If
Twilight is the bubblegum pop of young adult literary adaptations and
Hunger Games is the more alternative rock that still gets played on Top 40 radio, then
How I Live Now must be labeled as the punk rock version of these popular archetypes that continue to be re-imagined and place young, female heroine's at the center of their conflict. I had not heard of Meg Rosoff's novel that was first published in 2004 (a full year before
Twilight and four before
The Hunger Games) prior to discussions of director Kevin Macdonald's adaptation out of the Toronto International film Festival. I was intrigued not only because Macdonald has directed a slew of acclaimed documentaries and feature films, but because it starred an aggressive-looking Saoirse Ronan and the last time she looked to be in this form was 2011's
Hanna in which she turned contributed a great performance to one of my favorite films of the year. Though Ronan attempted to headline her own young-adult female-centric fantasy adaptation earlier this year with
The Host, that effort bombed both with critics and general movie-goers, but
How I Live Now is a different beast entirely. The mega-hits like
Harry Potter,
Twilight and
The Hunger Games fall into that category because they are the first out of the gate in concept and execution, while the ones that trail behind will not find near the success for that same reason. The good news concerning
How I Live Now is that it doesn't strive to be anything it's not and while it will seem all too familiar with today's
Hunger Games-fueled audiences this is not a likable protagonist at the center of the story, it doesn't offer the typical love triangle nor does it strive to extend its saga over multiple chapters, but instead Rosoff created an isolated incident of how the greater affects of war and isolation effect a single soul as we see a large event through a small window. Much like Steven Spielberg's version of
War of the Worlds, Macdonald uses the personal perspective to differentiate his film from those that we have seen before where a more global look is taken as society comes to an end. Here, we are as confused and lost as the characters we are following. This doesn't always work in terms of successful storytelling, but it certainly keeps us intrigued and ready to stick with wherever that story decides to go.
