This is a boy meets girl story – the kind where an American boy falls in love with a British exchange student, but the British girl violates her visa. Then the evil American government puts restrictions on her traveling plans to see the boy (There are good reasons these rules are in place. And there are no exceptions – not even cute British girls.). Life is cruel during the time spent apart, and boy can only visit girl so often because he has a lucrative business in L.A. and an American side-girlfriend. But each time it looks like the love has wilted, a little color starts to come back into the petals. And this pattern repeats throughout the story, which seemed intent on convincing me that long distance relationships can be hard. Oh.

The cynical side of me always gets the first word so the more impressionable side can have time to think. And I think the reason I really like this movie is because it tells a story we’ve all heard before, but in a voice that is unfamiliar and alluring. Picture the creativity of “500 Days of Summer” with the intimacy of “Blue Valentine” and the sentiment of “The Notebook” and then go see this movie, because it flirts with those comparisons while moving in an entirely new direction. There’s some great dialogue, but the heart of the story is communicated though lingering shots of perfectly-executed body language. And I feel cold describing it that way, because the acting in this movie is so natural that it almost becomes too intimate (Felicity Jones made the best actress decision way too easy for Sundance voters). Director Drake Doremus, who I think we’ll be seeing a lot more from in the years to come, lets his camera float candidly through these characters’ lives at an organic pace that accentuates the poignant moments without exploiting their poignancy. Yeah, this is another boy meets girl story. But it’s an entirely different beast of a film.