Enjoy every moment

☆☆☆☆

Asa Butterfield from Netflix’s Sex Education plays Calvin – A normal teenage boy. However, he has this feeling, that something is not exactly right with him. He carefully monitors a mole on his chest by measuring any growth and checking temperature exactly when it’s scheduled. Apart from Calvin himself, nobody else in his life sees any problems with him or his health, neither his doctor or his older brother Frank (Tyler Hoechlin). And despite all of the tests that he has done and all of the treatment he has undergone Calvin refuses to believe that he is a hypochondriac. Calvin lives his life in a bubble between his job at the airport, monitoring his mole and doing woodwork in the garage. That’s his everyday life only punctuated by urgent visits to the GP to ensure that the mole is still not killing him.

Calvin gets a new perspective on life when he goes to a cancer support group and meets Skye a teenager like himself played by Game of Thrones actress Maisie Williams. Unlike Calvin, Skye does have cancer and an aggressive one that no treatment can sort. However, besides cancer, Skye is the total opposite of Calvin. Loud and unapologetic, Skye tries everything to throw Calvin out of his normal routine. And she succeeds! Slowly Calvin gets involved more and more into Skye’s life and together this rather strange, but adorable duo tries to accomplish Skye’s To-Die list, a rather unconventional bucket list of things to do before she dies. Just how Skye is changing Calvin’s life at the same time he is doing exactly the same thing to her life too.

The story of a dying girl befriending a loner, a bit of an oddball guy has been done before. But this is such a heartwarming and very real film. Cancer and teenagers dying will never be an easy subject to bring to the screen. A film touching upon an uncurable condition will rightly be scrutinized of its portrayal of the sick person if they are stigmatizing or helping us to understand their situation..this film does give you a contemporary view on life and all the little things that matter for the youth, like sliding down a fireman’s pole as part of the to-die list. Despite all the negativity and sadness in certain situations, which are not really in our power to change you can still have a good laugh.

At the end of the day, Departures is a heartwarming, sweet, film full of genuine laugh out comedy, that touches on a difficult subject. Even though you might think that you’ve seen something like this already Departures invites you to reflect on our own morality and how to savor every moment of the life we have been given.

Departures is out on digital release on 4th March in the mean time have a look at the trailer below!