(courtesy IMP Awards)
SNAPSHOT
Hannah Marks’ new film Turtles All the Way Down tackles anxiety through its 17-year-old protagonist, Aza Holmes (Isabela Merced). It’s not easy being Aza, but she’s trying… trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, and a good student, all while navigating an endless barrage of invasive, obsessive thoughts she cannot control. When she reconnects with Davis (Felix Mallard), her childhood crush, she’s confronted with fundamental questions about her potential for love, happiness, friendship, and hope. Turtles All the Way Down is directed by the American actress / filmmaker Hannah Marks, director of the films After Everything, Mark Mary & Some Other People, and Don’t Make Me Go previously, as well as a few short films. The screenplay is co-written by Elizabeth Berger & Isaac Aptaker; based on John Green’s bestselling novel of the same name. Produced by Marty Bowen and Isaac Klausner. (courtesy First Showing)
If you have ever lived with anxiety, like this reviewer, you will be well acquainted with just how badly every part of wants to carpe diem all the joy and fun and wonder out of life but YOU JUST CAN’T.
Even when you dive in and just take the plunge, and that’s usually after tons of overthinking, your mind begin to cycle and cycle and cycle again through all kinds of terrible, catastrophic thoughts and you either have to try and battle through (so much easier said than done) or walk away and try again.
What is so wonderful about Turtles All the Way Down, by bestselling YA author John Green, is that it gets this dynamic to a tee; it captures perfectly the want and need to live life like everyone else does and being defeated by thoughts that you know likely aren’t true but feel oh-so-tangible and dark to the point where even thinking of ignoring feels like a doom-laden decision.
Even better, it beautifully conveys the idea that “Your now is not your forever”, which gives hope to protagonist Aza who is trying so hard to overcome her anxiety, failing far more than she’d like, and who needs to know that what she’s facing now won’t necessarily be her future reality.
It’s real and inspiring and groundedly heartwarming and it’ll be thrilling to see what the movie adaptation is like – John Green seems to like it! – when it premieres on Max on 2 May 2024 (and possibly on Binge in Australia; TBC).