Chemical Hearts 2020

     Henry Page is seventeen years old and he’s never been in love.  He thinks of himself as a romantic but he just hasn’t found the once-in-a-lifetime love he’s been hoping for??  On the first day of his senior year, he meets transfer student Grace Town.  He starts to think about her as possibly this love he’s been thinking about??  Grace and Henry are chosen to co-edit the school paper and he is immediately drawn to her.  He learns that Grace has a heartbreaking secret that has changed her life.  He feels he’s falling in love with her or at least the person he thinks she is.  

     What Henry doesn’t fully know yet is that Grace is broken and she is trying to fix herself but it’s very difficult!!  She was in a relationship with someone she planned to marry and he died.  The overall tone of this film is dark.  It’s about teenagers dealing with grief, trauma, heartbreak, sexual feelings, drugs, alcohol, death of peers.  The two main characters both learn that heartbreak feels the same as physical pain.  4 1/2* (I liked this movie)

93 min, Drama directed and written by Richard Tanne with Lili Reinhart, Austin Abrams, Sarah Jones, Adhir Kalyan, Bruce Altman, Kara young, D.J. Hoff, Robert Clohessy, Meg Gibson, Catherine Curtin, Coral Pena, Shannon Walsh, Jon Lemmon, J.J. Pyle, Lan Zhong, The Guardian 3* out of 5* Wendy Ide.

Note:  Imdb 6.3* out of 10* with 5050 reviews, Roger Ebert 3* Sheila O’Malley, Rotten Tomatoes 62% with 82 critics 72% with 238 audience scores, Common Sense Media, Jennifer Green 8*, age 15+, 3* positive, 3* Role Models, 3* violence, 3* sex, 4* language, 1* consumerism, 4* drinking, drugs and smoking.

Special Note:  Lily Reinhart acted as the character Betty Cooper on the CW teen drama series Riverdale.  She was also Annabelle in Lorene Scafaria’s black comedy crime drama film Hustlers.  She had been in a relationship with Cole Sprouse but forced distancing due to the pandemic influenced their decision to end their relationship.  Austin Noah Abrams acted as Ron Anderson in the 5th and 6th seasons of The Walking Dead and as Ethan Lewis in Euphoria.  He has also been in the films The Kings of Summer, Paper Towns, Brad’s Status, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.