Tribeca 2022: You Can Live Forever Review

This will be one of several reviews from this year’s Tribeca film Festival. To follow our coverage, click here.

Representation matters across media and to its credit, the needle is slowly but surely moving in that direction. That being said, it’s all about consistently creating good stories that highlight the underrepresented in compelling ways. Along those lines, these films won’t be for everyone and that’s okay. You Can Live Forever is a film that will surely resonate with some audiences more than others but is nonetheless a solid forbidden romance drama with an LGBT twist. Though this is not the first film of this ilk and will certainly not be the last, it brings more than enough to the table despite being too much of a slow burn in developing the romance at its center. A relatable tale, it ultimately thrives thanks to an emotional score and the dynamic of Anwen O’Driscoll and June Laporte as said forbidden lovers coming from different sides of the tracks. The story may not be new, however, they make it easy for audiences to still care about them.

You Can Live Forever centers around a young teen named Jamie (O’Driscoll) who is sent to live in a predominantly Jehovah’s Witness community. A definite culture shock for her, she understandably had to adjust in a community where she clearly did not fit in. Making the best out of her circumstances, Jamie befriends another teen named Marike (Laporte) and for a deep bond as the latter helped her ingratiate herself within Jehovah’s Witness culture. Over the course of the film, this relationship slowly became something more as it went beyond religion. A devout follower, this relationship presented a conflict for Marike as her new feelings conflicted with her religious beliefs which in turn frustrated Jamie. In the end, Jamie and Marike were fun to watch together as their relationship evolved even though the story is predictable. At the end of the day, the film was a coming-of-age story more than anything else. Putting some shades of gray within the cloud of religion that loomed over them gave them space to figure things out. All things considered, the only question was whether or not Jamie and Marike could make it together which proved to not necessarily be a sure thing.

The best part of You Can Live Forever was the aforementioned performances of O’Driscoll and Laporte as Jamie and Marike. Their chemistry absolutely makes the film and were fun to watch while the script takes them in somewhat interesting directions. Their youthful energy and likability made them a pair of believable teens trying to find themselves which is what the film was really about.

You Can Live Forever is just a thoughtful and worthy addition to the lesbian pantheon.

still courtesy of Tribeca

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.