'Cherry' Review: Ambitious Storytelling Falls Short in Execution
The two-and-a-half-hour movie is pitched as an epic coming-of-age-odyssey, but falls short in its storytelling endeavors. Is it a film about addiction and the rise of the opioid crisis in small town-America? Is it a story of war and the lasting side-effects of PTSD? It doesn’t know and it tries, and fails, to be everything all at once.
“Cherry” marks the Russo brothers’ first project as co-directors since “Avengers: Endgame”. In “Cherry” the Russo brothers team up again with Tom Holland to bring Nico Walker’s semi-autobiographical novel of the same name to life.
“Cherry” follows the life of the titular main character (Tom Holland), a disenfranchised young adult lost in the world that is laid out for him. Looking for purpose and direction in his life, Cherry enlists in the Marines where he experiences dramatic and grotesque carnage during his time as an Army medic. Upon his return home to Cleveland, Ohio, he is greeted as a hero, but the lasting effects of the war send Cherry into violent episodes of PTSD. Searching for quick but lasting relief, he becomes addicted to pain medication, starting with Xanax, upgrading to oxycontin and eventually escalating to heroin. As he attempts to fund his addiction, money starts running out and he turns towards bank robberies to pay for his crippling and deteriorating addiction.
The film spans over five years, starting in 2002 and ending in 2007, and the film is divided just as equally into 5 chapters. The first chapter, “Prologue”, flashes forward to 2007, where we see Cherry rushing from his home to rob another bank. Over the course of the introductory scenes, we see Holland’s character talk to the camera and voice his urgent curiosity of his purpose in life even going so far to ask if life was wasted on him. This is just before he shoots a gun into their air and demands the bank teller to empty the cash drawers.
After the stage has been set, we jump back in time to “When Life was Beginning, I Saw You.” This piece takes place in 2002 where Cherry is a student at a local community college. This is the section of the movie that seems the most disjointed, under-developed and an almost unnecessary inclusion. During his time in college, we are supposed to understand that he is wandering throughout his life with no genuine purpose, looking for something to give his life meaning.
“Sometimes I wonder if life was wasted on me.”
In class he meets his demure classmate, Emily (Ciara Bravo) in a lecture hall. The two quickly begin dating and after a brief break in their relationship, Cherry enrolls in the Marines. Given the year, The Russo brothers attempt to depict the camaraderie that America felt post-9/11 with the increase in enrolment and encouragement to defend one’s country as the rationale behind his decision to enlist.
In the next chapter, “Basic”, we jump forward to 2003 as we experience the rough transition into basic training where Cherry and other recruits are belittled and demeaned in the process of creating strong and disciplined soldiers. Again, this is another section of the film that feels like it could have been covered in a shorter time frame or cut altogether as it doesn’t show us anything that we haven’t seen before and is not crucial to the storytelling.
As Cherry and his comrades are sent out to war, we move into a titular chapter, “Cherry”. This is where we follow Cherry into the battlefield, where he operates as a war medic in Afghanistan, tending to the wounded. As he witnesses vicious acts of violence against his unit, the devastation of the war takes a toll on his spirit. In scenes showing Cherry on the phone with Emily back home, we see some of Holland’s best acting as he struggles to articulate the violence that he has experienced overseas and its impact on his mental health.
The next chapter, “Home”, takes place in 2005 and shows Cherry’s return to civilian life where he is greeted and welcomed as a hero. Working part-time jobs in construction, we see that Cherry’s return home is more tumultuous than expected. He is unable to hold a consistent job and the aftermath of the war causes him to experience violent outbursts and hallucinations that are most likely the effects of undiagnosed PTSD. Seeking treatment and relief, we see a subtle hint at the opioid epidemic where a doctor hands out oxycontin drug prescriptions like candy. While the oxycontin keeps his PTSD at bay, he spirals into addiction, dragging Emily down with him. In the final chapter, “Dope Life”, Cherry and Emily become heroin addicts, desperately seeking a cure to their conditions.
Chapters 4 and 5 really set the tone for the film, making up almost half of its two-hour-and-twenty minute run time, and really should have been the focus of the entire movie. The dependency on heroin drives Emily and Cherry to drastic lengths to protect their addiction, and thus turns Cherry towards bank robbing as a way to feed their crippling addiction.
The self semi-autobiographical reflection of a student-turned-junkie is chaotic, and reflects the same feeling of anxiety on screen for the viewers. However, the film’s structure seems to be purposefully done in an effort to create a connection between the main character and the audience. The Russo brothers take a lot of risks in the stylistic way they deliver their storytelling. They try hard to create subtle but dark humor in their landscape, using titles like “Shitty Bank” or “Credit None” as the backdrop of Cherry’s robberies, but their attempts feel more like a distraction.
Holland’s performance in the titular role and Henry Jackman’s cohesive score are the best parts of the film. While the plot is messy and its message gets side-tracked, the emotion that Holland brings to the screen is some of his best work. The film features consistent dialogue and voice overs in each of the chapters, where Cherry looks back, reflecting on the journey that ultimately led to his destruction. These pieces worked and the inner monologue to the audiences, helps reaffirm that the film is to be viewed completely from the main character’s point of view. If this movie tells us anything, it’s that Holland has the capacity to take on deeper and more serious projects. Likewise, the common thread of Jackman’s score - particularly in the ending piece “The Comedown” - weaves itself effortlessly through the backdrop of the movie and provides a satisfying ending at the film’s completion.
The film represents a perfect example for when a film should take liberties with the subject matter of a non-fictional adaptation. Instead, it tries to recreate the exact storyline of the novel,which gets lost in translation. Where the movie falls short is in its almost religious dedication to depicting everything in the semi-autobiographical story, when it should have focused on distinct pieces to tell the narrative. There is a powerful story in the midst of the assembled chaos of “Cherry”; you just need to look close enough to see it.