'Endless Love'

It’s easy to extract the essence of “Endless Love.” Great love? Yes. Great movie? No.

But it’s Valentine’s Day. No one cares about the trivial cinematography or delicate narrative. Love is the predominant rhythm and the magic greenishness that penetrates the hurdles in front of our protagonists.

Director Shana Feste resolves the paradox of a movie that was both immersive and alienating by presenting a story between a privileged girl Jade (Gabriella Wilde) and a “Cinderella man,” poor yet charming David, played by Alex Pettyfer.

Even the disparity of backgrounds and the melodramatic twists detach the protagonists from couples outside the big screen. Loads of romantic gestures make the film more resonant.

Feste’s camerawork is somewhat hypnotic, with shallow depth of field and plenty of shallow focus perspective. The images directly and indirectly solicit viewers’ sense of touch and smell. The scenes’ crystalline precision heighten and bring every view into the foreground. Thus, instead of solely creating romance through the actions and feelings attached to characters, “Endless Love” locates and condenses the romance in the texture, color, sounds and rhythms of concrete things.

Together the film visualizes the reckless love between Jade and David, which oozes a sense of warmth and softness, just like the melting guttering of a candle.

Like other classic romances such as Romeo and Juliet, Jade and David’s affection wouldn’t seem so sincere without an opposing force, which in this case is Jade’s father Hugh (Bruce Greenwood). Much of his character’s poignancy comes from the fact that he became a control-freak after the death of his eldest son, and he can’t afford to lose Jade.

So when David breaks into Jade’s life and makes the meek daughter a rebel, Hugh goes to some extreme measures to separate them. As Feste pinpoints the conflicts between David and Hugh, their every exchange makes the blood surge.

Now there’s the arcanum that makes the film something closer to the bone — the soulful and vivacious youth impulse that’s embedded in the young couple’s fearless persistence.

The finishing touches of “Endless Love” are the date scenes. Seductively filmed and crowded with rich colors, they’re sensual, spiritual and dreamlike.

Feste adopts many exteriors to balance the intense relationship of the characters.
Most scenes are filled with lush green and saffron yellow, which expresses the warmth and bittersweetness of Jade and David’s story.

The narrative is not exquisite, and the cinematography is kind of immature. The storyline that carries a series of twists seems to be farfetched. However, it’s the sincerity that makes the film impressive.

So we should swallow these critiques, and take a sweet bite. Happy post-Valentine’s Day.