Obviously because
I am a Gayle Forman fangirl and I fell in absolute
LOVE with If I Stay when I read it (you can read my review here and of Where She Went...here), I had to see the movie. Well, actually I didn't. I have a very caustic relationship
with books being turned into movies. In a few words, as a general rule, I hate it. I might be the only person who is NOT excited when they find out one of their favorite books is being made into a movie. Why? I feel like books should be left alone. There are so few good adaptations that really capture (and they never really capture the feeling of READING a story) the essence of a novel. There are exceptions to my distaste
though. I think the Harry Potter movies are epic and all the people behind The Hunger Games films must have sold parts of their souls to the devil for those movies
to turn out as amazing as they did. And if this is your first time here, I'll tell you Harry Potter and The Hunger Games hold a solid piece of my heart so for me to say those movies are well done is a huge deal.
Anyways!! Sorry for the tangent but I just saw If I Stay and I have to say what an amazing film. Not only was I crying throughout most of it but it was so well done. It stayed so true to the book and all the vignettes of Adam and Mia's relationship and how much she loved her family. I thought it was just excellent and I'm sad that I didn't even see half the film clearly because the screen was blurry. Shoddy mechanics, I tell you. I think the casting of the film was perfect. Chloe Grace Moretz OWNED Mia. Her parents were just amazing. I felt their rock and roll vibe all the way through the screen and Teddy...oh, I just wanted to snug Teddy like crazy! So cute! You could feel the love they have for one another. It was palpable. What I liked a lot was the struggle Mia had with accepting Adam liked her. I didn't get that feel as much from the book so, SURPRISE, it was a really great thing to see translated to film. Whatever research Chloe did for her role as Mia was perfect because her face when playing or talking about music was inspiring. You could feel the love she had for the cello. And Adam. Going into Adam is not who I pictured in my head however he did an excellent job. His looks towards Mia felt like a heated embrace. His patience with showing her he loved her was beautiful. Everything was just really, really great. From the accident to the flashbacks to the hospital scenes, it was everything I pictured in my head (except Adam) and more.
To emphasize and show my love for this film and how wonderful I thought it was, I thought I'd highlight a love Mia and I share. Classical music. I'm not super well-versed, don't get me wrong. But I love to put a 2 hour mix of Tchaikovsky's best on my iPod and let it play while I cook dinner or am sitting around reading. So here are my favorite classical music pieces. **Note: Ignore the terrible videos because there are some oldies on here but it's about the music, so close your eyes if you must.**
This is my favorite piece of all time. I don't even know when I started listening to it but I play this on repeat when I'm driving a lot. The music is just so powerful and it goes through so many different styles and emotions. It's just beautiful.
I looooove listening to this. Winter and Summer are my favorite movements but listening to them all back to back complement each other perfectly.
I would love to see this live, obviously, because I have an affinity to Romeo and Juliet. I love the ups and down of this piece.
Uh, have you guys heard this? I'm pretty sure I was obsessed with it for weeks...still am. I love the feelings evoked when listening to it, the music is so powerful it give me chills. No joke, every time I listen to it, I get goosebumps. Love love love
So if you haven't read If I Stay by Gayle Forman yet, you really, really need to! AND then go see the movie. It's amazingly well done and there are only a few lines from the book I WISHED would have made the cut...le sigh.
