When the Alzheimer's-afflicted grandmother says "I'm worried about my grandson", my heart starts to break and this terrible feeling lasts until the end of the movie.
"Struck by Lightning" begins with the 17-year-old protagonist, Carson Phillips (played by Chris Colfer) getting killed by a bolt from the sky in the parking lot. As he recounts and narrates his final days when he was still alive, ambitious and walking around blackmailing his fellow classmates in school to contribute in his literary magazine with the help of his best, and only friend, Malerie (Rebel Wilson), we learn about his plans to get into Northwestern University and become the editor of the New Yorker and writer of the NY Times and LA Times, or even win the Nobel Peace Prize. Mainly, he just wants to leave this town he never leaves, or live a life he never lives.
Carson lives with his divorced mother, Sheryl (Allison Janney) an alcoholic who tells her son that she wishes she had an abortion in the 90s. His father, Neal (Dermot Mulroney) is about to remarry a pregnant local pharmacist, April (Christina Hendricks) who does not know the existence of his ex-wife and his son. There's also the adorable and aging grandmother (Polly Bergen) who no longer recognizes Carson, but still remembers the first story he wrote her "''Once upon a time there was a boy who wanted to fly'."
The movie is about Carson wanting to fly away from this hell hole he lives in, with almost no friends or no family that cares and loves him. It is heartbreaking to see him fail in the end, despite all his effort. He never reaches any of his goals, never says any goodbyes, and never even graduates highschool. But he did actually manage to escape from all the pain in his life: when he drives to see the sunset and ocean for the first time towards the end; when he gets killed by the lightning; and when he completes his final story to his grandmom ("Once upon a time there was a boy who flew.")
Everyone wants to say goodbye to him even when they know it's impossible. His mother repeatedly calls him when she finds out he is dead; Malerie wipes her teary eyes with tissue when she watches the old videos of Carson; grandmom leaves the scarf-blanket she has been knitting on the coffin; and every classmates he blackmailed attended his funeral. They are all witness to his struggle to leave and a boy who does not gives up until his last breath, leaving an emotional void in everyone's hearts.
This movie is a realistic lesson on life and growing up and captures the hardships involved. It may not be smart to kill off the central character in the opening scene but this is not a cheesy happy high school coming-of-age feel-good comedy. Chris Colfer, 22 years old, also wrote the screenplay and he proves himself that he can write and act when he is not singing and dancing as "Glee"'s Kurt Hummel The story is random and nevertheless entertaining most of the time. The film is fast-paced and witty but the narrative does not fully explores the potential of the relationships. However, I understand the reason with all the unfilled gaps because it's just life. We can't always expect to get what we want: closure, development, good-byes.
I am glad I watched this movie and it moved me so many times. In the end our tragic anti- hero Carson becomes the boy who flew but never flew away but what's more important is that he has had a meaningful journey in this insightful movie about life, future, hopes and dreams that never end.
"Struck by Lightning" begins with the 17-year-old protagonist, Carson Phillips (played by Chris Colfer) getting killed by a bolt from the sky in the parking lot. As he recounts and narrates his final days when he was still alive, ambitious and walking around blackmailing his fellow classmates in school to contribute in his literary magazine with the help of his best, and only friend, Malerie (Rebel Wilson), we learn about his plans to get into Northwestern University and become the editor of the New Yorker and writer of the NY Times and LA Times, or even win the Nobel Peace Prize. Mainly, he just wants to leave this town he never leaves, or live a life he never lives.
Carson lives with his divorced mother, Sheryl (Allison Janney) an alcoholic who tells her son that she wishes she had an abortion in the 90s. His father, Neal (Dermot Mulroney) is about to remarry a pregnant local pharmacist, April (Christina Hendricks) who does not know the existence of his ex-wife and his son. There's also the adorable and aging grandmother (Polly Bergen) who no longer recognizes Carson, but still remembers the first story he wrote her "''Once upon a time there was a boy who wanted to fly'."
The movie is about Carson wanting to fly away from this hell hole he lives in, with almost no friends or no family that cares and loves him. It is heartbreaking to see him fail in the end, despite all his effort. He never reaches any of his goals, never says any goodbyes, and never even graduates highschool. But he did actually manage to escape from all the pain in his life: when he drives to see the sunset and ocean for the first time towards the end; when he gets killed by the lightning; and when he completes his final story to his grandmom ("Once upon a time there was a boy who flew.")
Everyone wants to say goodbye to him even when they know it's impossible. His mother repeatedly calls him when she finds out he is dead; Malerie wipes her teary eyes with tissue when she watches the old videos of Carson; grandmom leaves the scarf-blanket she has been knitting on the coffin; and every classmates he blackmailed attended his funeral. They are all witness to his struggle to leave and a boy who does not gives up until his last breath, leaving an emotional void in everyone's hearts.
This movie is a realistic lesson on life and growing up and captures the hardships involved. It may not be smart to kill off the central character in the opening scene but this is not a cheesy happy high school coming-of-age feel-good comedy. Chris Colfer, 22 years old, also wrote the screenplay and he proves himself that he can write and act when he is not singing and dancing as "Glee"'s Kurt Hummel The story is random and nevertheless entertaining most of the time. The film is fast-paced and witty but the narrative does not fully explores the potential of the relationships. However, I understand the reason with all the unfilled gaps because it's just life. We can't always expect to get what we want: closure, development, good-byes.
I am glad I watched this movie and it moved me so many times. In the end our tragic anti- hero Carson becomes the boy who flew but never flew away but what's more important is that he has had a meaningful journey in this insightful movie about life, future, hopes and dreams that never end.