SXSW ‘Wishful Thinking’ Review: Watching Lewis Pullman and Maya Hawke Fall In Love My Destroy the World But It’s Worth Dying For
5/5 relationship earthquakes
Wishful Thinking is a new kind of romantic comedy from director Graham Parkes. Charlie (Lewis Pullman) and Julia (Maya Hawke) love each other. But is their love enough to stop the world from ending? Especially when they’re the ones destroying it?
Julia and Charlie have a gift: If they’re happy, everything works in their favor. If they’re upset about anything, the world collapses. Literally, there’s an earthquake because they’re upset at each other. The rules of their power are simple: Be happy and in love and everything is fine. Argue about anything and the nuclear holocaust probably will happen.
For people who love movies like Like Crazy, this is the kind of romance for them. Charlie and Julia are two characters who do, clearly, love each other. But the problem is that neither of them quite know how to express their feelings within their relationship without blowing everything up. So the two go to twin relationship gurus (both played by Kate Berlant) to help them. Instead, they have relationship powers.
The comedic beats and brilliance of Wishful Thinking makes it a fun watch but it really is the romantic moments that stay with you. When the twins are asking Charlie and Julia to unpack their relationship, they share the ups and downs of their love for each other and the way that Parkes shot their confession is raw and beautiful and makes you want to fall in love and throw up and rip your hair out all at once. All those good “oh my god I want love” emotions rolled into one.
And all of it is good. So incredibly good in a way that felt surreal while watching this movie. Wishful Thinking really masters the art of a heartbreakingly good romance film.
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I grew up at a time where “doomed” romance was all the rage. Atonement was released when I was in high school and we all ate it up. Then came Like Crazy and Never Let Me Go and the list goes on and on and each one just as captivating and heartbreaking as the last. But we have lost the art of the will they won’t they romance between two people who clearly do love each other.
Like any good romance, Charlie and Julia very clearly love each other but it might not be enough. Hawke plays Julia in such a nuanced way that when she does really speak her mind about what she wants, you feel for her. But Pullman’s honesty as Charlie only works in favor of that. He’s so charming and real that you feel for him but you also understand Julia’s needs and the two balance each other so beautifully throughout the film.
Both Hawke and Pullman manage to have you on both their sides. It isn’t easy in a romance, there is typically one party who is right and one party who is VERY wrong. But with Wishful Thinking no one is really right or wrong. they’re just two people trying to find their way and it is so beautiful to watch.
This is one of those movies where it ends and you think to yourself “when can I watch this again?” and I cannot wait for others to be as captivated by Wishful Thinking as I was.
(featured image: Christopher Riley)
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