Movie Review: After

Fanfiction, apparently, can be powerful.

Popular accounts of fanfiction can become so demanding that the author then writes a novel. That novel may even turn into a big screen movie.

That was the case for Anna Todd’s After.

While fangirling over boy bands is a pretty common thing, writing fanfiction about them is less common, and writing particular scenarios about one specific member of a very diverse boy band is even rarer.

Todd’s Harry Styles based fanfiction gained so much traction that seeing the movie was a must for anyone curious of just how Style’s character was captured throughout the film.

Todd not only created the character she wanted, but she took the characteristics of the beloved Brit and created Hardin, the seductive bad boy that leaves Tessa with a new life after him.  

Fantasizing and longing come into play in After, but in a very realistic way.

Although it’s never fully stated and he’s not in a boy band, Hardin captures the essence of Harry Styles. Whether it was the bright green eyes, the leather jacket, the nonchalant attitude or a combination of it all, it worked

Sometimes subtle and other times obvious, the directing makes it clear that Styles is the muse of the story.

The movie itself found audience members questioning the PG-13 rating while also understanding why it is so.

The film followed the well-known romance storyline of falling in love, finding conflict and ending in somewhat of a resolution.

This chick-flick, however, may have seemed predictable at times, but still threw in little unexpected surprises, keeping the audience’s interest to the storyline and not just Hardin’s familiar tattoos.

The most intriguing thing about After is the background of how the movie came to be. While inspiring to writers everywhere, the movie proved to be interesting and entertaining, as it allowed for us everyday viewers to experience the closest we’ll ever get to a relationship with Harry Styles, and that might just be enough appeal in general.