How I Live Now *** (2013, Saoirse Ronan, George MacKay, Tom Holland, Harley Bird, Anna Chancellor) – Movie Review

Teenagers moon around in rural UK as the apocalypse strikes.

Saoirse Ronan stars in 2013 as Daisy, a vaguely neurotic and semi-dysfunctional American girl who arrives in the English countryside to holiday with her English family at a time of unrest in the UK. They include her aunt (Anna Chancellor) and cousins Edmond (George MacKay), 14-year-old Isaac (Tom Holland) and 8-year-old Piper (Harley Bird).

Despite the joys of the country and her pleasant relatives, duck out of water Daisy’s out of place and unhappy at Brackendale Farm. And she’s unhappier still when World War Three suddenly breaks out and she’s forced to hide out and fight for survival.

An uncomfortable, lacklustre transfer of Meg Rosoff’s 2004 novel to the screen, the film plods honourably but ponderously along, looking for some special high ground to take and never finding it. Neither the flaccid teen romance between Daisy and Edmond nor the kids’ tepid survival story light any fires. The initial part of the film’s the best, before the war starts. If it isn’t totally thrilling, at least it promises well. But then the promise isn’t fulfilled.

Nothing’s very credible or exciting –  or even specially interesting – once the bombs go off with a catastrophic nuclear strike on London and the military arrive at the farm. Frustratingly, nothing’s explained, either, about the attack from some unknown enemy. Is there some global conflict we should know about? We don’t ever get to know.

The film is moody and atmospheric but very dour and downbeat, and not any fun at all. The acting is solid rather than inspired, with Ronan rather lost, battling her unconvincing American accent and angst-ridden character. Why does she have to be American anyway? For foreign box office?

MacKay is fine, but he’s subdued and he doesn’t have enough to do. The same’s true of Chancellor, who disappears on some peace-negotiating business just before the war starts. It’s odd but notable that the two young kids, Holland and Bird, come off best in feisty performances.

How I Live Now is ambitiously but listlessly directed by the talented Kevin Macdonald, who won an Oscar for Best Documentary in 1999 for One Day in September and made the features The Last King of Scotland, State of Play and The Eagle. Sometimes it feels like he’s making a documentary about the English countryside and that turns out to be the best thing about the film.

The film looks for class but doesn’t really find it. It isn’t an entire washout but it isn’t inspiring either. I can’t imagine the teen audience it’s aimed at going for it at all. The novel is apparently well regarded, so Macdonald and his writers don’t seem to have brought out the best in it. Maybe it works best on the pages of the book.

On June 23 2015, Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios announced they have cast British actor Tom Holland as the new Spider-Man in a new reboot. The 19-year-old, who acted in The Impossible (2012) and How I Live Now (2013), will take over from Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker for release in cinemas in IMAX and 3D on July 28 2017. Holland will first appear in Captain America: Civil War to introduce him into the Marvel film universe.

© Derek Winnert 2013 Movie Review

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