BY ALISE CHAFFINS
The subject of grief seems to be permeating pop culture right now. Not simply death and sadness, which have always been a staple of movies and television, but a closer examination of how we behave in the midst of profound loss. AppleTV+ recently released “The Sky is Everywhere,” which is yet another look at the way death affects those it touches.
The story opens on Lennie (Grace Kaufman), a promising young musician who lost her sister Bailey (Havana Rose Hiu) to a heart condition. Despite her dreams to attend Julliard, she is struggling to play the clarinet at all since her sister will no longer be joining her. And then the handsome Joe Fontaine (Jacques Colimon) walks into Honors Band with his trumpet and turns her life upside down.
Back at home with her grandmother (Cherry Jones) and her uncle (Jason Segel), Lennie has to deal with her sister’s boyfriend Toby (Pico Alexander). Despite their difficult relationship while Bailey was alive, they are two people bound by her loss, leading them toward romance.
The story sounds on its face like a typical YA love triangle, and to some degree, it is. But in this story, the triangle isn’t simply about two boys interested in the same girl, but rather one boy who is interested in the girl and one boy who is confusing comfort and love. And one girl who can’t see how to keep going when the most important person in her life has died. Do you choose the person who knows what you’re experiencing or do you find a new kind of happiness?
Director Josephine Decker does a beautiful job with these young actors. In addition to lovely performances from the leads, Decker also uses some dynamic film techniques to enhance the storytelling. In the moments of some of the largest emotions, Decker uses unreality to create a deeper sense of what the characters are experiencing. I appreciated her restraint, but there were at least a few scenes that felt like they could have used it, if only to make it a bit more cohesive.
I also really loved both the soundtrack and the score for this movie. Most films geared toward young viewers tend to include primarily pop music, but because these were students looking to study classically, the most romantic scene isn’t set to a current pop song, but to Bach’s “Air on the G String.”
There can be a tendency to infantilize those who consume YA content, especially in film. To assume that young people are unable to grasp high-minded ideas about death and grief. And while this movie does have moments of melodrama throughout, it also treats young people with respect. It reminds them, and all of us, that when a death happens, it impacts many people, and that in reaching out, we can both give and receive comfort. That in reaching out, we can find what we might think we have lost.
ALISE CHAFFINS is a Morgantown writer who loves movies and sharing her opinions. Find more at MacGuffin or Meaning on Substack.
