Five Feet Apart – Review

I know it’s not fair writing a review around weeks later, and I wasn’t really planning on it, but this film drove me nuts. I’m not a huge fan of tragic dramas, but I do have my favourites. Ones that made me cry, be it book or movie or both. A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, and The Fault in our Stars by John Green. All these books hit me hard. And then, this year, five feet apart is nominated to this list.

This is a story of a seventeen-year-old methodical YouTuber Stella Grant, who is a cystic fibrosis patient. Driven by her organizational mindset, everything for her was a routine until another cystic fibrosis patient, Will Newman shows up on a new drug trial. At first, Will’s attitude challenges her character, but the denial is given up soon. And the rest of the film focuses on how they cope up with their medical constraints while developing feelings for each other.

Sounds like a normal coming-of-age teen drama, doesn’t it? But, when you see it on screen, it’ll surely hit you. Certain nuances of the film have a really deeper meaning, which vibrates well with the theme. And the leads have done an exceptionally amazing job. Highlighting a simple subject that we mostly take for granted, this 116-minute watch will leave you with a different perspective of your social behaviour. And watching this in quarantine will add more irony to your experience.