All The Bright Places (2020)

 

Sypnosis

Theodore Finch and Violet Markey are two teenagers who live unhappily in a small Indiana town. Violet is quietly dealing with Survivor Guilt after the death of her sister and Finch is a loner, called a freak by other students. They meet on the bridge where Violet's sister died in a car crash nine months earlier. Violet survived the crash, and has not been in a car since. She finds herself standing on the ledge of the bridge on what would have been her sister's nineteenth birthday. Finch, out for a run, sees Violet on the ledge and climbs up next to her, talking her down from a possible suicide.

Finch begins a partnership with Violet for a school project that requires the students to explore Indiana together. Later, at home, Finch looks up Violet on Facebook, researching her sister's car accident, reading through Violet's old writing, and chatting with her online. Finch and Violet travel around Indiana to see sites chosen by him for the project. Violet refuses to travel by car, so they bike to the highest point in Indiana. However, to visit a miniature roller coaster too far away to bike to, Violet agrees to get in his car. She returns to writing, for the first time since her sister's death. He helps her talk about her sister, which no one else had managed to do. Violet slowly begins to heal. They fall in love.

However, Finch's behavior becomes more erratic. He sometimes disappears for days at a time without contacting anyone. One day, while he and Violet are swimming at the Blue Hole, he disappears under the water. By the time he resurfaces, Violet is distraught and pushes him to tell her more about himself, threatening to leave if he doesn't comply. He reveals that he had been physically abused by his father as a child, and that his mother is absent in his life. 

 

Cast & Character

• Elle Fanning as Violet Markey
• Justice Smith as Theodore Finch
• Alexandra Shipp as Kate Finch
• Kelli O'Hara as Sheryl Markey
• Lamar Johnson as Charlie
• Virginia Gardner as Amanda
• Felix Mallard as Roamer
• Sofia Hasmik as Brenda
• Keegan-Michael Key as Richard Embry
• Luke Wilson as James Markey