Life in a Year

In LIFE IN A YEAR, Daryn (Jaden Smith) is a well-mannered, decent, high-achieving high school senior, a prize-winning math whiz, captain of the track team, and a talented rapper with extracurriculars any college applicant would be proud to boast of. According to his rags-to-riches dad, Xavier (Cuba Gooding Jr.), Daryn is unquestionably heading to Harvard -- no one mentions any other college options. Dad has micromanaged Daryn's minute-by-minute regimented life, down to timing his morning runs. Perhaps that's why the moment Daryn lays eyes on Isabelle (Cara Delevingne), a girl with turquoise hair and a flippant manner, he falls hard. Despite devotion to his dad, in choosing Isabelle, Daryn is almost forced to break free from his overbearing father. That freedom may explain his hot pursuit of Isabelle, who does nothing but verbally abuse and mock him, despite his gentlemanly attempts to date her. Eventually she warms to him, and that's when he learns (spoiler alert) that she a) was abandoned as a child by her then junkie mom and b) is terminally ill. Daryn is all in to save her and to defiantly say no to his controlling father, who seems to understand nothing about young love. Yet like his unspontaneous dad, Daryn makes a concrete plan for himself and Isabelle, this one an attempt to squeeze in a lifetime of shared experience in the short months Isabelle has left. As he devotes his time to her health and needs, his grades drop, making him less of a Harvard prospect but more of a decent human being. He cleans her bedpan, sits with her through chemo, cooks for her, serves her, and gives up his former goals to make her happy and comfortable.