It takes a while to warm to “The Sun is Also a Star”
Yara Shahidi (left) and Charles Melton star in in “The Sun Is Also a Star”.
May 17, 2019
The movie “The Sun is Also a Star” — from the highly-acclaimed story by Nicola Yoon — is a sentimental testament to both the beauty and briefness of our short existence. It does a good job not completely falling to the mushy, idiotic love stories usually produced by Hollywood.
The story follows a young, science-minded pessimist named Natasha Kingsley, played by Yara Shahidi, and her one-day romance with soon-to-be doctor and optimist Daniel Bae, played by Charles Melton. Destiny intervenes to bring their lives together: Daniel is about to do his interview to enter the doctors program at a prestigious college, and Natasha’s family is being deported the next day. They both are being forced somewhere they do not want to go, but their chance encounters makes them believe in fate.
While the movie takes time to develop and I felt myself personally clawing to keep focus, as the conflict strengthened, so did my attention. I also enjoyed the movie’s slight stabs at the problems with deportation and how it tears children out of their homes, as well as the stereotypes applied to certain ethnic groups.
In the end, the audience can not help but watch and love the beauty, sadness, and awkwardness of their unique one-day love story.
–May 17, 2019–
