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Departures (also known as Then Came You, the title which is actually listed on IMDB) centres around Calvin (Asa Butterfield – Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children), a hypochrondric young man, working as a baggage handler at the airport, who seems scared with the world (as well as having a fear of flying), and then along comes the headstrong Skye (Maisie Williams – The New Mutants) to completely Bart his world and turn it upside down, particularly with her sardonic view of the world as she suffers from a terminal illness, and provides him with a saline drip bag full of water with a goldfish inside as an amusing early present.
The pair of them meet while attending a support group for their respective conditions, and must write out their bucket lists of what they want to do before they die (soon), and she surprises him by saying he shouldn’t put anything like cliched like ‘swimming with dolphins'(!)
Departures features a few laughs to counteract the drama, such as when Calvin wants to ask out a particular woman, and Skye suggests, “When you call her, ask her what she’s wearing. Women love that(!)”, and later as he exclaims to his doctor, “I’m not a hypochrondriac!”… as he almost leaves behind his ‘symptoms journal’. Also add in a moment such as when they’re going through his airport and the camera lingers on the “Terminal C” sign.
As an aside, it’s interesting that we’re watching two British kids in a USA-based movie. I’m quite sure both Mr Butterfield and Ms Williams, who are both good actors, can affect an American accent (and one can when it’s put on for show, in one scene), so I would’ve presumed they’d do that. There’s also welcome support from Nina Dobrev (Flatliners 2017) as Izzy, Calvin’s colleague and potential love interest.
Overall, Departures is an entertaining and undemanding 90-minute watch, but don’t expect anything revolutionary in terms of the problems experienced by teenagers growing up. However, it does serve up some positive thinking-style messages, such as bringing Calvin out of his teenage shell.
It also suffers from a bit of the mumbles. I usually watch a film with subtitles on, but movie screeners rarely have them, and there were times when I rewound some scenes a few times, but not always could I fully hear what was said.
Departures is released tomorrow on Amazon Video. Oddly, there’s no Blu-ray or DVD, which is a shame.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 93 minutes
Release date: March 4th 2019
Studio: The Movie Partnership
Format: 2.39:1
Rating: 6.5/10
Director: Peter Hutchings
Producers: Nicolas Chartier, Brice Dal Farra, Claude Dal Farra, Brian Keady, Alissa Phillips, Derrick Tseng
Screenplay: Fergal Rock
Music: Spencer David Hutchings
Cast:
Calvin: Asa Butterfield
Skye: Maisie Williams
Izzy: Nina Dobrev
Officer Al: Ken Jeong
Frank: Tyler Hoechlin
Bob: David Koechner
Ashley: Peyton List
Julian: Tituss Burgess
Claire: Sonya Walger
Lucy: Margot Bingham
Greg: Colin Moss
Officer Mya: Briana Venskus
Dr. Collins: Ron Simons
Will: Angel Valle Jr
Dan: L Steven Taylor
Hannah: Francesca Noel
Ellen: Ann Osmond
Officer Al’s Dad: Ken Tsukada
Oncologist: Crystal Tweed
Shopkeeper: Terri Gittens
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.