8.5/10

Rating: 8/10 (21 October 2014)

The Fault in our stars has its stumbles and problems, but most importantly it is a movie that will speak to each one of its viewers in a very personal way and by doing so it will produce very different opinions. This is due to the fact that the film treats its material in a unique way and, to the movie's merit, it has the balls to say this is the way we're going and we're sticking hard to it, by doing so the experience that everyone will take out of it will be very subjective. Because of this I feel it is very hard to talk about this movie looking at it soley as an art piece; it touches thematics that are close to every human being and comes out victorious in its intent to offer a prospective from which each one of us can take what he or she wants and think about it. Meaning that as much as the film can be liked or not, I contend that every judgment will be surely influenced by the relation that the viewer had with the film's tone and the themes involved: so if you were able to take something special out of it you will probably see the whole picture on a positive light, if instead you didn't feel in anyway moved or interested you'll probably see it on a total different light. Yet this isn't due, in my opinion, to the fact that the movie is good or bad, but it is because it has its way of going and you will be either in, out or mildly in on it, however I invite you not to blame this on the artistry and to value the filmaking craft on a different level: this doesn't mean that you must like the movie, but only that I see two sides of judging it here and I don't feel like they should be mixed.
Regarding the movie's treatment of its story, I believe that The Fault in our Stars had the potential to reach the greatness of its similar "50/50" but comes a bit short in that. It most certainly touches equal emotional heights and curiously it touches them more frequently, but, other than banally having singular moments that will plainly take you out of it (yet they don't count too much), it has a subtle convenience about itself and tends to privilege sentimental storytelling over realistic storytelling. I am not against "sentimental storytelling", everybody needs and loves believing in the fantastic: reason why the movie doesn't fail by being sentimental, but it clearly isn't what the film was going for, that being more realism. I didn't feel comfortable one-hundred-percent in being carried away by the narrative in the first 45 minutes and this is probably due to Gus' character (not the performance!), it didn't feel safe for me to give the story my suspension of disbelief in the start, I truly believe this was the script's fault, yet most thankfully after the first act and a half this problem quickly dissolved and boy was I on board from there onwards! The narrative had its problem, but from the tone and the treatment-of-material perspective I was totally in. The film has a very wide array of themes: family, love, friendship, disease, death; it could have failed so badly in its intent to touch on all of those, yet the balance of every element inserted both in drama and comedy was astonishing. The movie made me both laugh and cry multiple times, it is so gut-wrenching yet never stumbles in melodramatic or pretentious territory and manages to maintain a very noble intention and heart. This culminates in the last 30 minutes which touch amazing dramatic heights and had a true impact on me. Hats off to all of the actors that all had their moment to shine and did so, still maintaining a solid quality throughout despite some characters feeling somewhere and somehow unconvincing. Yet this didn't really matter on the whole because I found myself truly caring for everything and everyone and being involved, connected and sometimes reflected by the people portrayed. Josh Boone surely deserves lots of merit for the success of the movie: his direction is very, very solid and keeps everything going without having any really important stumbles.
Yet nothing and nobody deserves the praise that Shailene Woodley deserves here. I can now salefy say that she is the best actress working today alongside Jessica Chastain. I will also go as far as saying that this performance is Oscar worthy. I truly don't have many words that can explain how much I loved this performance. I might as well go on and just write a love letter to her instead of describing how wonderfully awed I felt by her. Frame after frame all I could think of was just how dam spectacular she was. She is the reason this movie succeeds in every single aspect. Without a performance of this caliber you would have half if not less of a movie. I don't know how to put in words how much I was riveted by this particular performance, I knew she was totally brilliant before, but this really was powerful. I actually came as far as thinking that Shailene Woodley would really die (it's no spoiler, we all know Haezel has terminal cancer) because of how convincing she was in the role. I have rarely ever been affected so deeply by an actor's craft and as superficial as it might sound I am honestly saying what I really thought. Thank you Shailene for your acting talent, this is the reason I love going to the cinema.
In the end "The Fault in our Stars" hit the right buttons for me and resonated on multiple levels. Plus it had very deep emotional affection and in spite of its many minor incoherences I found myself totally won over, this is one of the best of the year.