It's a good life, Hazel Grace

Rating: 10/10 (4 July 2014)

The Fault in our Stars.
I read the book. I fell in love. Then I fell in love with a person. Then I proceeded to pass it onto my loved one. She fell in love. I fell in love with her falling in love with this lovely book.
Anyway.
My biggest hope (and fear, simultaneously) was that the movie would a) have the wrong casting b) not follow the book and cut and slice into the plot c) ruin the former experience of reading
Turns out I was wrong on all 3 levels.
The Fault in Our Stars has what I consider the most perfect casting for this movie. Everyone more or less converges with their story counterparts and has their story to tell. Each character is memorable by means of acting performance and facial/bodily expressions. Character development here is as intense as was the case with the book.
Okay, so enough about acting, what about my blunt (and totally biased) opinion?
The movie was plain brilliant. I hardly ever cry at movies, even less so when I am in the company of others. I was, I did and I did it a lot (in this case that is not a shameful feat). Hazel Grace, cancer patient and realist versus Augustus Waters, former cancer patient and idealist. The chemistry between the two persona is astonishing and utterly fascinating. I think everyone is a mix of those two dispositions, and we struggle to choose which one to rely on... rendering both persons very easy to relate to. The movie pierces fixed ideas ostensibly set in stone on cancer and adds ideas of its own. Of course, kudos go to Green for the original work, but the movie manages to convey the same defiance, which I believe is a rare occurrence. Does cancer have to define your life? No. Is everyone fighting a brave battle? No. Is it okay to glorify the dead? No. These are all very controversial topics but I agree with each and every one of them to a differing degree. Questioning these delicate topics and considering the way outsiders see cancer vs how cancer patients look upon it is a very needed debate in contemporary society.
The movie managed to pinpoint what made the book so true to life and expand on it, without deviating from the main plot.
Excellent. Intoxicating. Life-changing. Go see this movie now. Or see it again. It matters. It deserves it.