Starring: Cree (above) as Daisy Ramirez, Isabela Merced (below) as Aza Holmes.
"Half the cells that make up your body don't even belong to you. They belong to these tiny microscopic organisms crawling inside of you. So if you think about it, there is no 'you'. You're not real. You're fictional."
— Aza Holmes
Turtles All the Way Down is the film adaptation of the fifth solo novel written by John Green; directed by Hannah Marks. It is John's fourth book to be adapted to the screen, following 2014's The Fault in Our Stars, 2015’s Paper Towns, and 2019’s Looking for Alaska. As of May 2, 2024 it is available for streaming on Max.
The film follows 16-year-old Aza Holmes, who has OCD and anxiety, as she and her best friend Daisy Ramirez investigate the disappearance of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett. While embarking on this journey, Aza additionally deals with grief from the loss of her father and a budding relationship between her and the billionaire's son.
Not to be confused with the trope Recursive Reality.
This film contains examples of:
- Adaptational Angst Downgrade: In the novel, Davis cynically pays Aza the promised cash reward in exchange for her ending her search for his father, assuming that was the only reason she came back into his life. In the film, he instead gives it to her for the express purpose of allowing them to build their relationship without the money as a pretense, completely optimistic that she'll keep the connection going, and assuming she'll stop investigating his father simply because she now has no more incentive to.
- And Starring: "With Judy Reyes"
- Bookends:The end of Aza's opening monologue is "You're not real. You're fictional". At the mid-point, Professor Abbott's titular turtle tale ends with "Maybe you're infinite. And I think your doubts make you more real, not less". The end of Daisy's closing monologue is "Love is both how you become a person, and why. Love, Holmesy, is how you become real".
- Opening Narration: Aza gives us a thesis statement on her composition-flavored existential crisis, before it's revealed she was diegetically speaking to her therapist.
- Creator Cameo: John Green appears for one shot as Mr. Adler, Aza's phys-ed coach.
- Flash Forward: We see Aza reunite with Davis and get married with him in a dreamlike sequence that may or may not be just imagined while Daisy monologues more vaguely about Aza's identity and future.
- Jump Scare: A mild example, Aza's anxious visions of microscopic life forms occasionally cut into scenes without warning.
- Smash Cut: Footage of microscopic life forms flash on screen to accentuate Aza's anxiety attacks.
- Surprise Car Crash
