Five Feet Apart

Cloistered away in diagnostic retention, family and friends stopping by at times, the caring staff warmly dedicated to promoting cheer, the world wide web providing paramount community.

Emotions locked-down as intimate contact is forbidden, the sublimation of imaginative desires creates fantastic legend.

Fortunately she's no Obscurus, the desires unattainable but not maligned, and she responds with sprightly do-gooding, which acutely marks chill observation.

Others similarly afflicted become reliable confidants, their convivial theses and humorous charm laying the congenial groundwork for inclusive mischief.

But as fate would have it, or perhaps, lo and behold, one day the enigmatic emerges and cannot be idiosyncratically arrayed.

This bad boy of intensive care (Cole Sprouse as Will) ruffles feathers in strict amorous revel, and even though she's highly critical, Stella (Haley Lu Richardson) can't tear herself away.

The two forging a palliative dynamic.

That's as convalescent as it is ecstatic.

Hearts strung out like time-lapsed supernovas, they must remain Five Feet Apart at all times, a romantic interpretation of the convention, their budding awe saturated with robust feeling, their hesitation, as adorable as panda cupcakes.

The film isn't so bad.

It looked after-school-specially in the previews but I swear it's cinematically legit.

Perhaps they do break the rules somewhat foolishly, but they rarely do so while going too far.

With one ridiculous situation near the end, it would have been stronger with a less melodramatic climax.

Something less mortal.

More genuine.

Poe's (Moises Arias) character could have been treated differently too, for wouldn't it have been ironic to not focus on death in a film about young adults striving to live, wouldn't it have been fortuitous to celebrate joy without consequence in a film latently flush with sanguine grief?

It still celebrates joy nevertheless, and that's why it's so worth seeing, even if it slips up a bit, even if it could have been less dependent.

As Stella and Will fall in love at the hospital, slowly coming to terms with their eccentricities, it's as timid as it is unorthodox, like trying something new when you don't know what you're doing.

As tenderhearted as a mama bear, and as loving as ballroom impertinence, Five Feet Apart keeps the melodrama at bay, while crafting something coy and wonderful.

Death-defying romance.

Out of this world.