'The Sun is Also a Star' is a Fast-Paced Millennial Love Story

Two strangers falling in love after spending time together while talking about anything under the sun is not a foreign concept in movies. The most prominent, perhaps, is Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise, which produced two more sequels and considered one of the best trilogies of all time. The Sun is Also a Star shares the same approach, except it's incorporated with a cross-cultural angle, a millennial flair, and set in a gorgeous New York City backdrop.

Warner Bros. Pictures

The film stars Charles Melton as Daniel and Yara Shahidi as Natasha--two strangers who met with a little help from destiny one sunny day in Manhattan. Daniel is on his way to his college interview when he met Natasha, a Jamaican-born immigrant, who's fighting for her place in America facing her family's deportation. It's serendipity with a pinch of politics and a spoonful of youthful love and energy.

Their fateful encounter is often cut with their cultural backgrounds via a montage of interesting stories from their origins. Daniel lives with his Korean family who owns a haircare shop. At one point, they were able to share an eye-opening trivia about Koreans and wigs and their link to America. Natasha, on the other hand, often tells facts about astronomy and logic and stories about how her parents fell in love, as immigrants in America. Both characters are indebted to their parents' choices as foreigners who once had their American dream and both are not entirely happy with their current situations.

Warner Bros. Pictures

It's almost basically what young adult books and movies are made of, and Melton and Shahidi commit to what's given to them. Both are lovely actors but whether their acting works well is a little bit of a different story. This adaptation of Nicola Yoon's bestseller doesn't quite give the actors room for modern authenticity. Their dialogues are often cheesy, which could work possibly only while reading them as a book, instead of watching two people saying it to one another, making their interaction a bit cringeworthy. So kudos to them for fully engaging in it.

Thanks to cinematographer Autumn Durald, the shimmering New York City backdrop makes watching these two too wide-eyed-for-each other characters watchable as they walk and talk and hang out around the city. It's easily the best part of the film.

I think the best way to enjoy this film is to fully commit to the too-sudden love story like how the actors commit to their characters. If one would see this with a cynical heart, there is no way for this too good to be true story to penetrate you. It's brimming with love, energy and positivity and not
everyone would take in this spectacle.