Cherry Review

 

Certificate: 18

Running time: 142 minutes 

Starring: Tom Holland, Ciara Bravo, Michael Rispoli, Jack Reynor

Directed by: Anthony and Joe Russo

The story: A US army veteran turns to crime to support his increasing addiction to drugs.

The verdict: Cherry feels like a film that has been a long time coming with embargoed reviews from as early as December last year suggesting that Cherry was not up to scratch. Sadly, upon its general release, it has been the subject of much criticism.

With that being said, I consequently approached Cherry with some trepidation, unsure of what to expect and it turned out to be an intriguing experience.

I have a weakness for films that chart a character’s life, and I especially love if the character in question is a messy character. Tom Holland’s unnamed protagonist is certainly a lost soul, so along with that and Holland’s extremely likeable screen presence, I immediately felt an empathy for his character. 

Cherry is split into different parts, with each segment charting a different chapter in the life of our protagonist. As can be expected, some of these segments are better than others but what was really interesting was how each chapter was almost like a new genre. Along with this, each chapter had a different visual style.

Now, I have to admit that at first I didn’t like this technique at all. I found it jarring and inconsistent and the multiple styles felt like the Russos had simply been completely indecisive so had literally thrown the whole cinematic kitchen sink at the film. But slowly, as Cherry unfolded, I realised that actually it was very reminiscent of life itself. After all, the different parts of our lives do often play out like different film genres. And the confusion of this in the film is reflective of the confusion of this in life. After this realisation, I found myself enjoying the multiple genres. 

Though I enjoyed the multiple genres, I did not always enjoy Cherry visually. Cherry is extremely stylised and I feel that for the story that it’s telling, this stylisation often distracted from the rawness and grit of the story. The Russos use every trick in the book here and it does often feel like overkill. 

One of the biggest attractions of Cherry is without a doubt Holland’s performance. As mentioned above, I think that Holland has a great screen presence and that coupled with the myriad of emotions that he displays here, and this film shows that Holland certainly has the talent for gritty and serious roles. The supporting cast is also strong but I do think Holland stands out here. 

One of the elements of Cherry that I thought was particularly strong was the score by Henry Jackman. 

Cherry is a long film and only just about gets away with its 142 minutes running time. Certainly, I feel that it could have been trimmed slightly but I was engaged throughout. Considering it’s lengthy running time, Cherry really rushes its prologue and the ending feels a bit anticlimactic as a result. 

Having now watched Cherry, I do understand the criticism levelled at the film. Cherry is by no means a perfect film, it’s execution does feel a bit jumbled and the overload of style could be accused of being style over substance. However, for me I did find it a film that I was really pulled into and the score and Holland’s performance elevated it even more. Overall, a divisive film but one that I found myself liking nonetheless.

The rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ and a half