After Everything

Besieged by writer’s block and the crushing breakup with Tessa, Hardin travels to Portugal in search of a woman he wronged in the past – and to find himself. Hoping to win back Tessa, he realizes he needs to change his ways before he can make the ultimate commitment.

In the nimble, naturalistic drama “After Everything,” Elliot (Jeremy Allen White) and Mia (Maika Monroe) meet at age 23. They love all the vigor of youth. They smoke weed in crowded New York apartments; They have matching tattoos. They have hot sex, sometimes made hotter by experience with Ecstasy or with a third partner.

A preview of the movie. They also went for radiation therapy together. Mia shaves Elliot’s head in case he loses his hair. Their matching tattoos actually mark where Elliot received injections to treat Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare type of cancer that often strikes young people

For their first feature film, writers and directors Hannah Marks and Joey Power repeatedly used montages to depict the relationship between Elliot and Mia, presenting snapshots of a love as she moves through stages and milestones, adopting a pace that surpasses even Elliot’s cancer. . Elliot and Mia loved each other passionately, but they quickly broke up. As a drama about cancer, “After Everything” brings a sense of banality and freshness, focusing less on the danger of this disease and more on how two young people talk to each other when sick and in health. Her authentic tone permeates all of her live performances, including welcome cameos from Marisa Tomei and Gina Gershon. But the film’s success is largely thanks to the main cast. White and Monroe demonstrate a natural and discreet chemistry that suggests the characters’ private experiences, the doubts of youth that passion cannot quench. Modestly, “After Everything” depicts the bittersweet sadness of first love blossoming in crisis.