Yesterday, Sarah and I saw the Everything, Everything film together with our friend Becca. We’ve been looking forward to seeing this film ever since it was announced so it was so fun to go together! The film was just released in the UK on Friday and I wanted to do a post for those who have either already seen it or want to (also, for myself because I love love love writing about adaptations!)
I remember reading this book last summer and completely falling in love with it. I loved how light and fun and adorable the story was along with more hard hitting plot lines. I think the mixture of the two is quite difficult to do but Nicola Yoon (who I absolutely adore) nails it.
For a quick overview, the story is about Maddy, an eighteen year old girl with Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID). She can’t leave the house and when she sees her new neighbour, Olly, move in next door, everything changes. Yes this sounds like a very cliche YA romance (and in some ways it is) but it is fantastic and some cliches are wonderfully addictive.
As always with adaptations, you do go in hoping your favourite bits will be included and that the film will mirror the way the book felt to you. I definitely got the same feeling with the film as I did with the book which is a fab thing.
There are of course a couple of things I wish had been explored further in the film. I think a lot of information about Olly’s family was left out and although it was obvious what was going on, I just wish Olly had spoken about it to Maddy more. I also wish Maddy was more nervous about leaving the house because when she runs away in the book, she is obviously very nervous something bad will happen whereas in the film she seems to wander quite casually straight away which I found odd. The next paragraph will have big spoilers so if you don’t know the story, please don’t read!
I think the explanation the reasoning for Maddy’s mum lying to her about her illness for all those wasn’t very clear. It was obvious that she did lie but I think it came across more that her mum was manipulative and mean rather than ill and in need of help. That may just be how I saw it but please if you’ve seen the film let me know what you think.
One thing that I find often gets left out of adaptation posts is positives films can bring to the table. Adaptations are, after all, someone’s individual vision and interpretation of the book so it won’t be perfect for anyone. However, film has a lot of different aspects it can bring to the table. For instance, I was hoping some of the illustrations from the book would make it into the film but they went a step further.
Although the illustrations weren’t really included, they had other great ways of showing things differently. In the book, a lot of Maddy and Olly’s interactions are emails and messages online since she can’t leave the house. The way they translate this into film is by starting off showing the messages on screen (a film trope that I actually really like) and then bringing them together in one of the architectural models Maddy builds for her online course. She always puts an astronaut in her creations (she relates to how she thinks an astronaut would feel) and he features in all of these little scenes. The setting feels unrealistic and slightly dreamlike and I adored how this was done.
The casting was honestly brilliant. I couldn’t think of anyone better to play any of the roles. Every single person in the film was perfect for their role. My ultimate favourite character is Carla and though I do wish she was in the film more, the actress, Ana de la Reguera, was perfect! The relationship between her and Maddy was so full of fun and kindness and that was my favourite aspect from the book so I’m glad it was brought into the film so well.
The soundtrack and score were also wonderful! The score was so beautiful and not to sound cheesy but it really captured the whole young love storyline. The songs used also complimented the film really well, I was so impressed with the choices!
Although the film was a little cheesy and I would have enjoyed more of Carla, it made me so happy and I will definitely be buying it when the DVD is released. I honestly recommend the book and film to everyone, it is such a lovely and brilliant story.
Have you seen the film or are planning too? Please tell me your thoughts! Sarah did a thread about her thoughts on it too which you can find here.
The Little Contemporary Corner 