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The Sun Is Also a Star

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Yara Shahidi and Charles Melton in a scene from 'The Sun Is Also a Star.' (Warner Bros)
Yara Shahidi and Charles Melton in a scene from 'The Sun Is Also a Star.' (Warner Bros)

WHAT IT'S ABOUT:

College-bound romantic Daniel Bae and Jamaica-born pragmatist Natasha Kingsley meet—and fall for each other—over one magical day amidst the fervor and flurry of New York City. Sparks immediately fly between these two strangers, who might never have met had fate not given them a little push. But will fate be enough to take these teens from star-crossed to lucky in love? With just hours left on the clock in what looks to be her last day in the U.S., Natasha is fighting against her family’s deportation as fiercely as she’s fighting her budding feelings for Daniel, who is working just as hard to convince her they are destined to be together.

WHAT WE THOUGHT:

Disclaimer: I did not read the Nicola Yoon's bestseller, The Sun Is Also a Star by, before watching the movie. My review is based on the film, and I won't be commenting on any discrepancies or similarities between the novel and the flick.

We first meet Natasha Kingsley (grown-ish's Yara Shahidi), a Jamaican-born teenager, with a reasonable and logical mindset when she is on her way to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services as a last-ditch attempt to save her family from deportation.

Natasha's parents immigrated to the United States when she was very young, and she can't face the thought of leaving her home on nine years – New York.

As fate would have it, Natasha is destined to meet Daniel Bae (Riverdale's Charles Melton), a hopeless romantic Korean American student, who falls head-over-heels in love with Natasha the moment he lays eyes on her.

Daniel vows to make Natasha, who is incredibly logical about love, fall in love with him in only a couple of hours.

But sadly, the star-crossed lovers love affair is in on the clock, with Natasha's family facing deportation within 24 hours.

What follows is two-hours of our teenage lovers wandering the streets of Manhatten, contemplating their existence, and trying to answer life's questions of fate and destiny.

A second romantic storyline is of Natasha's relationship with New York, and it is truly spellbinding.

From the magnificent shots of Grand Central Station to the busy streets of Harlem and China Town, the intensely saturated colours and the movement, in the cinematography had me swooning.

From a mother braiding her daughter's hair on the steps of a brownstone to the businessman clutching his newspaper under his arm as he rushes to make his train, each montage and each character had purpose.

Yara and Charles have never looked better; throughout the movie, we see these intense close-ups, where the pair ooze passion, and stare at each other with desire in their eyes - and the camera eats it up!

Combined with the bright lights of New York City, it's hard not also to get caught up in the moment, despite the several "too-good-to-be-true" coincidences.

The flick gave me more "Netflix-movie" than big screen blockbuster, which by no means is an insult.

That said, The Sun is Also a Star can also be praised, for under the fluffy parts there are some moments of realism, where the movie touches on serious issues such as cultural identity, and immigration laws.

If you're a bit of a pragmatist, you'll walk out of in the cinema within the first 10 minutes, so you might want to give this one a skip.

But if you believe in love-at-first-sight, and destiny, then it will be a perfect date-night movie for you and your special someone.

And if you're single. Who knows? Your perfect person might be sitting in the seat behind you, after reading this very same review.

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