Cherry

The daring, visceral examination of addiction and tragedy in Cherry demonstrates Tom Holland's dramatic versatility outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Its stylistic boldness is its most striking strength; the film's directors, Anthony and Joe Russo, use a frantic, fractured visual language that reflects the protagonist's worsening mental state. The narrative format, which is broken up into discrete chapters with varying color schemes and aspect ratios, produces a terrifying and intimate journey into opiate addiction. Holland gives a dedicated, physically taxing performance that hauntingly authentically conveys the character's first charm as a college student in love and his later hollowed-out despair. The chemistry between Holland and Ciara Bravo, who plays his girlfriend Emily, grounds the film's operatic tragedy in genuine emotional stakes, making their mutual destruction genuinely heartbreaking to witness.

But the movie's maximalist stance frequently backfires on its own goals. Undermining the story's fundamental humanity, the Russo brothers' creative flourishes—fourth wall breaks, on-screen text, and highly styled drug scenes—often feel more distracting than enlightening. Cherry has a lot of pacing bloat at 140 minutes, especially in its repetitious middle section where the cycle of crime and addiction becomes repetitive rather than cumulative. While making an effort to maintain literary authenticity to the original novel by Nico Walker, the voiceover narration sometimes restates the obvious or clarifies feelings that Holland's acting already successfully portrays. Additionally, the film's treatment of the Iraq War sequences, while competently staged, feels somewhat disconnected from the addiction narrative, serving more as exposition for the PTSD that follows rather than an integrated thematic element. The result is a film that is undeniably ambitious and occasionally powerful yet ultimately overwhelmed by its own aesthetic excess.

Staff:

Directed by: Anthony Russo and Joe Russo

Written by: Angela Russo-Otstot and Jessica Goldberg

Based on: Cherry by Nico Walker

Produced by: Joe Russo, Anthony Russo, Mike Larocca, Jonathan Gray, Matthew Rhodes, Jake Aust, and Chris Castaldi

Starring: Tom Holland, Ciara Bravo, Jack Reynor, and Jeff Wahlberg.

Cinematography: Newton Thomas Sigel

Edited by: Jeff Groth

Music by: Henry Jackman

Production companies: The Hideaway Entertainment, AGBO, and Endeavor Content

Distributed by: Apple TV+ (under Apple Original Films)

Release date: February 26, 2021

Running time: 141 minutes