Film Review - Everything in Between
Images courtesy of Sha Pictures.
Everything in Between is a meditation on death and our lack of control over it. Jay has no will to live but everything to live for, and Liz has nothing in her life with every reason to keep it that way. Through a trip to the hospital, both begin circling the drain of mortality and what they learn from their time on the cusp of oblivion, we are offered insight into human nature, mental health, loneliness, and love.
Nadi Sha’s obsession with the outdoors firmly places Everything in Between in Australia, with wavy beaches and red sand outbacks sprinkled throughout the runtime - which despite sitting on the short side nowadays at a humble 90 minutes, somehow still feels as if it’s dragging its heels at points. This isn’t the most surprising feature for a moody drama, but disappointing nonetheless.
When the narrative is given room to breathe, an overarching theme of the natural against the medical emerges, provided a spotlight by Liz’s happy-go-lucky, hippie vibe physically inserting itself into Jay’s mentally unstable, medicated life. When this ratio is caught slipping, placing Liz in a position where she must rely on the 21st century’s ground-breaking medical advances, she struggles to take in oxygen. Her very being ends when she enters Jay’s world, forcing us to consider whether these two are compatible at all – which is a rhetorical question, it just so happens that relationships are a little bit healthier when they’re a few layers removed from death.
The dependency on things outside of the characters’ control becomes a knot in the plot as Jay’s willingness to throw it all away stands in stark contrast to Liz’s stubborn refusal to give up without a fight. Coming to grips with the lack of control, the weight of mere words is heightened and we as viewers enjoy the deeper understanding that we gain with the protagonists, through the empathy Nadi Sha bleeds into the grim plot.
Everything in Between is a stand-up movie with lots going for it, from the desperation of dealing with a seemingly unsolvable problem, to the renewal of life and its meaning, but thank God I didn’t watch The Fault in Our Stars beforehand. If history doesn’t repeat it often rhymes, and Everything In Between and Fault in Our Stars are veritable songbirds.
Everything in Between is now screening in cinemas. For tickets and more info, click here.