Summary
The Sky is Everywhere is an operatic, endlessly creative, and breathtaking visual poem of grief.
This review of Apple TV+ original film The Sky is Everywhere does not contain spoilers.
Read the ending explained for The Sky is Everywhere.
What is so rare nowadays is a romantic comedy or drama that shows a certain level of maturity. One that fits the sensibilities of the age of the main character. For instance, any young adult film should have characters that act their age and not like they are pulled from The Bridges of Madison County. Young people are emotional. They are trying to find their way, socially and behaviorally. That means they need to gain experience to hone emotional reactions and develop tools to deal with what life throws at them. That is what The Sky is Everywhere uses to build its foundation.
The film focuses on Lennie Walker (Grace Kaufman of Man with a Plan). She is an adorable, grief-stricken musical prodigy. She has a bright future, as she is a candidate for Julliard. Lennie plays the flute like it’s an extension of her arm. But a series of tragedies in her young life have stunted her growth. Besides losing her mother as a child, her older sister and best friend, Bailey (No Exit‘s Havana Rose Liu), suddenly died from a fatal cardiac arrhythmia. Her grandmother (Cherry Jones) and her step-father, Big (Jason Segal), have been the ones to raise them.
Lennie lives in a magical place but could be considered a hideout for an emotional hibernation. There is nothing but lush greenery. She can be protected by a giant canopy of giant redwood trees and piles of Gram’s beautiful rose bushes. This magical place is a hideout for everyone dealing with Bailey’s grief, which is adorably presented in the script with some cute emojis and heartbreaking admissions. For instance, Gram and Big are suffering through the trauma of a lost loved one and are ignoring Lennie, the child who needs them the most. Big revels in smoking marijuana, and Gram keeps forcing to throw out Baily’s possessions because it is unhealthy. What Gram is doing is trying to push her grief to the side. It’s a constant reminder of Bailey and also losing Lennie’s mother.
The film also keeps why the target audience will be interested in the romance angle. Lennie uses two young men to come out of her protective shell. One is Joe (Jacques Colimon), a fellow flute player who forms a real attraction to each other, physically and mentally. While the film does create a nice and mature love triangle for a young adult film, there is one issue. Lennie and Toby (A Most Violent Year’s Pico Alexander), Bailey’s former fiance has a certain heat and chemistry that Lennie doesn’t have with Joe on screen.
The Sky Everywhere was directed by Josephine Decker (Shirley) and adapted from a novel named Jandy Nelson, who also wrote the screenplay. While any film can take the subject of grief and show the powerful tool, it can take on an individual’s everyday functioning. Decker assembles a movie with superb art direction and eye-popping cinematography. The film reaches operatic levels of artistry, particularly the breathtaking scene where Lennie and Joe float from and back down to those form-fitting rose bushes. They are creating a visual and emotional resonance of young love.
If young adult films are not your thing you may not love The Sky is Everywhere, you may find the film too whimsical for its own good, but you’ll still find yourself engaged, from the lead and supporting performances. It’s a breathtaking young adult visual poem of the response to loss and recovery.
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