Variety
Held together by a forceful performance from Saoirse Ronan... makes up in emotional immediacy what it lacks in broad dramatic sweep.
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How I Live Now
Saoirse Ronan (Atonement) stars in this futuristic war drama as an American girl who spends a holiday with her family in the English countryside, only to be stranded there after a nuclear strike occurs. Based on the award-winning young adult novel by Meg Rosoff and directed by Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland).
Daisy (Ronan) is sent to stay with relatives in the English countryside. Initially withdrawn, she begins to warm up to her charming surroundings and strikes up a romance with the handsome Edmund (George MacKay, Private Peaceful). But on the fringes of their idyllic summer days are tense news reports of an escalating conflict in Europe and Daisy's extended stay in the United Kingdom sees her first experience it coming under attack and then under the control of armed forces.
Less2013Rating: M101 minsUK
AdventureDramaWar
- Director:
- Kevin Macdonald ('The Last King of Scotland', 'State of Play', 'The Eagle')
- Writer:
- Jeremy BrockTony GrisoniPenelope SkinnerJack Thorne
- Cast:
- Saoirse RonanTom HollandAnna ChancellorGeorge MacKayCorey JohnsonSophie Ellis
How I Live Now | Reviews
66%111 reviewsRotten Tomatoes® Score
All reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Total Film
An Arab Spring-y allegory with kissing cousins and a divine countryside setting, Kevin Macdonald's fourth narrative film is an awkward oddity, as uncomfortable in its own skin as its protagonist.
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Time Out
There's not really enough here to get teenage girls totes emosh. Not enough to sigh and swoon over.
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The New York Times
[Director] Macdonald struggles to balance a nebulous narrative on tentpole moments of rich emotional resonance.
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The Guardian
I enjoyed the post-apocalyptic anxiety, a bit like Survivors on 70s TV: a world of farmhouses, Land Rovers and underground bunkers.
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The Dissolve
As Daisy's situation worsens, she becomes progressively less clear, specific, and interesting as a character, and flattens into a generic striver, except when she's being nasty.
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Hollywood Reporter
Ronan is almost always worth watching, but not especially in this drippy outing.
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Empire Magazine
Macdonald's film is a noble stab at bringing Meg Rosoff's YA novel to the screen, which sees Ronan in typically watchable form.
Full reviewHow I Live Now | Release Details
How I Live Now is available to stream in New Zealand now on Google Play and Apple TV.