There are a lot of solid things about this movie. The story (of a young woman who cares for a quadriplegic young man) is strong, the direction and cinematography good though not exceptional, the screen writing also good-not-exceptional, the supporting cast (especially Janet McTeer and Charles Dance)and leading man (Sam C.) quite good, and the emotional notes it hits, though all predictable and often a bit overwrought (cue swelling, heartwarming music...), ring true enough for an unabashed romance.
So, not really my type of movie. But I am happy to say that I was (almost) completely taken by Clarke's performance. Her character here is nothing like her GoT role, but is in many ways an equally fantasy-based role (but with clumsy shyness and striped leggings instead of fireproof skin and dragons) -- and Clarke manages to pull this character out of romantic fantasy into believability as effectively as she brings to life her role as Mother of Dragons. She has the combination of charisma, physical beauty, character-acting chops, and inner luminosity to pull a fairly nice, 7-of-10 heartwarmer up to a 9-of-10 charmer.