When people endure near-death experiences, they tend to say their lives flash before their eyes, and they see the good, the bad and the ugly in the process. This is exactly what happens in the film “If I Stay.”

“If I Stay” is a film about love, heartbreak and everything in between. Mia Hall (Chloe Grace Moretz) is a quiet high school student who has everything going for her — a potential acceptance to Juilliard, a fun, lively family and a loyal best friend. Until one day, while driving down an icy road, an oncoming truck strikes her family’s car, and Mia’s world is changed forever.

The remainder of the film is spent with Mia having an out-of-body experience, watching herself in the hospital, and flashing back to memories from her past. She looks back at the good and the bad, in an effort to decide whether to keep fighting and wake up from her coma or to let go.

This film did a wonderful job of making the movement between the flashbacks and the hospital scenes easy to follow. At first, it is a little difficult to catch on to the fact that they are flashing back and forth, but once that is established it becomes easy to understand.

Mia reminisces about many things during her looks back in time, but the most prevalent memories are concerning a boy named Adam (Jamie Blackley).

Adam is a local rock musician who fell in love with Mia the moment he saw her playing her cello. He is the type of boy every high school girl dreams of; he waltzes into your life, unannounced, and changes everything. He adores her love of classical music, takes her to the symphony and even dresses up as Beethoven for Halloween in an effort to express his feelings.

I do not normally like love-at-first-sight stories because I feel they are unrealistic and predictable, but the story of Mia and Adam’s love is one I enjoyed very much. It seemed so real; they had real struggles in their relationship. For example, they had completely opposite music choices and they got into fights about stupid things just like every other couple in the world. It is the classic story of falling too hard too fast and I appreciate that they did not try to sugarcoat it like many Hollywood movies do.

Apart from the love aspect of the film, the film did a fabulous job of incorporating the world of classical music through Mia’s love for it. I have personally never been exposed to music of the sort, but hearing how beautiful the cello sounded changed my views on this particular music style. Mia is passionate about her music and unapologetic about how much it means to her. The way they show her following her dreams and embracing her talents is inspiring.

The casting in this film was brilliant. Moretz was phenomenal; she was able to portray the many different emotions that went along with this role and did it in a way that illustrated all the trials and tribulations that go along with teenage life and a traumatic event such as this, in a way that is relatable and realistic.

Blackley did a wonderful job as well, embodying exactly what it means to be a love-struck musician. Stacy Keach played the role of Mia’s grandfather and had a few heartbreakingly wonderful scenes.

I will admit, I cried more than I wanted to at this film; there are so many scenes that, if you put yourself in Mia’s shoes, will cause you to tear up. There was a point during the film where the actors were silent, and all you could hear was the sniffles and crying of everyone in the theater. I was prepared for it to be an emotional film; I just was not sure if it would be overly emotional to the point where it is depressing, but it was not. It was the perfect amount of happy and sad that will make you walk away thinking how beautiful of a film it was.

“If I Stay” is based on the best-selling novel by Gayle Forman. I have not read the book myself, but from the chatter I heard from moviegoers after the screening, the film matched the book nicely. So if you are a fan of the novel, you should not be disappointed either.

This is a film that will make you laugh, cry and appreciate every person you have in your life. It makes you realize that everything you have done and everyone you have met up until today has made you exactly who you are and if you choose, can give you reason enough to stay.

Caitlin Grove

Via alestlelive.com