Stick Around For "If I Stay"
Serena Mueller
Feature Editor
“If I Stay” tells a story of heartbreak, devastation and true love, all with the help of convincing actors and personalities of characters identical to the book.
Mia (Chloë Grace Moretz) is a teenage girl that inevitably falls in love with the good-looking and popular Adam (Jamie Blackley). Mia plays the cello, and plays it well. Adam is the lead of an up-and-coming rock band. The characters make promises to stick together in whatever opportunities their futures hand to them. However, problems arise in trying to do so, and little do either of them realize a much bigger problem is about to land in their laps.
Mia received an audition at Juillard, and was confident in the audition, knowing she left everything she had on that stage. Mia considers her options in possibly attending Juillard, and this causes a fight between the couple, affecting both of them but causing neither of them to do anything about it. The real catastrophe strikes when Mia’s family goes on a carefree drive and veers off the road.
The movie is a combination of flashbacks that take Mia back to a happy place while she watches her friends and family suffer. She struggles with an out-of-body experience, witnessing herself laying in a hospital bed: comatose. Her friends and family tell her that if she so chooses, they understand her wanting to go. More than anything, though, they want her to wake up and live with the rest of them.
The director does a fantastic job painting a picture for what everyone’s feeling and what Mia is dealing with. She is stuck with a choice that is heart-wrenching even for the audience. Adam takes a leave from his schedule filled with music gigs, and visits Mia in the hospital, hurting him even worse than he was before. This is where he realizes he is still head over heels for the girl.
A drawback on the otherwise wonderful movie is the constant switching of settings. One minute, the focus is on the hospital and all of Mia’s family and friends right at the moment. The next, Mia appears in a flashback alive and well, laughing with her friends. “If I Stay” has a tendency to jump around times and situations; for an easily confused audience member, that may cause a few problems.
Even with the possibility of a little added confusion, the film captures hearts as well as a few tears. If it’s not a movie one wants to see in theaters, making an effort to rent it out of a Redbox is highly suggested.
