If I Stay

R.J. Cutler’s film follows Mia Hall, a cellist injured in a crash on a family drive, who watches her own body from outside while she lies in a coma. Cutler came to this from documentary: he produced The War Room, on Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign, and directed The September Issue, on Anna Wintour. If I Stay is his first scripted feature, and the construction suits a documentary maker. The present tense is confined to a hospital corridor, the weight thrown onto flashback, and Mia’s decision held back to the last minutes. Chloë Grace Moretz trained on the cello for seven months, two hours a day, with one instrument shipped to every location, but by her own account that was not long enough to learn it: the playing shots were made by cutting her head onto the body of someone who could play. The hands and bow you watch belong to the cellist Alisha Bauer. Catherine Hardwicke was attached to direct first, then Heitor Dhalia, and both left the project. A story set in Portland was shot in Vancouver. A good fit if you accept the crash arriving first and the rest of the film living in memory. Not for viewers who want the out of body premise worked out; here it is only a device for replaying her family.