Over the last decade, there has been an influx in films and novels about teen romance and terminal illnesses, especially cancer. From Josh Boone’s The Fault in Our Stars to Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s Me and Earl and the Dying Girl to Stella Meghie’s Everything Everything, this “boy meets girl with a terminal illness” phenomenon has evolved into something of a genre all to itself, exploring—with different degrees of success and sympathy—falling in love when you are young and dying.
But Moses and Milla’s relationship, while complicated and bordering on exploitative, blossoms quite beautifully. Scanlen and Wallace have a magnetic chemistry and their characters talk to each other like they are the only people in the universe. Their love plays out in tender montages that feel reminiscent of summer rom-coms, underscored by the experimental pop stylings of Tune-Yards.
Dir. Shannon Murphy, 118 min. Available to rent on streaming services and VOD starting Fri 6/19
