HOW I LIVE NOW – (2013) – Movie Review ★★★¾

Cast – Saoirse Ronan, Tom Holland, George MacKay and Harley Bird – Based on the award winning novel by Meg Rosoff – Daisy (Ronan) an American is sent to the English countryside to stay with family when a terrorist attack strikes, leaving her and her cousins fighting for survival VERDICT since watching Saoirse Ronan in 2007’s Atonement I have been a big fan, it’s amazing to think she’s only 19yrs of age and has already giving us some pretty impressive performances in films such as The Lovely Bones, Hanna, Violet & Daisy, Byzantium and her latest Kevin Mcdonald’s How I Live Now – a nuclear terrorist attack is hopefully something we never have to go through – the film’s big moment is when the cousins are out swimming and enjoying the countryside, there’s a deathly silence, almost a tremor and then that’s when the ash starts descending down upon them like flurries of snow – they make it back to their cottage and within minutes the electric goes off, their world is about to be turned upside down – Mcdonald captures all of this on film with a certain beauty but still manages to be aggressive with the narrative, the realism and brutality of what’s happened is there for you to see – Saoirse Ronan and young Harley Bird are both superb, the scenes of them on the run, being chased in the woods and that haunting moment at the boys camp are film highlights – overall How I Live Now is a heart wrenching tale of love and war, that’s engrossing, has a superb soundtrack and some young talent that I’m sure will be see in movies for years to come….