I was part of a select group that was lucky enough to attend an exclusive pre-premiere screening of ‘It Ends With Us’ at Westgate Mall on the 7th of August courtesy of Fox Film Group.
The lines to register moved fast, the guests who consisted of avid readers and movie lovers were treated to a lovely movie night filled with fun and goodies.
Some of the notatable names on the guest list included, influencers Murugi Munyi, Joanna Kinuthia, Caroline Kibati, and Sharon Mundia. Podcaster Jules Gaitho, Journalists Edith Kimani, and Kui Mwai as well actor Kevin Maina.
We had an informative presentation from Falutin Films, a Nairobi-based film series group with a TED Talk-style discussion about the popular 2016 book, written by Colleen Hoover, before we watched the movie adaptation.
The movie, in my opinion, was true to the book when it comes to the characters and most of the storytelling. The casting was superb! Young Lily Bloom (Isabella Ferrer) was a copy of current-day Lily Bloom (Blake Lively), so much so, that I wondered if her voice was a voiceover – that young Lily was mouthing words with older Lily recording sound!
While people had their reservations about Blake Lively playing Lily Bloom, because of her age, she portrayed the character well from book to screen. No one had comments about the age of Ryle Kincade (Justin Baldoni), who plays the charismatic neurosurgeon who sweeps Lily off her feet. Since there were two groups of people at the cinema; those who read the book and those who didn’t, it was interesting to see how the romance played out between Ryle and Lily and how the third love interest Atlas Corrigan (Brandon Sklenar) was introduced as a recollection of memories that made us understand Lily and her journey through childhood trauma, love and growth in adulthood.
When it comes to the cinematography, we get what Hoover portrayed in her world-building, though Lily Bloom’s wardrobe wasn’t as expected. We see the switch in the wardrobe that may match her switch in character at times. As for the score of the movie, it brought out the romance, second-guessing, thriller, and truth of the characters.
The secondary characters like Alyssa (Jenny Slate) Lily’s best friend, and her husband Marshall (Hasan Minhaj) were brought out very well. They were just as eccentric and fun-happy-go-lucky people as they were in the book.
The best twists and turns in the book were depicted on screen so well that the audience in the cinema would have audible responses that matched!
There are a lot of clues about the lives of the characters and red and green flags to follow, but we often ignore them because of the romance trope that we assume is happening in this movie. We follow flashbacks, lies, weaknesses, and growth that are all embedded in us as human beings– this is a book worth reading and a movie worth watching.
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‘It Ends With Us’ premieres worldwide from Friday 9th August, 2024.
Things To Note:
There was no trigger warning for the book, there is no trigger warning for the movie.
Justin Baldoni, who plays Ryle Kincade, directed the movie.
Acclaimed writer Colleen Hoover made an appearance in the film.
The book is based on the relationship between her mother and father. Hoover described it as “the hardest book I’ve ever written.”
As of 2019, the novel had sold over one million copies worldwide and been translated into over twenty languages.
In 2021, the novel experienced a resurgence in popularity through TikTok and topped sales lists for 2022 and 2023.
The sequel to the book is ‘It Starts With Us’ which was published in 2022.
