How I Live Now (2013)

Saoirse Ronan (l.) and Harley Bird in "How I Live Now."

Sex with a cousin rarely qualifies as an erudite strategy to address raging teenage hormones, but for problematic Daisy, the young protagonist in the nuclear war drama “How I Live Now,” falling in love is, surprisingly enough, the least of her worries.

As portrayed by the Irish actress Saoirse (pronounced ‘Sersha’) Ronan, Daisy is a troubled 16-year-old American from a fractured family (her mother died and she’s not close with her father) who goes to live with her aunt and three cousins at their home in the sprawling English countryside. The friendly trio of cousins consist of a laconic elder brother named Eddie (George MacKay), his more energetic younger brother, Isaac (Tom Holland), and their spirited little sister, Piper (Harley Bird).

The pretty but irascible Daisy brings along some additional baggage in the form of excess cynicism and an unhealthy addiction to diet pills, but for the most part remains just an archetypal moody teenager, depressed and distant. Gradually, she gives in to her cousins’ relentless attempts at socializing, first by opening up to the pleasures of the landscape and then by developing a relationship with the gentle, quietly fascinating Eddie.

But you get the sense during the opening credits—in which Daisy is seen slowly making her way through security at Heathrow airport and the TV is covering the latest terror attack—that this fragile utopia won’t last. Indeed, world problems eventually haunt “How I Live Now,” when word arrives that war has begun.

Moments after a nuclear bomb is set off, the film’s bright, lush milieu—with its acres of rolling green hills, tree-lined forests, and fresh, unblemished swimming ponds—is darkened by radiation fallout, smoke from explosions, machine gun fire and death. The family is separated but during the chaos of martial law, Daisy and young Piper are able to escape. From here, the film largely follows their quest for survival and search for their cousins.

Directed by Kevin MacDonald, “How I Live Now” is well made and visually polished—the stark lighting, by cinematographer Franz Lustig, is impressive, with its mix of warm ambers and icy blues—but the horrors-of-war story is dreary and familiar territory.

More depressing is the way the script assigns a teenager to fight for her life against dangerous forces, a tactic that sounds a lot like a crass attempt to hitch a ride on the success of the recent blockbuster, “The Hunger Games.” (Also like “Hunger Games,” “How I Live Now” is based on a young adult novel by Meg Rosoff.) And while the platinum blonde, blue-eyed Ronan does what she can as the plucky heroine, it’s not enough to escape from the shadow of the formidably resourceful Katniss Everdeen.

But then again, give her a bow and arrow and who knows?