Clouds
disney+John Green has a lot to answer for. The young adult, romantic, illness-related melodrama existed beforehand and has maintained popularity since, but it was with the release of his multimillion-selling novel The Fault in Our Stars and film adaptation – directed by Josh Boone – that moulded future films of its kind. In an early scene in the newest entry Clouds, based on the true story of teenage folk musician Zach Sobiech (Fin Argus), we see the central character’s self-deprecating routine about his Osteosarcoma treatment. He follows this by performing an acoustic cover of “Sexy and I Know It” by LMFAO. It is certainly an amusing sequence and the sort of thing that suggests some level of awareness for the tropes and cliches of the narrative style. In the very next scene, he gets a terminal diagnosis, and expectations snap back into reality.
Add in a Christian overtone and this film should not work on any level. Yet, there is something strangely endearing about it; the story elements make tonal clash unavoidable, but when the screenplay focuses on Sobiech connecting with friends – or when producing the music that brought him viral fame – it comes across as more authentic than many of contemporaries. This is helped along thanks to strong central performances from Argus, Sabrina Carpenter, and Madison Iseman, who amiably play out the central love triangle. This overcomes a certain amount of the “Ryan Murphy problem” – casting actors in their mid to late 20s to convince as teenagers. The best previous example is season one of The Politician.
However, not all of it works. The script attempts to spotlight Sobiech's family life – Neve Campbell and Tom Everett Scott are his parents, with a supporting cast of brothers and sisters – but with a clear focus on the sides of the narrative that touch on illness and music production. The other elements feel decidedly underserved, with some of the siblings only having a few lines and there is a bizarre cameo from Jason Mraz. Though it might be difficult to buy that in 2012 teenagers were interested in the protagonist’s [ZT6] brand of coffee-shop acoustic ballads, it is a strong indicator of the tone the film is going for. There is also the manipulative side in this kind of story. Critically, this is delivered with none of the overt cynicism that impacted the wannabes that came flooding in after the initial success of The Fault in Our Stars.
Clouds will not change any viewer's mind on its specific Troy stylistic choices that, at this point in 2020, are very well worn. That said, in competition to its counterparts, it comes across as a loving tribute to someone who was an inspirational figure. Luckily, Clouds does not devolve into prime inspiration porn. There is nothing viewers won’t have seen before, but in a dubious subgenre, where quality can be thin on the ground, it represents the better films of its type.