Departures (2018) Review

Calvin is a hypochondriac who constantly thinks he is dying and sick, when he is told to go to a cancer support group he meets Skye who really is dying and she changes his life forever.

*Original Title – Then Came You*

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This is certainly a very nice film even if obviously it takes some rather sad turns, but the main message that you will find a friend when you really need it is something that I really enjoyed from this film. That is what happens when Calvin meets Skye, they both actually need each other just as much in order to make them happy.

Skye is a British teenager and when she meets airport baggage handler Calvin, who had been working with his dad and brother. A past trauma in his life has really had an effect on the way that he has been living. Writing down all of his “symptoms” constantly and attempting to convince the doctor that something actually is wrong with him. Which of course physically there isn’t, his problems are mental which at times can make you think that it is physical pain.

They embark on a quest to do the random things that Skye has on her list, she actually has two and the first one has some rather crazy things on them. She doesn’t want to call it a bucket list as such, just a list of important things. This is something that support groups seem to encourage people to do. The way doing this makes Calvin forget about his “health problems” is saving him as much as it is making Skye complete the things that she wants to do.

I really enjoyed that Maisie Williams and Asa Butterfield took the leading roles in this film, two very promising young British actors who I will be looking to closely follow over the next few years. Both coming from a child acting background in different tv shows. It was great to see Williams taking on a role like this and a fun fact is that she shaved the sides of her head for this film and had to wear a wig for the final season of Game of Thrones!

The only thing I wasn’t quite so sure of to begin with was the location as I actually thought they were in the UK at one point as Butterfield didn’t really seem to have a full on American accent at times.  Turns out it was actually New York, but I guess that didn’t fully matter in all honesty. I found myself enjoying this film and that is mainly due to the two young leads who really did make this their own and created such a great friendship. It was actually lovely having it as just friendship and not forcing a love story into it, that I feel needs to be done more often. It therefore manages to stay away from the sad rom-com genre that we have seen so many times with this type of film.