"Sometimes, I feel like I've already seen everything that's going to happen. And it's a nightmare."
"Sometimes I wonder if life was wasted on me. It’s not that I'm dumb to the beauty of things. I take all the beautiful things to heart, and then they fuck my heart, till I about die from it. It’s just something in me has always drawn me away, until there's nothing holding me together."
— Cherry
Cherry is a film by The Russo Brothers starring Tom Holland and Ciara Bravo, and aired on Apple TV+. It is based on a semi autobiographical novel of the same name by veteran medic Nico Walker about his experiences with war, PTSD and subsequent drug addiction.
Cherry (Holland) is a disenfranchised young man from Ohio who meets the love of his life Emily (Bravo), only to risk losing her through a series of bad decisions and challenging life circumstances.
Previews: Trailer
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Cherry contains examples of:
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Cherry and Emily are far messier, worse people in the novel than the film, where they're turned into a sweet but troubled couple. Their cruelty and blowout fights are massively downplayed. Also, Emily's drug abuse is shown to be caused by Cherry's influence, rather than something they both partook in when they met.
- Addled Addict: Because of his trauma from the war, Cherry resorts to numerous opioids (including Oxycodone) to cope. Eventually, Emily becomes an addict too and they both become full-blown heroin addicts in debt to a man only known as Black.
- Armies Are Evil: The movie does not shy away from the predatory nature of the army in terms of how they recruit directionless or downtrodden youngsters. It's made very clear that Cherry does not belong in the army and joined solely on an emotional whim that is then exploited by recruiters. They then use these wayward youths up and then spit them out as shells of their former selves with no means of properly coping with their traumas.
- Bittersweet Ending: Cherry is able to pay off his and Emily's debt to Black before turning himself into the police while overdosing one last time. Because of his drug possession and many bank robberies, he is sentenced to 14 years in prison during which he kicks his drug habit. He attends meetings, eventually leading them; when he’s released, he reunites with Emily and they are able to start anew with them both in control of their addictions.
- Break the Cutie: Downplayed with Cherry but played straight with Emily who gets pulled into his spiral of addiction and becomes an addict herself.
- Fan Disservice: The infamous shot of the interior of the protagonist's rectum, from inside the rectum. That's way more of Tom Holland than anyone wanted to see.
- No Name Given:
- The narrator's name is not revealed; he’s referred to as the titular Cherry, by the casting.
- Cherry and Emily's drug dealer is only known as Pills and Coke.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: The film not only portrays how experiences of war can affect a veteran and their loved ones, but it also shows how incompetent medical services can be with helping them, making things even worse. Cherry at one point tries to go to a doctor at the request of Emily in order to find an alternative to Oxy to deal with his trauma. The doctor still recommends Oxy.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: There is a brief montage of Cherry and Emily puking when going through withdrawals.
