Robyn (Diana Quick) has lived her life to the fullest, doing all that she can to make it eventful and enjoyable. Her and her husband, Oscar (Bernard Hill), are childless, and at seventy years old, Robyn is beginning to regret her decision. When an old acquaintance offers her an experimental drug that will allow her to become younger, she takes it, hoping to right the wrongs of her past. Robyn now hopes to be Forever Young, but everything comes with a consequence.
Forever Young is a romance film that is delivered by way of science fiction. What a brilliant choice. In a lot of ways this film reminds me of the film About Time, one in which, again, sci-fi is used to propel a film about love forward. I tend to hate romantic comedies (for anyone that knows me, this isn’t a surprise), and when a filmmaker such as Writer-Director Henk Pretorius is able to manipulate a film and allow it to incorporate new ideas and blend with other styles of filmmaking, it’s truly incredible. As a result of Pretorius blending comedy, drama, and science fiction, he’s able to develop a film that appeals to a wider audience, that really extends its hand and allows viewers from all walks of life to appreciate the meat and bones of the film, not just what exists on the surface.
What Pretorius, and his Co-Writers Jennifer Nicole Stang and Greg Blyth, do so well is create suspense. I think it’s made clear in the early going that tensions will rise, that bad things will happen, and this team accomplishes this feeling by creating space (both literal and metaphorical)–space between characters, space between spoken lines, and space between the film and the audience. Within the confines of this space, which ultimately acts like a character, tension builds. Forever Young is ultimately a slow burn, a film that allows us to sit and stew in the stressful potential that lurks just around the corner of every scene. As we anticipate things eventually colliding, coming together and forming something new, we have to mull over the possibilities that lie before us. What this team is able to achieve in this regard is spectacular, and potentially the best part of the film.
Given all that transpires throughout the course of Forever Young, casting is of immense importance. Not just because we need actors to perform well, but because viewers have to be able to suspend disbelief and accept the things that take place. The different versions of characters work well together, and while they often help to create necessary juxtapositions, what they do most effectively is develop understanding. They allow viewers to understand what these characters were like forty years ago, to understand what their goals were and where their lives went wrong. Forever Young thrives as a result of the beautiful casting, again, one of the most important parts of the entire film.
Forever Young initially feels like your standard romance with bits of comedy sprinkled in, but Pretorius quickly shifts the narrative and creates something far more entertaining. With the inclusion of science fiction, viewers are able to better grasp the concepts that exist throughout Forever Young, and better connect with the things occurring on screen. Forever Young pulls you in, and it holds on tight for the duration.
Directed by Henk Pretorius.
Written by Henk Pretorius, Jennifer Nicole Stang, & Greg Blyth.
Starring Diana Quick, Bernard Hill, Mark Jackson, Anna Wolf, Amy Tyger, etc.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/10
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