After is a glum will-they-or-won’t-they waltz in torrid teen romance
A lifeless combo of Fifty Shades of Grey minus the kinky sex and Twilight minus the vampires and werewolves, it’s fairly safe to say there won’t be any more Afters after this After.
Leigh Paatsch
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Mmmm. This one takes a little pre-explaining, even if the facts surrounding how After came to exist are infinitely more interesting than how After turned out.
To cut a long story short, the whole After effect commenced just over five years ago, when unknown writer Anna Todd dreamt up a work of fan fiction that went from niche to viral in a matter of weeks.
If you were in any way enamoured of big-time boy band One Direction back then, you’ll definitely recall what After was all about.
The hunky love interest at the centre of its torrid teen romance was inspired by none other than One Direction fave Harry Styles.
Over five best-selling instalments (so far!) readers could imagine themselves falling in and out of love repeatedly with their heart-throb, reimagined as a rather snooty bad boy with no respect for the Romeo & Juliet rule book.
Now here comes the first movie adaptation, and it looks fairly safe to say there won’t be any more Afters after this After.
A lifeless combo of Fifty Shades of Grey minus the kinky sex, and Twilight minus the vampires and werewolves, After centres on a not-so-eventful first year in college as experienced by naive literature student Tess (Josephine Langford).
Though she has left behind a wet blanket boyfriend back home, it isn’t long before her eye is taken by cocky campus dreamboat Hardin Scott (played by the impressively named and underwhelmingly inert Hero Fiennes Tiffin).
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This Hardin guy is not only the least rebellious rebel you’ve ever seen. With his pretentious, self-satisfied manner and duelling penchants for expensive hair product and dubious body tattoos, Hardin also exudes that rare, dozy mystique where you can never quite pick if he is entering a coma or coming out of one.
Our two ill-matched lovers spend the entire movie glumly dancing the will-they-or-won’t-they? waltz, as if forced to complete a community service order.
AFTER (M)
Director: Jenny Gage (feature debut)
Starring: Josephine Langford, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Khadijha Red Thunder.
Rating: *
Can’t we go back to before?
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