Now Is Good – Jeder Moment zählt (2012)

Now Is Good – Jeder Moment zählt: Directed by Ol Parker. With Dakota Fanning, Jeremy Irvine, Paddy Considine, Olivia Williams. A teenage girl dying of leukemia compiles a list of things she would like to do before passing away. Topping the list is her desire to lose her virginity.

“u0026quot;Our life is a series of moments… let them go…u0026quot;u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI donu0026#39;t need to go into my decreasing expectation of Dakota Fanning movies as I tend to do it with each of her movies since around 2007… needless to say, I likely wouldnu0026#39;t have been rushing to see this one – which from the outside appears as yet another not-even-Oscar-baiting cancer pity porn story (if youu0026#39;ll excuse the extreme shorthand) with the added u0026quot;oh no…u0026quot; factor of Fanning doing her best English accent to boot*. But I got free tickets, and who was I to pass up my first chance to see one of my (despite everything, still) favourite actresses on the big screen for the first time since 2005?u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe by-the-numbers story here has Fanning as Tessa, who is dying of leukaemia, has passed the point of expecting treatment to help, and wants to get a few things done before she goes. This in itself, of course, does not an enriching 90 minutes make (not for me, anyway). But while thereu0026#39;s certainly a few bad clichés of this kind of story in here (and one particularly awful moment – I shall just say u0026quot;sweetcornu0026quot;…), the reason Now Is Good continued to pull me in is because of this light of a character at its core.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAs I said I was worried Iu0026#39;d be adding this movie to a long list of recent Dakota Fanning movies (okay, mainly the Twilight movies) that lead me to ask, frustrated, u0026quot;what are you doing, Dakota?u0026quot; – but you can see why she was drawn to this one, despite any of its leanings toward cliché. Tessa responds to the generic way the world usually deals with terminal illness in the same way I always imagine I would (yes – Iu0026#39;ll it admit it – I imagine it enough to be able to say such a thing, lol, now whou0026#39;s pitying?), and I connected to her fast – the way her face lights up the moment she spots a hint of mischief in a person, such as when her brother asks at the breakfast table (much to their fatheru0026#39;s dismay), u0026quot;when Tessa dies can we go on holiday?u0026quot; or how she talks back to her doctor (u0026quot;Good girl.u0026quot; u0026quot;Would you like to slap my rump? …then stop talking to me like a horse…u0026quot;) She really doesnu0026#39;t want any pity, for herself or anyone (as she says to her love towards the end, u0026quot;Donu0026#39;t you dare expect me to feel sorry for you because you get left behind, donu0026#39;t you f-ing dare!u0026quot;) but she certainly doesnu0026#39;t deny the creeping darkness of her imminent death either.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThereu0026#39;s a ropey segment in which Tessa and her friend go on an attempted crime spree in a shopping centre that smacks awfully of a teen movie cliché I thought long-since past, and the aforementioned unbelievable attempt to cut through one of the movieu0026#39;s most horrific glimpses of disease with the comedy of u0026quot;sweetcornu0026quot; – but even these lows are ultimately countered by terrific performance, not just from Fanning but from the support cast including Paddy Considine and Olivia Williams (both of whom, post-sweetcorn scene, share the best non-Fanning scene in the movie, as she asks him, u0026quot;Can I stay?u0026quot;). There are lesser clichés that also ring less hokey for the same reasons, such as Fanning enjoying an air tunnel type ride (her face in this scene is too beautiful to even consider being cynical), a stolen kiss under fireworks, and the horses that ride past at the end – but by that point I was so in love with Tessa they could have played in u0026quot;This Womanu0026#39;s Worku0026quot; or u0026quot;Fields of Goldu0026quot; over such imagery and still not offended me… it really is her most unforgettable role since Man on Fire for me.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e* the accent work is fantastic, if you must know – I really didnu0026#39;t want to mention it in my review though, because everybody will… itu0026#39;s the flawless, clipped, but not necessarily authentic to the character, kind most American actresses manage …but like those minor clichés, by around midway itu0026#39;s the last thing on your mind.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e** PS. Thereu0026#39;s some interesting use of Nine Lives footage (at least I think itu0026#39;s that movie), of a younger Fanning climbing a tree, that I just found interesting and felt worth mentioning – it was slightly jarring to me but I imagine even fewer people saw that movie than will see this one lol. At least it connects to something in this movie, anyway, another beautiful scene of tree climbing. ** EDIT I asked the director about this and he said they shot all of the stuff at the end themselves so I guess I was wrong, it just looked very familiar to me :)”