by Kate Clay ‘22
*Spoilers ahead, as well as trigger warnings for drug use and descriptions of violence
“The trees don’t make sense either, but I like ‘em. I like them all,” Tom Holland says of Cleveland’s polluted suburbs in a voiceover at the beginning of the Russo brothers’ latest film.
“It’d have to be a pretty f-ed up tree for me not to like it,” he adds.
These are Nico Walker’s words from his 2018 semi-autobiographical novel Cherry. Screenwriters Angela Russo-Otstot and Jessica Goldberg seem to revel in this – partially autobiographical means partially fictionalized – filling Walker’s gaps with attractive, if untruthful, heroism.
Cherry documents the life of a young veteran, Cherry, whose untreated PTSD leads him to substance abuse and a string of bank robberies to fund he and his young wife Emily’s (a stunningly raw Ciara Bravo) heroin addiction.
The nihilism of Walker’s book is present in this retelling. Cherry robs “Sh-tty Bank” and sees a psychiatrist “Dr. Whomever.” Large subtitles of slurs, blunt asymmetrical frames, and frequent breaks of the fourth wall mimic the spirit and rhythm of Walker’s bizarre (sometimes-purple) prose.
But stained underwear, vomit-covered sweatshirts, and face sores (props to makeup artist Rachael Speke) cannot cover the sincere beauty of this film. The Russos continuously give their audience a delicate sense of yearning for a purpose unfulfilled. Cherry thinks he’s found the answer in Emily, then the army, then finally (almost fatally) in heroin.
“I take all the beautiful things to heart, and they f-k my heart till I about die.” In the midst of drug-induced depravity, Cherry helps Emily shoot up with the gentleness of nursing a newborn. You get the feeling that Emily and Cherry are spinning very fast, clinging to sanity by clinging to each other.
Unfortunately, the film fails in its neat ending. After inglorious experiences at war, overdoses, and family estrangement, the Russos give Cherry a proper hero’s ending: fourteen years in prison (glossed over in a quick and silent montage) but he gets the girl. In reality, Nico Walker is still struggling with addiction and happily engaged to a different woman.
This isn’t Saving Private Ryan or Trainspotting. You could call it an Odyssey, but Cherry’s a bit unfinished for that. Too real. More of a pretty river rock than a diamond. Much more accessible that way. 4 out of 5 stars.
