Confessions of a Streamaholic

This is a brand new release this week adapted into a movie from a book, which I haven’t read so cannot give a comparison on if the movie story line follows the book one well. But I’m here to give all my unfiltered opinions on ‘The Map That Leads to You’.

I liked that at the beginning they teased a scene you would see later in the film before jumping back in time to tell the story from the start. The beautiful scenery and colours you see in the first minute of the movie continues throughout with a lot of incredible views of Europe, including old towns, sunsets and sea waves. Including night scenes they still use beautiful colours in lighting form to compliment the setting.

There is a lot of instrumental music used in this movie, mostly played under the changing camera angles/split screen that shows the scenery of them travelling this compliments these moments well, along with the live guitar playing/festival sounds you hear throughout which I feel adds to the point of them travelling as you will see this in many European cities. Heather (Madelyn Cline) also has a moment where she plays 4 Non Blondes – ‘What’s Up (What’s Going On)’, having seen her in other projects I didn’t know she could sing.

I felt this film was very creative on highlighting how the characters were travelling, using split screens to show where they were, what they were looking at, also adding in live photos/videos they were making on a phone to show their travels used as part of the film I thought was a really nice touch. Later in the film using the split screen to split the screen for them to be on facetime.

From the moment Heather (Madelyn Cline) & Jack (KJ Apa) meet I could see they had good chemistry, this could have been due to right off the bat Jack getting onto the luggage ledge above everyone’s heads to go for a sleep which was a funny moment to watch and a confusing one for the other characters to witness. Them reading the same book to me felt like fate that they had meet each other, set the wheels in motion for the rest of the movie

I thought the storyline of the movie was quite sweet once it got into it as it did take a while for Heather (Cline) & Jack (Apa) to meet and then the explanation of his great-grandfather’s journal to come about. Where they were travelling also didn’t just cover well known cities in Europe they were in the countryside and you really got to see some beautiful sights due to this. The two main protagonists had a lot of strolls and deep chats very quickly so you can see how they fall for each other. Although they do have a whirlwind romance I think it’s worth saying Connie (Sofia Wylie) & Raef (Orlando Norman) could also hold the title of that.

There are some lighthearted funny where Jack (Apa) makes you giggle by inserting himself into the bull chase or wiggling his bum against the shower screen. However, about halfway through there is a dip in the lightheartedness where you are sad as Heather (Cline) get’s left at the airport to travel home alone. You aren’t too sad for long though the girls come up with a delusion for why Jack hasn’t gotten in touch and that to me feels very accurate of what girls do. Heather’s relationship with her dad and they talk they have when she is home over Christmas is very sweet.

Once we catch up to the point in the movie where you see that short scene at the start you do wonder where it’s going to lead as Jack is still not in the picture. All I will say is THE LETTER and THE FESTIVAL tie everything together, it broke my heart and put it back together all at once, maybe even earned a small cry from me.

Overall I thought this was a really lighthearted, sweet watch, yes, there are points where it is sad but the ending warmed my heart even though you don’t really know what comes next for the protagonists. I think I may give the book a read and will definitely come back and watch this film again, would recommend to anyone who likes a romance drama.