Cherry
I got a lot of sadness in my face to make up for so I gotta act like I’m crazy, or people will think I’m a p*ssy
Summary:
Cherry follows the life of Nico Walker. Interestingly, the movie starts with the last few scenes of the movie, and then cutting back a few years prior. The first cut leads to Nico in college and finding the love of his life. After finding out the girl of his dreams is moving to a new country, Nico registers himself into the army and is sent to Iraq. After two years fighting, Nico returns to America a broken man, and suffers from drug abuse and PTSD.
Characters:
Nico Walker, played by Tom Holland, is a troubled young man who has lived a long life. After a traumatic time in the military overseas, he returns and fights the biggest battle of his life. He is a resourceful young man whose life has sucked away the happy kid he was when he started college.
Emily, played by Clara Bravo, is Nico’s love interest who has stuck by his side through it all. Waiting two years for Nico to return, she doesn’t get the same man back as she thought. She falls into the same hole as Nico, and the already scarred college student transforms into an addict.
Austin: 8.5/10
Cherry is a wonderfully written movie, but it’s heavy. The emotional load doesn’t ever let up in the second half, and it becomes hard to watch at times. The characters are wonderful and Tom Holland and Clara Bravo are awesome in this one. Not the typical role we see from Tom, but he did a great job. Overall a decent movie, but it’s so heavy.
The plot in the first half feels totally different than the second. In the first half, we have quite a few emotional scenes, but we also have some comedy and a few releases to the tension. The mix of highs and lows makes for an entertaining first half, but the second half doesn’t follow that rhythm. It is a constant downward slope of emotions, and it just keeps getting heavier. With the events that occur in the second half, it becomes an uncomfortable watch that doesn’t ever let up. It holds your attention like nothing else, but it is hard to watch. I loved the writing and the plot was powerful, but I think people are going to struggle to watch the second half.
The characters closely resemble the plot in the fact that they are very powerful. The subject matter is intense, uncomfortable, and really strong. I loved that about the characters because they don’t pull any punches. The characters are shown at face value, the ups, which are few and far between, and the downs of their lives are directly in your face. The development is super deep and wide-reaching, and they are totally different people from the start of the first half to even the start of the second.
Cherry is a very powerful movie that shows the determinate effects of a lacking support system. It demonstrates the effects of drug addiction on the people around you as well as yourself. It is a hard movie to watch but it does a good job of proving its point. Definitely one worth checking out, but not one I will watch a second time.
Nathanyal: 8.3/10
Cherry was a pretty solid movie overall. For a movie that is two and half hours long, it held my attention for most of that time. This movie also covers some deeper topics and was shot using a variety of angles and formats.
The lower points of the movie come from the second half of the movie after Nico returns from the war. When he starts on his path of drug abuse, it is dark and somber. At this point, the movie gets heavy and doesn’t let up the intensity. Although this fits well with the theme and the ideas that were meant to be portrayed, this can lead to the viewer being emotionally drained, as more and more dire events spring up with no real end in sight. This is a point where the long runtime works against itself. This portion of the movie is definitely an area that is meant to hit the viewer hard, and it does achieve that. However, without any sources of emotional relief, the viewer can lose interest over time.
The better parts of the movie come from the first half. Here, the characters are introduced, and they are ones that are loveable. Even the side characters are fun to watch as they interact with the protagonist. During this time in the movie, comedic events are used during harsher parts of the movie to lighten the mood and doesn’t drain the viewer emotionally like in the second half. Another great aspect of the movie overall is the use of fourth wall breaking and music to create the atmosphere. When the music is happy while the scene is a sad one, this dichotomy is an intriguing aspect that was chosen and definitely regains some attention. The fourth wall breaking was also useful when creating bits of comedy to bring out a laugh in tense situations. The myriad of shots used throughout the movie was also interesting, as the dynamic work really caught my eye.
Overall, Cherry was a pretty solid movie. The first half did feel better than the second, heavier half. Either way, this was still worth a watch and one you should consider if you have Apple TV. The only thing to watch out for is that this movie does have a good amount of profanity.
Sebastian: 8.0/10
This was a solid drama with some really great acting and cool shots but has some structural issues that drag the film down. To start with a positive, I found that the acting in this movie was good, especially from Tom Holland. While at first, it was hard to not see Peter Parker, I felt that pretty soon he definitely became the character he plays in this movie. He gets to show his dramatic acting skills at a level we haven’t seen from him yet and he really sold it. The acting from the rest of the cast was pretty good as well though nothing too note-worthy. The story itself was interesting and upon learning that it is partially based on a man’s life all the more tragic. I found it interesting how the film was separated into parts and we get to see how each stage of his life is very distinct and separate from the others. Another part of this film that deserves some credit definitely was the interesting and unique shot choices used throughout this film that makes it have a very distinct and different looking film that I appreciated. My problems with this film mostly lie with the structure and pacing. The first half of the movie moves at a lightning pace with a good introduction to our characters and a good mix of drama, war drama, and comedy, and I was really engaged. However, the second half of the film grinds to a halt and loses a lot of the momentum and pacing it had built up. The heavy subject matter does deserve its time to have its room to breathe in the film but I just felt like there was so little progress after the drug story takes the centre stage that it is hard to remain engaged. Personally, I felt the way in which they handled the first half was definitely more engaging and easier to digest than the second.
All in all, this is a solid movie with some good acting but some structural issues that I would recommend to anyone with Appletv+ but I wouldn’t say this movie alone is worth subscribing to the service. Watch the movie yourself and see what you think!
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