by Shane Conto
What makes your teenage years the weirdest and most uncomfortable time of our lives? Is it the puberty that makes us feel all the feelings that we never once asked for? Is it the first dive into love when we definitely don’t have the maturity or experience to truly navigate it? Or is it the strange middle ground that teenage years inhabit between childhood and adulthood? This is a debate that Richard Tanne tackles in his coming-of-age drama coming to Amazon, Chemical Hearts. The context of the title is filled by the experienced advice that our main character, Henry, receives from his heartbroken sister who works in the medical field. The film tackles the difficult period in life called high school with tact and plenty of emotional baggage to spare.
Tanne directs his young duo of Lili Reinhart and Austin Abrams as they lead us on a roller coaster ride of emotions.
Tanne is able to deliver his film with a steady hand and a strong visual presentation. Is the filmmaking going to blow you away? No…but when you deliver the emotional goods and a strong cast, do you really need that? The film balances a committed tone as it delivers the awkwardness of growing up while presenting the emotional heft of its characters in an effective way. Each frame carries the emotions of the scene without having to add impressive framing or daring visuals. What is daring about this film is how deep we go as an audience into the tortured past and soul of Reinhart’s Grace. The pacing is effective as well as I was engaged from start to finish without having to check the clock to see when this will be all over. This is impressive as some scenes hit so hard emotionally that you hope to move along past them.
This film makes you feel feelings…how dare it?
Chemical Hearts really lives and dies at the feet of Reinhart’s fantastic performance and her characterization of Grace. Multiple times throughout the film, Reinhart is able to hit hard with her emotional performance, including a horribly affecting scene towards the end of its run time.
Grace is embodied with such raw emotions and relatability, you must give credit to such a performance by Lili Reinhart.
With such a great performance from his co-star, Abrams has his work cut out for him to stand out. To be honest, he leaves a bit to be desired in his performance. Does he deliver the needed performance? Yes, but I felt like I wanted more from that performance. This is especially hard to overlook when you have the other young lead truly delivering the range and emotion that the film needs. Abrams gives a fine performance but definitely feels like he is in the shadow of Reinhart around every turn.
Tanne not only directed this teenage drama, but he also took on writing the script as well. The strongest aspect of his writing is the mystery that is set up around Grace’s past and her emotional state. The layers given to her character really drive the story and the emotional focus of the film. Henry’s sister is one of the few supporting characters who really gets fleshed out and her past heartbreak is used well to connect her with her brother. The conversations they share are some of the most powerful scenes in the film. Unfortunately, the vast majority of other characters turn out to be quite shallow. Why does this film even spend time building a romantic subplot for Henry’s friend La and another young woman working at the school paper? This never feels like it is significant to the story and just grabs attention from the main plot. Some of Henry’s dialogue specifically comes off as unrealistic and doesn’t really fit.
The true heart of this film is expression.
The themes of writing and speaking your feelings and expressing yourself is shown to be significant throughout the film for our young leads. The film even focuses quite a bit on their team of writers and editors at the local paper. Tanne even finds a way to drive home these themes through the paper itself. Their final edition of the paper provides a poignant moment towards the end of the film. The relationship between Henry and Grace gives the audience a moving journey through the world of young love and what it really means to love. Emotional and tragic turns await around each corner in Chemical Hearts. Layers being pulled back during each scene build us towards a satisfying and moving conclusion. Though it might have some excess in the script that could have been trimmed, this film is a strong coming-of-age story that is worth your time.
Writer-director and his two youthful leads come to play and help bring Amazon a winner on their hands. Will you head on over to Amazon Prime to check this one out when it arrives?
Grade: B-