by
Rachael Lippincott
“I'm tired of living without really living.” - Stella
Stella, a bright and optimistic seventeen-year-old, who has been dealing with cystic fibrosis (CF) since childhood. Her life is full of routines, medications, boundaries, and self-control. She even organizing her pills into perfect color-coded rows. Basically, her sickness turns her into that.
She decorates every inch of her room, turned her corner of the hospital into something of a second home since she basically spends most of her time in the hospital.
She also designed an app to put together detailed to-do lists for each day, and live streaming her treatment sessions every single day.
“Everyone in this world is breathing borrowed air.” - Will
She makes friend with maternal head nurse -- Barb because she always went there to see the babies, from the outside. She also has a gay best friend named Poe, who's also, a fellow longtime patient.
She decorates every inch of her room, turned her corner of the hospital into something of a second home since she basically spends most of her time in the hospital.
She also designed an app to put together detailed to-do lists for each day, and live streaming her treatment sessions every single day.
“Everyone in this world is breathing borrowed air.” - Will
She makes friend with maternal head nurse -- Barb because she always went there to see the babies, from the outside. She also has a gay best friend named Poe, who's also, a fellow longtime patient.
One day, there's this impossibly charming new kid came in -- Will.
He is sarcastic, yet smolderingly handsome. He has the same illness with Stella and Poe, which answers why he's in the same hospital with them.
He's been selected to undergo an experimental clinical trial. However, his vaguely rebellious attitude towards the treatment is kinda a test for a hyper-disciplined Stella.
“I’m not going far. I’ll always be here. Just an inch away. I promise.”
Will's attitude was the reasons why Stella staying away at first, but eventually, that's what makes them closer as they grow warm to one another through a hurried on-again-off-again courtship, striking quid-pro-quo deals, FaceTiming each other well into the night, and inevitably hitting speed bumps as they brush up against each another’s secrets and traumas.
Their illness putting a restriction for them that they have to maintain a safe distance between them, and that's kinda impossible for Stella and Will, as their connection has intensified after those flirtations.
“I’m tired of wanting things. We can’t have a lot of things.
But we could have this.”
Then there comes the "six-foot rule", a safe distance that needs to be kept between people with CF to avoid cross-infection. This is a particular concern when it comes to Will, who is infected with dangerous bacteria, and vastly increasing the risk to Stella should she get too close to him.
So, not only they can't kiss, they can't even hold hands.
“If I’m going to die, I’d like to actually live first. And then I’ll die.”
The cute part is, they use a pool cue to 'hold hands', yet keeping their safe distance at the same time.
It's so cruel when the only way to stay alive is to stay apart, at least for them.
And if you're wondering why the title is "Five Feet Apart" when the rules call for six, you gotta watch this film by yourself, or read the book. I can't help until that.
“If this year has taught me anything, it's that grief can destroy a person.”
He's been selected to undergo an experimental clinical trial. However, his vaguely rebellious attitude towards the treatment is kinda a test for a hyper-disciplined Stella.
“I’m not going far. I’ll always be here. Just an inch away. I promise.”
Will's attitude was the reasons why Stella staying away at first, but eventually, that's what makes them closer as they grow warm to one another through a hurried on-again-off-again courtship, striking quid-pro-quo deals, FaceTiming each other well into the night, and inevitably hitting speed bumps as they brush up against each another’s secrets and traumas.
Their illness putting a restriction for them that they have to maintain a safe distance between them, and that's kinda impossible for Stella and Will, as their connection has intensified after those flirtations.
“I’m tired of wanting things. We can’t have a lot of things.
But we could have this.”
Then there comes the "six-foot rule", a safe distance that needs to be kept between people with CF to avoid cross-infection. This is a particular concern when it comes to Will, who is infected with dangerous bacteria, and vastly increasing the risk to Stella should she get too close to him.
So, not only they can't kiss, they can't even hold hands.
“If I’m going to die, I’d like to actually live first. And then I’ll die.”
The cute part is, they use a pool cue to 'hold hands', yet keeping their safe distance at the same time.
It's so cruel when the only way to stay alive is to stay apart, at least for them.
And if you're wondering why the title is "Five Feet Apart" when the rules call for six, you gotta watch this film by yourself, or read the book. I can't help until that.
“If this year has taught me anything, it's that grief can destroy a person.”
P/S: I watched this movie with L, at KLCC. It was a tough decision when we had to choose either to watch this movie or to go to the Petrosains, which ended up we chose the movie. No regret at all ¯\_(ツ)_/¯