Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love, and the girl runs away. She comes back and then runs away again. The boy finds the girl, and then something crazy happens. We all know that type of love story, but, Charlie Countryman takes this concept to a whole new level. Shia Labeouf gives an astounding performance, unlike any other film that you have ever seen from him before in his role as the titular character.  The film incorporates the idea of magic realism, which in any medium of story-telling shares a universal acceptance of magic in the real world. What is interesting about this is that Charlie suffers from significant hallucinations. We don’t know if they are drug-related, mental health-related, or if there is a magical spirit that drives the film. This film teaches us the importance of adventure, that helps us explore the most significant questions of love and destiny.

The logline states:

“A young American falls hard for a Romanian cellist whose father has recently died — and whose violent past could bring about his own demise.”

Throughout the thrilling magical realism in the story, we watch Charlie follow his gut through these hallucinations. Charlie is guided by the spirit of his mother to go on this wild adventure in Romania. Following visions, hallucinations and signs can be very confusing for a character to go along with an even more challenging to make the audience believe what is going on. What drives Charlie in this story is the power of love, which stems from his Mother’s death. His newfound interest in the girl he meets creates a sense of destiny for Charlie, leading him to believe that his intentions are pure. Last, the most important driving factor in the story is the lust for adventure that Charlie has. Everyone wishes they could swallow up their fears and go on an adventure, just like Charlie does in this movie. Vicariously indulging yourself into his character makes a great experience as a movie viewer, and it may inspire you to hop on a plane and go to a random country for the reason of; just because. ​