Film The Fault In Our Stars Discussion

For those of you who didn't know... I, along with about 200 teenage girls/young adult females/males, got a chance to be in a research screening of the upcoming teenage heartwrenching gorgeous and heartbreakingly sad film 'The Fault in Our Stars'.

By the way... We watched it two whole months before it is due to be released in a cinema near you, internationally.

Shocker, isn't it? ;D

SPOILER ALERT: If you haven’t read or finished the book yet, I recommend you look away now because I cannot contain my love for this book/film.



I promise to not give much away, or spoil the experience for you all, but here are my top ten/eleven loves about the film adaptation:

Spoiler

• Shailene plays an AMAZING Hazel. Everyone that said she was too ‘pretty’ or not well known to play such an important character needs to wait and see how raw and human she acts as Hazel. Oh and on that note Ansel lives up to every girls dreams. He is incredibly loveable yet insanely goofy... and then the car scene.THE CAR SCENE. OMG :'c
• Contrary to some criticisms people have made before about John Green's characters all having his own narrative voice, you can feel the raw, real thoughts and feelings from each character. I can guarantee you that you won't be disappointed with the characterisation, and that they do have their own voice c:
• Direct quotes from the book are placed in the film, which for lovers of the book as myself, it's too shabby. Favourites include the christmas tree, metaphor of the cigarette, the grenade, their best friend omg, the professing love scene in the oranjee, visiting Hazel's favourite author/Amsterdam scenes and... the pre-funeral speeches *sobs violently*.
• The hospital scenes aren’t sappy or overplayed, just almost hinted at, with the main story being about Hazel. You almost forget she has, as quoted in both book and movie “a touch of cancer”. It serves as a reminder to all that in the end of the day, these characters are ordinary teenagers, albeit fictional.
• Hazel’s mum and dad are played as accurately to a T. Scenes such as the dinner one being so real, especially if you have been affected by cancer in your life, and how this can potentially challenge the dynamics in the family.
• I personally relate with Hazel's mother a lot, and my sister (who was in the screening with me) was winking at me when Hazel's mum told her she was applying to do Social Work to help other families c:
• There’s a lot of texting going on between Augustus and Hazel, and that was something I was worried about in terms of how they were going to go about this. Let’s just say large, drawing like text bubbles on the screen, like literal texting, but not uber-ly cheesy/waterloo road kind of cringey.
• The first kiss scene in the Anne Frank museum is probably even more beautiful than what I potentially imagined in my head when reading. Especially after the excruciating, gut wrenching walk up the million blocks of stairs. Much hate. Much want to destroy staircase. Much want elevator for Hazel bby.
• Isaac and Monica together are as cringey and overly sentimental as they are in the book. But as we know that all changes, and I must admit the egg throwing scene to Monica's car is so hilarious and uplifting to watch, particularly after his whole upset episode, shedding tears and rage at Gus and Hazel (and Gus's many trophies omg I laughed so hard at Isaac hurling and smashing things about whilst Hazel and Gus casually talked)
• The only thing that frustrated me was the fact that I couldn’t find John Green himself! Though, that will all change when I watch the film again! I’m on it. I'll find him, even if it kills me.
• When Augustus and Hazel first meet in the literal heart of Jesus (which is situated in the support group ;D), their stare off is whoas. It’s as long, and even longer than I perceived it to be in the book, really playing on the connection these two have.
• The whole cinema screening was moved to tears. Now that's something you don't see everyday. Throughout the screening I could hear loud to soft sobbing from everyone around me, which speaks miles for its credibility to the book. YES. You heard right 8) Props to everyone and anyone who was involved with the making of my now most favourite movie ever for this generation. Good form mateys!

• The movie however leaves out somewhat insignificant side stories, such as Augustus’ ex girlfriend, and although that’s quite pivotal in understanding how Augustus acts with Hazel, it’s not necessarily needed.

I could go into more detail but I don’t want to but feel free to leave me a message/ask if you want to know specifics; besides, me explaining it doesn’t give the movie as much life as it would actually watching it.

It’s a must-watch, not that I have to justify it, as pretty much many people are already planning to see it anyway.

Just know that the film will definitely live up to your expectations... and you have a 99.9% chance that your eyes will be leaking from feels at some point in the movie.

I bring to you all a word of caution: Bring tissues and chocolates to mend your heart, as it will break continuously throughout the movie, okay? Good.

Peace out homies.

 

Release date for the film was about two days ago in America c:

Unfortunately us Brits have to wait till the 16th before we get the pleasure of watching it (for me, a second time).

Anyone seen the movie yet? c:

 

I saw it because my girlfriend is a very big John Green fan, and she'd been telling me ever since this film's trailer came out, "WE ARE SEEING THAT." Eh, I'm not really one for stories like this usually (I get so damn bored from my brother and mom putting on Nicholas Sparks movies at my house.)

But hey, at least they got the writer for (500) Days of Summer, so the film was actually pretty enjoyable. None of the characters annoyed me too much (beyond their intention, Van Houten...) and I did end up feeling for the couple. Hazel's acting was the best in the film by far, followed by her mother. My issues would have to be what I call "young adult book talk," where the characters (mainly Gus) would say something that was so poetic to the point of coming off as completely fake and a little pretentious. Also, the film tried too hard at the indie image: indie music playing every chance they got (the typical airy voiced, light guitar or piano stuff,) the handwritten text while Gus and Hazel messaged each other, and (at least to me) the general negativity towards a Christian character. One last thing that I was pretty confused by was a certain plot point:

Spoiler

After Gus and Hazel's crappy meeting with Van Houten in Amsterdam, his wife(?) takes them to the Anne Frank Museum...what did this have to do thematically with the story? I think it's supposed to be connected to Van Houten's rant about the sick being genetic failures, and the Nazi's were trying to get rid of genetically inferior people....but I have no clue for sure.

 

I saw the movie with my best friend. She had no idea what the movie was even about. She got pretty mad at me afterwards. It was really good, and I really liked it. I thought they did an excellent job! (I read your 10 reasons why and yes, you hit every mark)

......In the book and in the movie, Issac himself says that Gus is a pretentious person. That's just who Gus is. End of story. The whole indie image? I'm not sure what you mean by that. I thought the movie could have done better. Here's the answer to your confusion:

Spoiler

So the girl is his assistant and she goes with them to the Anne Frank Museum after quitting her job. The connection is that Anne Frank, like Hazel and Gus, was treated different from society. Anne represents how people get treated differently because of society. Gus and Hazel are like Anne, in the sense that they are treated differently from Society. On purpose, they hide because of the cancer. They couldn't live a functioning life anymore. They weren't 'normal' anymore. In the film, you saw how Hazel struggled with walking up all those stairs and how people were staring at her with pity. They were probably thinking 'I'm glad it's not me', which was how people who weren't Jewish like Anne, probably stared at her star of david like Hazel's oxygen tank. They were glad it wasn't them. Also, Van Houten himself was survived by his daughter, who died from cancer and knew what it was like. The similarities between them all kind of woven itself together. The main point was probably that Hazel and Anne; two very different girls, forced into isolation until they found comfort by those who were in the same situation.....(Peter was Anne's first and last love, just like with Hazel and Gus, though Gus and Hazel got along when they first meet.) You can probably analyze this situation until death but there are so many interpretations of that scene.

I don't understand what the big deal is. So what if Gus is pretentious? He's just a character in a book, that John Green had written. It's just who he is.

You're right, she is his personal assistant.

 

Just a tip, best not to bump a thread that's been inactive for more than 4 months.

Yes, I know that's how Gus is meant to be portrayed. It's annoying because he spends so much time spewing these poetic lines that you would NEVER hear an actual person say in a real context. This would be ok if the setting of the film were something that wasn't real life on Earth in the 2010's, but it is, and so Gus comes off as the most fake character in the story, making it hard for me to care nearly as much for him as I did for Hazel, who was for the most part realistic. It's something that I really dislike about young adult books, since it's clearly done to cater to an audience who deserves less hand-holding and romanticism for stories like this. There's a point where substance loses points due to style, and Gus was that for me in this film.

I explained the indie image: the use of specific types of music and the unnecessary utilization of hand written messages popping up on screen.

The museum thing I pretty much figured out after I typed my original message, but your explanation does work.