Maybe Rather Tomorrow - DVD

Movie: Charlie (Logan Lerman) faces problems in his new life at high school that many of his peers have to go through. He's an outsider who only receives anything resembling friendship from his English teacher (Paul Rudd). His sister Candace (Nina Dobrev) is embarrassed to be seen with her little brother. And shy Charlie has to put up with constant bullying from older students. But for Charlie these are only superficial problems, he has to deal with a much more serious trauma. For not long ago Charlie's best friend died, a loss that his soul, untrained in matters of grief, has not yet been able to process. His life, riddled with dark thoughts and depression, seems to take a turn for the better when Charlie meets maladjusted stiff siblings Sam (Emma Watson) and Patrick (Ezra Miller). In their haze, the withdrawn boy manages to come out of his shell, make friends, party and have his first experience with love. But then he begins to develop stronger and stronger feelings for Sam - and his carefully built happiness could be destroyed again as a result...

With Maybe Better Tomorrow, Stephen Chbosky has directed a wonderful film adaptation of his own cult novel This Then Is My Life. Since its release in 1999, the book has found many avid readers, becoming required reading in some schools while being banned in others. It was the perfect decision for Chbosky to not only write the screenplay himself for a film adaptation, but also direct it. This ensured that his vision and the heart of the novel would translate to the screen as well. And Chbosky really did manage to do just that almost perfectly. With a great ensemble of actors, a carefully chosen musical score and, of course, last but not least, the wonderful screenplay, Maybe Better Tomorrow has become one of the most beautiful, honest and moving films about growing up and friendship to be seen in recent memory.

What contributes essentially to the success of the story is its somehow timeless seeming staging. While it's certainly possible to determine from the music, fashion, and a few other clues that the events don't take place in the present, but rather in the late 70s, early 80s. Still, the whole thing doesn't feel like a movie focused on this particular era, as the décor, music and pop culture quotes play an important role, but are still integrated into the action rather discreetly. Thus, the actual story and especially Charlie's problems are fully in the foreground. And with those not only viewers who were once teenagers, but even the young people of today can still fully identify.

The feeling of somehow not belonging and being completely helpless in the face of life, already conveys the book in a very understandable way. Therefore, many readers have recognized themselves in Charlie, have drawn strength from his words and found support. Due to numerous letters and e-mails from enthusiastic fans, Chbosky was also aware when adapting his book for the film version, which is why it was important for him to find an actor with all the attributes that make up his literary Charlie. In Logan Lerman, he has indeed found just that actor. The fact that this goes down a bit is not because of Lerman's really spot-on performance, but because all of the supporting cast is absolutely strong as well. Ezra Miller, who recently played arguably one of the most hateful characters of the 2012 cinema year in We Need to Talk About Kevin, makes a particular impression. Here he also delivers a very complex performance, but in doing so makes his flawed, vulnerable character with the strong, confident facade a real sympathetic character. It's a pretty great performance that makes you eager to see what else the young actor has up his sleeve.

High praise, however, is also due to Emma Watson, who manages the feat of making you see Sam in her after just a minute, rather than the Hermione Granger she's played in the Harry Potter films over the past decade. And that, because of the multi-layered nature of this character, is tremendously important, which is why you credit Chbosky for having the courage to cast an actress as committed to a character as Emma Watson for this role and just trust her talent.

Maybe Rather Tomorrow is a great teen drama, a touching as well as entertaining story about the sometimes painful journey to adulthood. Humour, drama, closeness to life and very authentic emotions make this bestseller adaptation a real insider tip that fans of sophisticated American arthouse entertainment should not miss. Absolutely worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: The DVD presents the film in good picture and sound quality. The visuals are convincing with good overall sharpness and an engaging color scheme that is kept in very warm tones. Smaller details also come through very well in many scenes. Overall, however, the whole presents itself rather restrained, which also applies to the sound, which presents a very authentic soundscape with powerfully mixed dialogue, but uses the surround channels only very discreetly. It's very coherent, but also just appropriately unspectacular. Good!

Extras: Heart of the bonus material are two good audio commentaries. Director and writer Stephen Chbosky does the first commentary all by himself. He talks here in great detail about the adaptation of his novel and the differences between the book and the film, which is why especially those viewers who like the book should definitely listen in here. The second commentary gathers the director and his cast in three different locations. A very lively commentary was then recorded together via satellite, which reveals many amusing, but also really exciting anecdotes from the filming and also has many quite amusing moments to offer.

Besides the two commentaries, there are some cut scenes worth watching, a very short promo making of (approx. 5 min.), the trailer and a few scenes in rough cut versions (Dailies) to see.

Conclusion: It is not quite understandable why Maybe Rather Tomorrow has not been more successful in the cinema. Because Stephen Chbosky's adaptation of his cult novel This Then Is My Life is a great teen drama that delivers with heart, humor, and real-life relevance. The great actors and the great soundtrack contribute a not insignificant part to the success of the film. For this there is a more than deserved: Absolutely recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp