A new romantic / magical realism teen/YA film named Every Day sneaked into theaters this weekend. I saw one trailer only and, by the way the movie opens, you aren’t supposed to know the twist and I feel bad for the film makers that the only way to sell it is to explain it. And since most of my opinions are based on the magical realism angle they take, I can’t do anything but spoil at least that much of it.
The premise is that there’s this person who wakes up every morning inhabiting the body of someone else (always within the same geographical range, always of the same approximate age). One day, he/she/it wakes up in a football player’s body and he falls for his (the body’s) girlfriend. He then, through inhabiting other bodies, convinces her that he’s a real person (or at least a real mind) and the movie continues this unconventional romance, trying to make it work out given that he (it) always looks like someone else.
It’s an interesting premise that should have been deeper than it is. It’s got a very progressive spin since it’s about the love between people, regardless of what gender or race the other person is. But it fumbles by being too free-wheeling with the idea and not really thinking through concepts of consent. Because the person is (inadvertently) hijacking other bodies and using them for his/her/it’s own goals. He/It claims to try to do no harm in these lives but he/she/it’s still out there kissing his/her/it’s girlfriend and maybe having sex… Problematic, especially for horny teenagers.
With a slight twist, this is a movie about the Sunken Place (a-la Get Out)… taking over the mind and the will of another person, sublimating their consciousness. It could very easily be a horror film instead of a reasonably sweet teen romance.
Also for a movie that wants to suggest love is not tied the physical body and it doesn’t matter the skin or sex of the other person, the majority of the romantic scenes are between the girl and the person in a handsome white dude’s body. It doesn’t even have the courage of its convictions to have him/her/it in a girl’s body, for example, in some of the longer more romantic scenes. It wants to be “woke”… but they pulled their punches.
The movie isn’t bad, in my book. Even disregarding some of its implications, it’s a little compelling but not consistently. It’s a little hard to empathize with an awkward romance with a body swapping person. But the movie does try and the girl playing the lead has the tricky job of having to have chemistry with a constantly rotating cast of actors and actresses playing her boy/girl/it-friend. I started to get bored part way through and, between noting its inconsistencies, it lost me a little. But it IS trying to be earnest and sweet and some of the romantic scenes do work. Not all bad. Pretty decent.
Score: 74