By Jacob Sahms
Musician Finley Sinclair (Rose Reid) performs with a technical accuracy that hits all of the right notes, but lacks the spirit or passion to play with complete abandon. When she’s denied entry to a New York conservatory, she heads to Ireland for a semester abroad, hoping to discover her spark. On the flight across the Atlantic, she meets fantasy film star Beckett Rush (Jedidiah Goodacre), whose life in front of the camera masks a failure to face who he really is behind the roles he plays. Together, their exploration of love and calling shapes the sometimes funny, always romantic, coming-of-age drama Finding You.
Nearly everyone the audience meets in Finding You, based on Jenny B. Jones’ There You’ll Find Me, has some brokenness they are unable to overcome, either intentionally or unconsciously. Sinclair finds herself tracing the steps of her brother, who once explored Ireland ahead of her, as she seeks to find a cross he once sketched while standing in an Irish cemetery. Rush’s career is under the watchful eye of his family. Sinclair’s studies find her inside the circles of bitter Cathleen Sweeney (Vanessa Redgrave) and drunk Seamus (Patrick Bergin). But while the film shows us that everyone has a calling that they may or may not be running from, it shows us this often in the form of the song they have in side waiting to burst out.
The Irish scenery is beautiful, the musical beats hit at the right moments, and there’s a pleasant romance between Reid and Goodacre’s characters. While they end up having the ‘typical’ sort of dislike for each other followed by coming together, overcoming the impossible roadblock, and reuniting, it’s done in a way that the side characters’ stories seem to matter, too. Not much is lost, or wasted here. And that in itself is a theological statement about humanity and love.
In fact, a hint of Joshua 1 shows up, the words that God speaks to Joshua after Moses dies and Joshua is unsure of how to lead: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” It’s a good lesson for all of us, regardless of age or where we are in pursuing who we’re supposed to be. And as the center of a fun romantic comedy? It proves to be just the tune to set the world right again.
