Miss You Already (2015)
Certified: 12A
Duration: 112 minutes
Directed by: Catherine Hardwicke
Starring: Toni Collette, Drew Barrymore, Dominic Cooper, Paddy Considine, Tyson Ritter, Frances de la Tour, Jacqueline Bisset, Mem Ferda
KRS Releasing Ltd

Catherine Hardwicke is one of the most prominent and also, at times, controversial female directors in Hollywood. Her works have delved into the unusual as she, like Kathryn Bigelow, seems intent on directing stereotypical films like romantic comedies.

Hardwicke’s films include Thirteen (an independent, raw film), Twilight (the teen vampire franchise), Red Riding Hood (an alternative take on the classic tale), Lords of Dogtown (a modern movie) and The Nativity Story (a different take on the Biblical story).

With Miss You Already she is directing what, at a first glance, one could slot into the weepie genre. However, this adaptation of Morwenna Banks’s BBC radioplay Goodbye ends up being more of a study of friendship which it delivers with an incredible amount of sincerity.

Jess (Drew Barrymore) and Milly (Toni Collette), an American and a Briton respectively, have been best friends all their lives. They had met as children when Jess’s father had moved to London. They seem to have shared their whole together, with Milly being the most adventurous one of the two.

For the first time in their life, however, things are going to be different. Milly has been diagnosed with a malignant tumour. This affects her and all those around her.

Her relationship with her husband Kit (Dominic Cooper) starts to get cold and her mother Miranda (Jacqueline Bisset) finds it difficult to cope with her daughter’s situation.

Meanwhile, Jess wants to get pregnant from her boyfriend Jago (Paddy Considine) and she manages to do so through IVF procedures. Happy that she is pregnant, Jess is not sure how to share this with her friend whose life seems to be falling to pieces.

Hardwicke brings an energy and spark to the movie which makes its momentary clichés acceptable, such as when the two friends are in the same hospital but for different reasons.

Also the director is not afraid to deliver in detail the procedures Milly goes through; this will definitely leave a mark on the film’s audience and make one feel for Collette’s character. Yet one also gets to feel the value and importance of friendship and that without such support, it would be even more difficult to endure this malady.

The film has some light moments and it’s precisely these sequences that – while giving us the intended respite we need – feel to be more Hollywood than real.

Hardwicke’s film excels in the way she brings her two main characters together and Barrymore and Collette stand up to the task.

Hardwicke focuses and brings together a story where lives are simply divided and disrupted and yet somehow fight against the current through force of will. Considine and a superb Bisset bring added value to the film with their supporting roles.