Cast: Emilia Clarke, Sam Claflin, Janet McTeer, Charles Dance, Brendan Coyle, Jenna Coleman
Director: Thea Sharrock
Genre: Romantic drama
Duration: 110 minutes
Showing: Cinema Magic, Metroplex Mall Naalya, Century Cinemax Acacia Mall, and Numax Cinema, Entebbe.
As one of this year’s most awaited movies, Me Before You had a fan base long before it hit theatres. Several factors explain the movie’s popularity. For starters, everyone who read Jojo Moyes’ novel of the same title would look forward to the movie – to enjoy the story in moving pictures or find out if it measures up to the book. The other pull is Emilia Clarke or as her GoT fans know her, Daenerys Targaryen. A chance to see her out of her dragon-loving character is pull enough. The third reason is the story of the movie.
In Me Before You, Clarke plays Lou, a chatty, eternally optimistic woman who loses her job at the start of the movie. Since her income played a big part to support her dad, mum, grandfather, sister and nephew, she is desperate to find a job. At the job centre, she finds out that there is only one opening – being a companion to a paraplegic. Despite an awkward interview, Lou gets the job, taking care of Will Traynor (Claflin). Will’s disposition is the opposite of Lou’s. He is surly and is not up to anything. But if you have watched your share of romantic movies, you know that this changes, and the two start to get along. When Lou finds out Will’s plans for his life, she goes all out to change his mind.
Even if you haven’t read the book, bits of the story are a little too romantic-movie predictable. Then there is the backlash the movie has received from people living with disabilities. That backlash has something to do with how the movie ends, so I won’t get into it to avoid spoilers. These two are the dark spots of the movie. Besides that, Me Before You fits perfectly in its genre while dealing with a deep issue.
Think about it, except the movies based on real-life figures, there are not so many movies with a paraplegic leading man. To fortify the good story, we have Clarke and Claflin whose chemistry is so good, you cannot help rooting for them. Oh, and if you are crazy for the music in movies like me, you are in for a treat, especially of the variety that brings on the feels, as the movie itself does. Yeah, prepare for so many feels with this one. You might need tissues even.
