Turtles All the Way Down
(M, 111 minutes, Binge/Foxtel)
3 stars
Remember back in 2014 when everyone was utterly obsessed with The Fault in Our Stars?
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It was re-released into cinemas after its early run with a promise of more footage to make you cry even more, it made household names of Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort for a moment, and Hollywood was desperate to tap into more of book author John Green's content.
Paper Towns followed soon after, and then there was a series adaptation of Looking for Alaska, both titles coming from Green's popular young adult novels.
Turtles All the Way Down is the latest and it's another solid and moving entry into the John Green cinematic universe.
The film follows teen Aza (Isabela Merced, Sicario: Day of the Soldado, delivering an understated and believable performance) as she navigates friendship and burgeoning romance while battling obsessive compulsive disorder.
It's a topic that's familiar for Green, who was diagnosed with OCD as an adult.
Aza's condition presents itself as an extreme phobia of germs and bacteria, leading her on pervasive thought spirals about potentially contracting a disease. Hand sanitiser is a constant presence in the high-schooler's life, as is the wound on her finger that never seems to heal.
She's well aware of her condition, but doesn't want to take medication that, despite dulling the effects of OCD, makes her feel further away from herself. She struggles with separating herself from her illness.
Her world starts to open up, however, when the billionaire father of her childhood friend, Davis (Aussie Felix Mallard, go-to brooding teen love interest these days following memorable turns in Locke and Key and Ginny and Georgia) suddenly disappears.
Aza's best friend Daisy (Cree, The Sleepover) convinces her they need to find footage from the camera at the edge of Davis' family property so they can solver the mystery and collect the reward money. This is just the MacGuffin though, and serves as the plot device to pop Davis back in Aza's orbit.
The pair are immediately interested in one another, allowing a lovely and sweet romance to develop slowly.
Director Hannah Marks and screenwriters Elizabeth Berger and Isaac Aptaker do a great job of treating Aza's condition with respect while not overdramatising it. OCD has a huge impact on her life, but it doesn't make her an outsider or unable or an insane person. It's serious, but not the only thing she's got going on in her life.
It's this balance of health concerns with the wonderment and emotions of teenagerhood that was so successfully brought to screen in The Fault in Our Stars, and it's similarly successful here.
Merced has proven in a range of diverse films over the past several years that she's a talent to be reckoned with - from a kidnapped schoolgirl in Sicario and a defensive foster teen in Instant Family, to action in Sweet Girl and even kids fare in Dora and the Lost City of Gold.
She does such a great job in this film that it's impossible not to be moved by her turmoil - if you're prone to tears, it'll do well to keep the tissues handy.
Everything in Turtles All the Way Down is played very earnestly, but that doesn't make the film a depressing or unpleasant watch - it's ultimately quite uplifting and hopeful.
And if there's a struggling young adult out there who feels seen because of this film, then that's all the filmmakers could ask for.
The film also features Judy Reyes (Scrubs), J Smith-Cameron (Succession) and Poorna Jagannathan (Never Have I Ever) in supporting roles, as well as cameos from author Green as a PE teacher and Debby Ryan (Insatiable) as a college student.
