"Pick the rosebuds as long as you can, old Time continues to fly / And this same flower that smiles at you today, Tomorrow will be dying", wrote the English poet Robert Herrick in the 17th century, in the poem For the Virgins, Enjoy the Time. The work later became the greatest reference of the term carpe diem, which in Latin means "seize the day", a philosophy that corresponds to the brevity of life and how everything can stop belonging to us in a breath.
Life has been the subject of several films in the most different narratives. Since Soul, Pixar animation immerses itself in philosophy by reflecting on purpose to the most elaborate ones, such as The Truman Show, The Tree of Life, and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty among others. Talking about it, however, can leave an impression of a "beaten subject" if not well explored and portrayed, and in Clouds, the latest Disney + release, the question is brought to the screen following Herrick's thinking.
Attention! From here the text may contain spoilers for the movie Clouds. Read at your own risk.
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| The new face Fin Argus and Disney veteran Sabrina Carpenter are the main names of the drama that promises to thrill: Clouds (Image: Disclosure / Disney +) |
It is with much movement and haste that the drama inspired by real events Clouds begins, accompanying the young Zach Sobiech (Fin Argus, who lives its first protagonist) to a musical performance in front of the school where he studies. With the help of crutches and a hat to hide the absence of hair on his face and head due to chemotherapy, the aspiring musician can deliver, even in a few minutes, a summary of his whole personality: charisma, relaxation, and above all, a friendly person and willing to help friends always.
But one day, minutes before going on a date with Amy (Madison Iseman), his dream girl, that Zach sees every reason to remain the cheerful and fun young man to go down the drain: after emergency surgery, his parents are told that cancer they had been fighting for years has not been completely cured and has reached his lung, making him a terminal patient.
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| Clouds offer a reflection on the brevity of life (Image: Disclosure / Disney +) |
From here, the merit for portraying such scenes with such sensitivity is all from director Justin Baldoni, who has already commanded another production that touched the audience in 2019, the feature A Cinco Passos de Você. With the help of Laura Sobiech, Zach's mother in reality throughout the production, the filmmaker managed to capture and portray essential details of the young man's life that ended up being crucial to the completion of the film.
It is also worth highlighting the script by Kara Holden that had fundamental insights in the production, such as the scene in which, right after Zach receives the news that he has only a few months to live, his teacher asks the class to write an essay with reasons and what they most want to do in college. Although the character tries to remain cheerful, the film portrays with sensitivity and clarity the two extremes that a terminal patient can go through in a few minutes and how events like this can be triggers for such a crisis.
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| Taking advantage of the little time he has left, Zach fulfills his wishes with family and friends (Image: Disclosure / Disney +) |
It is between these crises of extremes that Clouds follows, with the protagonist varying between joy and feeling carpe diem and going back to the bottom, thinking about the little time he has left. In parallel, the film still explores in its 120 minutes all of Zach's relationships on the screen, allowing time for each of his friends and family to have the proper farewell.
This philosophy of "seizing the day" becomes much stronger when, together with best friend Sammy (Sabrina Carpenter), Zach decides to start the dream of being a musician. Recording home videos, the duo A Firm Handshake publishes their songs on the internet unpretentiously, but which end up gaining public notoriety and later signing with a music label.
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| Firm Handshake, a duo created by best friends Zach and Sammy (Image: Disclosure / Disney +) |
It is on a stage that the spectator sees for the first time and says goodbye to Zach Sobiech, with two hours of development between these two moments. Like many Disney films, Clouds has a lot of music, but thanks to the director, the songs end up coming as a third character in the plot, far beyond being just part of the soundtrack.
It is also worth mentioning the care to develop the other characters that, although they rotate in Zach's orbit (and clearly have only this intention), are not forgotten in the plot. Parents Rob (Tom Everett Scott) and Laura Sobiech (Neve Campbell), sisters Grace (Summer H. Howell) and Alli (Vivien Endicott-Douglas), and brother Sam (Dylan Everett) have their own bows that go beyond their relationship with Zach, practically creating a universe within the film itself in which it is clear to the audience how the protagonist's terminal situation affected the family's life in all sectors - much of this comes from the presence of Laura Sobiech in the creative part of the film.
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| It is on a stage that the public meets and says goodbye to Zach (Image: Disclosure / Disney +) |
Clouds is a love letter to yourself, but mainly to life; a portrait of a support network and a message that, although it does not reinvent itself of the clichés of the genre and does not show a production worthy of awards, generates reflection for hours on end. The film promises to thrill even before it reaches its climax, with intimate and welcoming scenes that, in the end, Zach's predictable death ends up becoming a loss for the viewer himself.
Directed by Justin Baldoni and starring Fin Argus, Sabrina Carpenter, Madison Iseman, Neve Campbell, Tom Everett Scott, and Lil Rel Howery, Clouds is available on Disney +.
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