#Charles melton and yara shahidi movie#

The cultural specificity of two first-generation kids falling in love is the script’s greatest strength, and Natasha’s family’s pending deportation adds a timely weight that elevates the film. Less tragic than the earlier film, “The Sun Is Also a Star” mirrors the author’s courtship with her husband she’s Jamaican-American and he’s Korean-American. also produced 2017’s “Everything, Everything” from director Stella Meghie. This is Yoon’s second novel to get the big-screen treatment Warner Bros. A highly improbable amount of ground to cover in a single day, but a dizzying array of authentic New York locations nonetheless. Natasha doesn’t have a day, she says, and Daniel implores, “give me an hour, then.”įrom Chinatown, their romantic day takes them to the green awning of Greenwich Village’s Caffe Reggio, Daniel’s family’s black beauty supply store in Harlem, karaoke in Koreatown, the tram to Roosevelt Island, the J train across the Williamsburg Bridge and, in an unofficial nod to “Manhattan” - the Hayden Planetarium. High on his destiny tip, Daniel bets Natasha that he can make her fall in love with him in a day. Here’s where the corny and slightly problematic YA tropes follow, as Daniel follows Natasha to Chinatown and promptly saves her from getting hit by a car, making him a creepy stalker and a male savior in the very same scene. “The Sun Is Also a Star” Warner Bros./Screenshot

Noticing that her jacket reads “Deus Ex Machina,” a phrase he just wrote down in his journal that very morning, he sets off after her in pursuit of his destiny. Like all stupidly handsome YA protagonists, Daniel has the heart of a poet, and it alights when he spots Natasha standing in the middle of Grand Central Station gazing up at the ceiling. He sets off for the day in a grey linen suit and Jordan low tops, a mop of curls dangling flawlessly over his big brown eyes. Uptown, Daniel (Charles Melton) is prepping for a big Dartmouth interview, one more step toward becoming a doctor, which his mother doesn’t need to remind him will honor the family by fulfilling their American dream. The film begins with a dispiriting meeting with her immigration lawyer who tells her she’ll be fine, it’s not like she’s going to Afghanistan. After living in New York for nine years, she is desperate to find a way to stay in her home and finish out her senior year of high school. While “The Sun Is Also a Star” stands out in its YA genre, it certainly doesn’t transcend it.ġ2 Films Directed By Female Filmmakers You Can’t Miss This Summer SeasonĪdapted from the YA novel by Nicola Yoon, “The Sun Is Also a Star” follows teenage brainiac Natasha ( Yara Shahidi) on the day before her family is to be deported to Jamaica. Commendably, the story mostly avoids YA clichés (no one is dying from a rare blood disorder). While great direction isn’t the worst problem to have, the fact that the writing and acting couldn’t quite live up to their gorgeous surroundings hollows the experience of watching it. In lieu of any natural chemistry between the young actors, however, Russo-Young’s direction takes center stage - it’s the best thing about the movie.

#Charles melton and yara shahidi movie#

The movie is her second YA adaptation, and she wraps her New York love letter around a topical cross-cultural teen romance Yet a nostalgic reverence for the city that never sleeps brightens every frame in “ The Sun Is Also a Star,” the fifth feature from native New Yorker Ry Russo-Young.

With overdevelopment threatening every inch of sun and the subway schedules keeping Xanax in business, the cinematic New York of “When Harry Met Sally” and “Manhattan” has long been a thing of the past. It takes a skilled eye to make New York City look beautiful these days.