I’m probably one of the few people who doesn’t mind film adaptations of YA novels. Despite finding myself not in the demographic for such material (they’re usually catered towards young girls) there is potential in some of the plot threads that could probably translate poignantly on screen. The Hunger Games is a prime example of this which takes the cliched dystopian future premise and builds it around a strong female protagonist that allows for solid storytelling. Even though a lot of it has been done before, film adaptions of other source material such as Divergent or The Maze Runner show shades of potential.
There is a sub-genre of the YA novel that could also shine on the big screen, and that’s the teen romance. Sometimes the teen romance is mixed with genre intentions (think the vampires of Twilight) and other times the romance is centered around a more real-life tragedy (think battling cancer in The Fault in Our Stars). There is an argument this can work well in book form (although having read passages from Twilight, I doubt it) but something gets a bit lost from page to screen. The big issue is the films cater to the lowest common denominator and don’t seem to have much respect for the intelligence of its audience. Maybe some girls fall for the overwrought dialogue and barrage of emotional teen angst but they’re written in such a juvenile manner that they forget that even though you’re speaking to teenagers, doesn’t mean you have to talk down to them. Teens respect intelligent material, along with the weepy romance stuff.
That trend continues with After, the latest film based on a YA phenomenon. After was the first in a series of books from author Anna Todd that began its life as, believe it or not, fan-fiction about Harry Styles from One Direction. A publishing company saw how the fan fiction went insanely viral and asked her to make the story into a book and, of course, turn Harry Styles into a fictional character while crafting an account of what happens when high school innocence is entering the more adult and risque side of college life. There is a story here that could honestly work, and some of it does hit the right notes but After falls into the trappings of most YA adaptations of this sort. It’s stifled by cheesy dialogue and makes some of the characters do things that aren’t grounded in reality. Maybe the purpose is to sell the fantasy, but when other aspects of your story have a ring of truth, it makes some of the more absurd moments stand out.
The trailer for After, with Selena Gomez’s “Good For You” mixed throughout to achieve heightened sensual potential, is a tad misleading. The film is selling itself as a sort of Fifty Shades of Grey for the college set but what we get isn’t quite that. After is subdued by its PG-13 rating which seems to think that close up shots of fingertips sliding across one’s torso while simulating heavy breathing is as sexy as it gets. According to those who have read After (yep, I found some) the book is actually pretty heavy on the sexual nature of the original character’s relationship, so it’s interesting that the film wants its cake and eats it too. It tries to sell a YA sexual fantasy but at the end of the day this a standard romance where good girl meets bad boy. She becomes empowered by embracing a more rebellious side. He softens when he realizes he can love someone. An outsider threatens to break up the union and by the time the credits roll, they’re back in each other’s arms. The ending of After is a tad bit more ambiguous than that, but the last shot gives us an indication of where these two will end up while also setting up the fact that there are more books in this series to adapt.
After follows Tessa (Josephine Langford), a dedicated student, dutiful daughter and loyal girlfriend to her high school sweetheart, as she enters her first semester in college. Armed with grand ambitions for her future, her guarded world opens up when she meets the dark and mysterious Hardin Scott (Hero Fiennes-Tiffin), a magnetic, brooding rebel who makes her question all she thought she knew about herself and what she wants out of life.
After is made all the more frustrating because unlike other YA film adaptations like Twilight, the performances of Josephine Langford and Hero Fiennes-Tiffin, are quite good. Langford, in particular, is above the challenges of the script that might’ve made her a bit underdeveloped on paper by crafting a sense of innocence and awakening that shows her character’s growth. Most of her scenes are top notch, and she honestly elevates those around, especially her male counterpart who does appear ripped out of bad boy school 101 when we first meet him but is allowed to grow into a character where the audience understands why his guard is consistently up. The film does explore his troubled life with his father and how his father’s behavior shaped his own, but the film is too concerned with teen clichés to let that story grow. Despite the trappings of his character, Fiennes-Tiffin makes the role more than a stereotype, and that is abundantly clear when he’s sharing moments with Langford. They have palpable chemistry, and if you’re searching for even the slightest reason to see the film, they’re worthy of your attention. Can we give these characters their own CW series? Honestly, After is much more suited for that outlet than a feature film.
It’s a shame that the film built around them isn’t as strong. The $14 million production is certainly sleek looking, and director Jenny Gage makes her young cast look their best but too much time was spent on sequences that don’t matter. Do we need extended montages featuring D-squad pop music that could’ve been used to develop the characters? Nope! There is also the use of supporting characters that are more types than living breathing people. You have the lesbian roommate, the bitchy bad girl, the stoner, the innocent boyfriend left behind and, of course, the worried mom, although in the case of the latter, she’s portrayed by Selma Blair and it’s nice to see her putting in work on screen. The film loses its way when it’s not strictly focused on Tessa and Hardin, and unfortunately, it sways from them too often.
For all of its apparent moments, I will say that the twist and revelation towards the end, although familiar, was surprising and well-handled. The scene is hands down the film’s most powerful moment, and for a second you’re convinced you’re watching a much better movie than what you’ve spent 90 minutes with. The ultimate conclusion of After is handled pretty well, and I respect the final scene, which says a lot without really saying much at all. After deserved a lot of this respect throughout but it ultimately succumbs to all the familiarities of the genre, and it’s left wallowing in adolescent angst even though it wants to play with the grownups.
