Susan Granger’s review of “The Sun is Also a Star” (Warner Bros./M.G.M.)
Jamaican-born high-school senior Natasha Kingsley (Yara Shahidi) is facing what could be her last day in New York City, since she and her family are scheduled for deportation.
Hoping for help from a sympathetic immigration lawyer (John Leguizamo), Natasha’s gazing at Grand Central Terminal’s huge, star-studded ceiling catches the eye of Korean-American Daniel Bae (Charles Melton), who is heading for a Dartmouth college interview.
She’s a scientist, an aspiring astronomer; he wants to become a poet instead of following the medical career path carved for him by his parents. When idealistic Daniel learns that Natasha doesn’t believe in romance, he challenges her to spend the day with him so they can fall in love.
Do they? And can their love survive their respective dilemmas?
Based on Nicola Yoon’s YA best-seller, it’s adapted by Tracy Olivier (“Little”) and directed by Ry Russo-Young (“Before I Fall”), who is obviously fascinated by the problems faced by children of immigrants. The lead characters are loosely based on Yoon, who is Jamaican, and her husband, who is Korean-American – yet neither actually faced the immigration issues depicted on-screen.
“The movie – and the book, too – is a celebration of love in a sense, but also of New York City, one of the most diverse cities in the world. It’s truly a melting pot of immigrants – from everywhere,” explains Ry Russo-Young. “In order to show the city in all its glory and to do justice to the story, you really want to get a sense of every single person is an immigrant and has a story…”
To that end, cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw (“Teen Spirit”) shows Chinatown, the Financial District, the tram across the East River between Manhattan and Roosevelt Island, the Hayden Planetarium at the Museum of Natural History and the marquee of Harlem’s Apollo Theater – in a virtual Big Apple tourist travelogue.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Sun Is Also a Star” is an angst-filled 5. As Carl Sagan would say: “Deus Ex Machina.”
