By Gilberto Campa,
Our teenage years are full of many emotional experiences, more importantly, they are also our most formative. We aren’t kids anymore but we aren’t necessarily adults yet either, so it can be quite a challenge internally. There also is a sense of figuring out where one belongs in the bigger picture and that can be a very daunting thought to deal with. More often than not there are usually different forms of media that cover this type of story, it seems to be the one type of genre film that always stays relevant no matter what else is released. Now depending on the quality of the story and who is involved, there could be different opinions on them. This time we have a new one called Chemical Hearts. It stars two young actors who are starting to grow and are looking to become household names in the future.
The story is fairly simple when it comes down to it, but it takes some different turns that make you pay attention to what is really going on. Chemical Hearts tells the story of Henry Page (Austin Abrams), a teenage student who considers himself a hopeless romantic and seems to have a stable home, supportive parents, and overall normal teenage life. He aspires to be the editor of the high school newspaper and lives happily focused on his studies to enter a good university until Grace Town (Lili Reinhart) enters his class. The sparks (sort of) fly between them, but Grace isn’t really the person that she used to be.
The movie takes place in Emerson, New Jersey so the type of scenery and lighting that was presented actually added to the emotion of the story. I wouldn’t necessarily call it bland or mute, rather a more natural feel. Between both actors i would say that Lili Reinhart (who also was an executive producer) really impressed me with the type of range that she showed in this story, she has a good presence and some of the most expressive eyes that not a lot of actors have. At only 23 years old she really is just starting and has a lot of potential to be a bigger name in the future, especially after her breakout role in the CW series Riverdale and last years Hustler’s.
Without going into spoilers much of the movie surrounds the chemical reactions that the human brain goes through during emotional trauma. Henry and Grace both end up influencing each other through different means than what you would see in a teenage drama, just when you think one thing is going to happen the movie take’s a turn. Ultimately it’s all about finding closure and happiness in yourself (especially after heavy trauma) and sometimes it takes meeting the right person to do that. I believe that this movie should be seen for the continuing growth of Lili Reinhart, and for a teen drama that doesn’t go the way you think. So I would say take a chance and check it out when Chemical Hearts comes out this weekend on demand and Amazon Prime.
The Verdict
