How I Live Now

2013 • 101 minutes

About this movie

Set in the near-future UK, Saoirse Ronan plays Daisy, an American teenager sent to stay with relatives in the English countryside. Initially withdrawn and alienated, she begins to warm up to her charming surroundings and strikes up a romance with the handsome Edmund (George MacKay). But on the fringes of their idyllic summer days are tense news reports of an escalating conflict in Europe. As the UK falls into a violent, chaotic military state, Daisy finds herself hiding and fighting to survive.

Ratings and reviews

Saoirse Ronan is just an awesome little actress to me, I was always a big fan of Hanna and enjoyed her in The Host. Recently I saw The Lovely Bones and I really enjoy most of her work. How I Live Now is just another performance done well by her, with all that said this is the most stand-out role she has played so far. The character is very different from any role she has played so far, and well, I'm my opinion she plays a bitchy teenager very well! As for the film it's set in a fictional 3rd World War and is pretty actiony for a romance film. I thought it balanced all of the lovey dovey parts well with the WW3 aspect and it kept me interested in the characters. I did feel like the first part of the movie does happen a bit fast, the characters seem to get so close so fast it's almost unrealistic, I wasn't sure if they attempted to make it look like a longer period of time within a few scenes or what but it seemed way quick. The movie as a whole was pretty great though! I enjoyed it a lot and hope to actually pick up the novel and read it sometime, because well we all know the novel is better than the film, but as far as this film goes it's worth a watch! :)

I thought this movie was refreshingly non-gory. Sure there was violence, but only enough to make you experience pain. I also loved the end of her journey, how things were not better, but getting there. This movie is well worth the rent, and keeps you interested throughout.

Read the book a few years ago and loved it ever since. The book was written so well that I got emotionally attracted towards the characters. The movie is amazing, somethings were changed but not major. My overall rating for this movie 5/5.