The Sun Is Also a Star (2019) Review

Can meeting someone and spending a day with them be real true love? That is something Daniel Jae Hoe Bae and Natasha Kingsley are going to find out about, as they both have important events happening on that day. Is fate real?

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In all honesty I didn’t know too much about this film before I went to see it and that is often a good thing. I found myself getting into the story and trying to work out what was going to happen in the end. It certainly takes some interesting twists and turns along the way and I wasn’t overly sure which way it was going to end.

I guess the whole film is something that we would all like to believe, that fate is real and people come into your life at the time you need them the most. That is something Natasha does not believe in, on the final day of trying to get her parents immigration case reopened so they did not have to go back to Jamaica the following day after spending nine years in the USA, in New York. Daniel had a big interview for a recommendation for a college place, to be a doctor. Something his South Korean parents had drilled into him from a very young age. He likes writing his poetry. When he sees Natasha in Grand Central Station he is drawn to the Latin she has on her jacket, it was something he had written down that morning.

He then attempts to find her but she was quickly gone, then sees her again on the subway and takes to following her in an attempt to talk to her not in a full on stalker way. In the process of that he saves her life as a car is pretty much out of control and not paying attention to the people walking on the path. He feels a spark between them but Natasha doesn’t believe in love. He sets it his task to make her fall in love with him in a day, although that changes to an hour but then moves back to the full day when certain events happen which see them spending even more time together.

I felt as though the film moved at a decent pace and found myself really hoping everything would work out for them as this was such a nice story. It was about getting to know each other properly and did not rely on sex to tell the story and have them become close. Something that I would say is totally missing in more recent romantic films. We need more nice and lovely stories with characters who actually listen and talk to one another. It has a slight Before Sunrise feel to it and that can only be a good thing! It’s not on that level but it is still more than watchable.

Two characters both struggling with family issues as they are starting to get older and having to make decisions for themselves if they are allowed of course. Charles Melton and Yara Shahidi are charismatic and engaging enough from start to finish, really working well with each other. The ending was very interesting and I felt both sadness then relief without massively spoiling it as I didn’t guess the direction it was going in.