Has anyone watched Spontaneous?

[BlackAmericanoNoSugar]

Is it an allegory for American teens living with the possibility of school shootings?

I really enjoyed it, the script is funny and light and the characters are easy to love. It has such a sweet romance too.

Obviously the premise (that kids in the final year of senior school are spontaneously exploding) is quite weird but if you suspend disbelief on that then the rest of it makes reasonable sense. Especially if you substitute school shootings for spontaneous explosions. The way the Govt guy talks down to them as though they were pre-schoolers and then says 'thoughts and prayers'. The way that the kids are dealing with not knowing if they'll live to graduate, let alone to adulthood.

Anybody? It's worth watching. I'll wait if you want to watch it and then come back to this thread.

Bump! I tried to persuade the DC to watch it so they could talk about it with me, but I suspect that they don't want to talk to me at all so if they do watch it they'll never tell.

Is it on a streaming platform? I’m looking for something to watch with DH and DS now.

Netflix

Thank you so much! I came here for a recommendation. Loved it. Let me gather my thoughts and we can chat about it, or shall we pm and just recommend and not spoil it?

Lets chat here, it doesn't seem like there are all that many people watching it anyway (they're missing out). I'll put a warning.

WARNING! SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT.

It really went under the radar, I didn't read or hear anything about it. I suspect the release date (sometime in 2020) completely screwed it up publicity-wise.

Which is ironic! I watched it with DH and 22 yo dd.
One reading is that it was a metaphor for school shootings, visually yes. But also for growing up and fear- the explosions could be war, disease, teenage pregnancy. And the reactions- humour, carpe diem, drink and drugs.
And the final message- it’s all random and cruel but it’s a beautiful world was very life affirming.
Thanks for the recommendation!

Watched it last night and, enjoyed it. Thanks for recommending.

Another thing I liked about it was how body positive it was; no-one’s appearance was mentioned or centred. No tedious make overs or discussions about weight or hair.
Do try and get your dc to watch it@BlackAmericanoNoSugar
So many good themes and messages and very funny.

I thought it was more a euphemism for having sex or being in love.
it was a bit of a different teen film. I found it quite sad

I loved it. Though the main character just dropped the friend once she met her boyfriend. The actress from Coyote ugly was gorgeous. I would have kept her at home with that threat looming over their heads though.

I did think it was sad too. Especially the bit where the screen goes red and just stays red for ages. Even though it was clear from almost the start that he would die.

I think they did well to avoid a lot of clichés. Obviously falling head over heels in love and then have the love interest either leave or die is a fairly well worn story line. But the deaths were nicely underplayed, most movies with death have a bit of screaming and thrashing first, they didn't have a cheesy back story to make the deaths either more tragic or deserved, the death were genuinely random in the context of the story. They also didn't focus on appearances (as Etinoxaurus has said) or mean girls or any of the usual high school tropes. Nobody was unusually brave or good and nobody was bad or dislikable, not even the drug dealers, they were all just ordinary kids/parents/teachers doing their thing. I liked the little touches that gave time passing, like the writing on the white board.

I liked all the actors but I did think that Hayley Law doesn't really pass as a teenager any more. I find her really watchable but she was nearly 30 when she was in this film and tbh it showed.

The only thing that I found a bit unbelievable was that Dylan didn't already know about the "Wie Love Cox" thing, given that they did it every game and he'd been at the school for two years.

I also thought that Mara's home layout was a little odd, the sitting room was on a half-landing. It made for good shots though as Mara could converse with a parent in the sitting room from the time she walked in the front door until she closed her bedroom door. It was a better home than most movies though where house are only huge, perfectly tidy, recently redecorated mansions or uncared-for shit holes. Mara's house looked worn through use but full of personally chosen items.

It’s set my creative mind abuzzing! It’d make a great musical- I’ve even designed the deaths, strong red light and then darkness.