How I Live Now, starring Saoirse Ronan, is an authentic depiction of society on the brink
HOW I LIVE NOW: Daisy is destined for a mundane family holiday with her cousins in the English countryside. Then there is war.
Leigh Paatsch
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Director: Kevin Macdonald (The Last King Of Scotland)
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, George MacKay, Tom Holland, Harley Bird, Anna Chancellor, Corey Johnson
Rated: M
Rating: 3 stars
Daisy (Saoirse Ronan) is a spoilt American teen who has been forced to suffer a summer holiday with her cousins in the English countryside.
Just as an atmosphere of stately tedium sets in, the world around these youngsters is turned upside-down.
London has been obliterated by a nuclear strike. Militants are fighting government forces all over the country. A state of martial law is declared.
As Daisy and the others are without a guardian - her aunt was called away for work on the same day as the nuke - they are hauled away to supposedly "safer'' parts of England. What becomes clear is that there is nowhere truly safe in the strangely orderly post-apocalyptic society taking shape.
Once the outsider, Daisy now has a better grip on how to harness her survival instincts than the others. This becomes all the more remarkable an achievement after we become familiar with the many voices coursing through Daisy's head on a daily basis. Finding such strength while in a fragile mental state becomes the making of a young woman seemingly destined for oblivion.
Loosely adapted from the best-selling, young-adult novel by Meg Rosoff, How I Live Now does cover similar thematic territory once staked out by Australia's own Tomorrow, When the War Began.
However, under the assured direction of Kevin Macdonald, a restless intelligence and focused restraint comes to the fore when needed. Authentic production values also maintain a convincing depiction of an ordered society about to fracture in an instant.
As for Ronan, her textured reading of a tricky part marks yet another strong performance from the best young female actor this side of Jennifer Lawrence.
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