Before I Fall

This film tells the story of a high school girl's day from an ordinary February morning. Everything seems like a normal day, as she goes to school with her best friends, bully a lonely classmate and be horrible to a nice admirer.

"Before I Fall" starts off like a sexualised version of "Mean Girls", but changes into "Groundhog Day" after about twenty minutes. After this change, the story gets more interesting and engaging. Even though the day repeats itself, the film does not feel repetitive thanks to the little behavioural changes she makes. The Ending is touching and ending. I think the story inspires people to be nice to each other, and extend a helping hand whenever possible. We don't get the luxury to start things over when we​mess up, and we don't get too many chances to learn from our mistakes, unless we're the woman in this film.

This is one of those 'God I miss the forums' moments. I wish I had someone to talk to about this movie, even while putting up with the trolls lol.

THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS

This is a variation of the Groundhog Day/Butterfly effect that has been done Ad nauseum in books and movies where our main character relives the same day. As expected, the point of the story is that their actions in that day evolve to the point where the lessons are learned and the day finally ends. This movie is no different. I'm haunted by this movie because of a particular lesson learned, and it's not the main one that finally ends her loop.

Sam is our main character caught in the time loop. She is part of a foursome of girls that are the popular girls and sometimes the mean girls. Their leader is Lindsay (Linds) who is the meanest of all with some deep rooted insecurities. As Sam relives her day she discovers more insight into her own life and the flaws of her and her friends. The two girls that receive the bulk of the mean girl routine become known to her and she realizes she is just following Lindsay like a puppet, not even knowing why they are mean to these girls. On one of her days journey, she lashes out at her friends in anger and disgust, particularly her bestie Lindsay. She sees Lindsay for who she is and she doesn't like it. For most people that would be the end of that. We all have those friends that we turn on when we realize their flaws and decide to remove them from our lives. Let's face it, love is usually conditional. The part of the movie that REALLY got me and I can't stop thinking about is the full circle point where she recognizes the motivation behind Lindsay's 'meanness' and shows her total compassion and love. She embraces this meanest girl of all and instead of rejection and hate she provides her with complete recognition and acceptance. This may seem like no big deal to most, but to me it stuck out like a sore thumb. Usually in movies and books the character like Lindsay end with that character getting his or her comeuppance. Instead this movie preaches love and understanding of all people.This is the part I can't stop thinking about. This is the kind of love and compassion that I would venture to say most of us want to think we posses, but really don't when it's too close to home. I found that very inspiring and it has me thinking of various people I've rejected in my life based on my judgment of them without any compassion.

Any movie that makes me think as much as this one has deserves a 10.

I almost passed watching after reading the summery. Sounded like it might be to 'teenage' for me. And honestly, it did have those moments here and there. But it was shot in a way that made me feel like something was underneath. Just waiting to be revealed. And boy was it ever. The ending left me speechless. Well except maybe for the crying noises I was making. If a 56yr old male can find beauty in, and relate to what is probably a teen target audience, then they are doing something right. And now I have new found hope for me, too, that I haven't turned into one of those crotchety old men.

Plot: 6

Themes and Tone: 9

Acting and Characters: 8

Direction: 6

Music and Score: 5

Cinematography: 8

Production Design: 10

Special Effects: 7

Editing: 9

Pacing: 5

Dialogue: 9

Plot: Has been done before. This movie in the context of high school.

Themes and Tone: The move goes for a dark theme and achieves it. On this level the film made an emotional impression on me.

Acting and Characters: Strong stereotypes but the female lead and especially Halston Sage's performances make up for this.

Direction: The movie is a slow start and spends too much time establishing the main characters as a typical mean girl clique. Part of the issue is the story itself (it's repetitive).

Score and Music: I saw this movie with my daughter. I asked if she recognized any of the music in the film. She said no. Not music I would choose to listen to.

Cinematography: This is actually one of the best features of the movie. Nice smooth camera work. Interesting angles and close-ups when needed.

Production Design: Sets and backdrop are very believable and added to the overall theme of the movie.

Special Effects: Aside from one jump scare pretending to be a special effect this aspect of the film is done well.

Editing: Transitions between scenes and other editing is clean and flows.

Pace: A slow start and eventually picks up to a decent pace.

Dialogue: Well done. The film is repetitive due to it's nature. Even so each scene of dialog is needed and adds to the movie.

I was surprised that I liked this movie more than I thought I would. I went because my daughter wanted to see a movie and she chose this one.

Even if you are not that into the films, you probably have seen at least a couple film related to 'time loop'. For me, this is like hundredth. When I first saw the trailer, I said 'not again'. 'Time loop' is just a concept, but the storyline for it drawn differently. It tells the story of a high school girl on the Cupid's Day, a special day for her since she has a big plan for it to remember. Like usual her day goes on and at the end of the day something goes wrong and then she wakes again on the same day in the following day which keeps repeating. Now how she's going to find a solution or the reason for it is covered in the rest of the film.

Familiar them, but well designed storyline around it. In some way, it is same as 'Groundhog Day', though it is about a teenager and more serious and tragic tale. We sometimes wish for a second chance, that's how this film was developed, but even bigger scale with a small message for teenagers.

Awesome performances, particularly Zoey. Predictable scenes, so I had thought of couple of ending that did not happen. And I also disappointed how it concluded. Not the best solution, yet an unexpected twist. Originally the film was based on the book of the same name. This is a small budget and a quality film. The direction was good, very rich in presentation. Definitely not bad for once viewing.

6/10