LOVE IS MAGICAL
Have you noticed there is a
lot of supernatural loving going on lately at the cinema? Every trailer before
the screening of BEAUTIFUL CREATURES was for a Fantasy-Romance film with either
zombies, vampires or aliens. Of course,
it’s the story of Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ for the modern age. And why not?
Star-crossed lovers, fighting to be together against all reason and
parental approval, makes for a great story.
If it’s good enough for the mythical Gods of Greece, then it is good
enough for the electronic-gadgetry-toting youth of today.
This year in book and film,
it is going to be hard to avoid this genre, and Beautiful Creatures is a good
example (please note Twilight producers) of how to make an entertaining,
authentic film which can please fans of supernatural love as well as the
non-converted. The New York Times bestselling
book of the same name is the first in the series by Kami Garcia and Margaret
Stohl.
Ethan (Alden Ehrenreich), a
high school senior wants nothing more than to escape the Southern town of
Gatlin and bid adieu to his Father who has withdrawn from life since the sudden
death of his Mother. For months he has
dreamed of a strange, dark-haired girl he has never met. Arriving suddenly in his class is a new girl, Lena
Duchannes (Alice Englert), looking a lot like his dream sweetheart. She is immediately ostracized, as she is the
niece of Macon Ravenwood (Jeremy Irons), the reclusive owner of Ravenwood Manor
who most townsfolk believe is in cahoots with the devil. Let’s face it, people who live in those big,
creepy mansions usually are.
Mrs. Lincoln (Emma Thompson),
mother of Ethan’s best friend is adamant that Lena must be banished from the
town and spends a good deal of time pointing fingers and rallying the townsfolk
against the young girl.
Despite strange happenings that
surround Lena, and her spurning of his advances, Ethan ardently pursues
her. Lena reveals that she is a
Caster, as is her Uncle, and each Caster has a special power. On her sixteenth birthday Lena will discover
which side she will practice her Casting based on her true inner self. Will she
be chosen for the much more charming Light or the evil-doing Dark? The entire clan, including Lena, fear she
will be taken by the Dark which will prove to be very bad for the human
race. There’s also a curse hanging over
Lena’s family and she and Ethan face many spells and dangers and even their
love may prove fatal.
Beautiful Creatures is a
stylish story, a cut above the Twilight Saga’s progressively more outlandish
portrayals. There is a wit in the script and Thompson and Irons, who could have
lapsed into overdramatics, rein it in enough to lend a sophistication that is
usually lacking in these supernatural tales.
Whilst I am not an
urban-fantasy fan, I certainly can appreciate a story well-told. And as the great man said himself, “a rose, by
any other name would smell as sweet.” This love story smells of success and with four more books ,no doubt the sequels will be gracing our screens in the
years to come. If they’re as good as this, we are definitely
on the side of Light.