Charlie St. Cloud Film Analysis

The film, Charlie St. Cloud, is based on the best-selling novel, The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud. The novel was released in 2004, while the film came out in 2010. Ben Sherwood, author of the novel, also helped produce the film along with Marc Platt and director Burr Steers. Charlie St. Cloud is a heart tugging, and romantic story that contains a big promise and an even bigger decision. Should Charlie choose to hold on to what he believes is real or to become acquaint with reality?
Charlie, played by Zac Efron, lives with his single mother, Claire (Kim Basinger), and his little brother Sam, who is played by Charlie Tahan. Early on in the film, the audience can already interpret that the two brothers are very close. Charlie and Sam both …show more content…
Also, the lighting in the scenes while in Sunset Cannons is something the audience doesn't take into consideration while watching the movie. Sunset Cannons always has dull lighting which is very mocking to the characters personalties because when Charlie and Sam are together they are very enthusiastic and always having a good time together. The scenes might remain dark because Steers is still trying to remind the audience that Sam is actually gone. If the audience would think back to the beginning of the movie, almost every scene has bright lighting before Sam passes away. It was bright outside when Sam and Charlie had made their promise. The lighting was also bright on the way to and during graduation as well. The light was bright during all of those scenes because those were when everything in life was great and nobody had any worries. With this in mind, the audience can now depict why the scenes are set up the way they are. While Charlie and Sam are in Sunset Cannons, they always practice baseball. Steers uses baseball as a form of motif in the film. Baseball is a symbol of their promise. Their promise was based off baseball because Charlie promised to help Sam practice every evening before he left. Baseball is what keeps the brothers in touch even after Sam left the earth …show more content…
He knew she wanted to test the sailboat out on the waters, although he didn't think it was the best idea, he radioed her from his boat telling her the directions she needed to go while sailing through the awful storm. While out on the waters during the storm, the clouds were dark like they would be any storm. With this in mind the audience can take in that possibly the storm meant this would be another rough spot in life for a character in this film. The next day, Charlie found Tess sleeping next to her father’s headstone. He woke her up and they got to talking and Charlie then offered to cook Tess dinner. Tess, of course, did not decline the offer. That evening the two had dinner and learned more about one another. The next day, Tess ended up getting Charlie back on the water on his own sail boat. I believe Steers interprets sailing or Charlie’s sailboat as a motif as well in this film. I believe that it symbolizes happiness. If the audience were to think of this, they could see that in the beginning of the film when the boys sailed they were happy. Once Sam had passed away, all the sailboat did was sit in Charlie’s shed. Then, Tess came along and got Charlie back out on the water. There in that moment, the audience could tell Charlie is the happiest he has been in a long time. That evening Charlie and Tess had completely lost track of time until the cannons sounded and Charlie took off without any excuse at all. That evening Tess followed him to Sunset