Also this will contain quite a bit of spoilers. If you haven't read the book and hate getting spoiled, then this post may not be for you. I haven't read the book, but I plan to- so some of the points I make about the plot may be a bit off.
The main plotline is about a teenager named Quentin- or Q as his friends call him, even though I prefer Quentin- who, from a young age fell in love with a girl named Margo who moved in next door to him. When they were younger, the pair went on adventures and spent a lot of time together, so naturally Q developed feelings for her. As time went on, Margo became the cool and popular girl at school and Q threw himself into his classes so he could be a doctor when he's older. Time goes by, until in their senior year, Margo turns up at Q's window one night and takes Q on a mission to get revenge on her cheating ex-boyfriend and her friends. At the beginning of the movie, Q states that we all get a miracle, and Margo is his. I'm not going to lie, Cara Delevingne is a miracle to mankind, and watching her on the silver screen, watching her twirl and swirl and raise her beautiful brows and smile her British smile and slur her American accent made us believe Q, made us realize that she really was his miracle, this live wire, free and gorgeous girl who is his miracle, who awakens him (literally) and drives him to do the things he never thought he would.
Then of course Margo goes missing, and Q goes to crazy lengths to find her. And this is where I fell in love. Q's persistance and desperation to find this girl spoke to me. It reminded me about the feelings I've had towards people, and how I would hold on to the version of them inside my head. And then search, search and search for them. And when I did eventually find them, because people aren't that hard to find, I realize they are nothing like the version in my head. And that's what happened to Q.
That's what I love so much about the film- even though it is very unrelatable in a lot of ways, like perfectly sound parents that just let you take a casual roadtrip across the continent with your friends, and how in general it has a very sugar-coaty type feel- it highlights something that hasn't been highlighted before for teenagers. Even though Paper Towns hasn't taken off as much as TFIOS did, it conveys a really strong message. This hits the film towards the end, when Q simply points out, 'She is just a girl.' I think that's the problem that a lot of young people have, it's a problem I constantly suffer with- the tendency to make up personalities in our heads about people we don't know but wish we did. And this puts a lot of pressure on us, to fit in with them, and on them, to reach these crazy expectations that aren't even real. Just like Q did with Margo, labelling her as his 'miracle', when really she was just a lost, confused girl trying to find her own way in the world.
Am I making sense? I wanted to write about it because I found it was such a unique feature I hadn't seen in films before, and I felt it actually mattered, it was such a clever thing for John Green to include in his novel. It spoke to me on a personal level, and it taught me a lesson or two. And that's why I 100% think you should go see it if you can.
Aside from that, the film really is great. It has humour, sadness, epiphanies and even a prom in it- sounds like a chick flick, but I promise you it isn't. All scenes are shot beautifully and carry a similar colour palette to TFIOS, all angles are wide and colourful, but more cheerful obviously.
It's a great film to watch, and Cara will make you melt. At least she made me melt, I left the theatre feeling 600 more times in love with her than I was before, which I didn't think was possible. She is a queen, her acting is amazing and in general, she and Nat Wolff make the film awesome. The music is good, the editing is good, it's all ay okay. If you've seen TFIOS, you may even recognise someone from it, which is the most beautiful touch. This parallels with Isaac from TFIOS starring as Q, which I love and didn't realize until googling for pictures for this post, but now I understand why Q looked so familiar (as familiar as someone can be when youre looking at them for a few scenes in between having a breakdown).
Even if you go and see Paper Towns and dislike it, that time won't be wasted because you will have just spend some time watching Cara D, which is never a waste of time and frankly only makes the world a better place.
Thank you so much for reading this rushed review of Paper Towns- I just sat and wrote whatever came into my head.
Gaby x
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