YOU AND ME FOREVER
I
’m usually a pretty tough critic of “coming-of-age” films. It may simply be because there are just so many of them. As a sub-genre, they are possibly the easiest for audiences to relate to; a bit like the daily horoscope in the back of the newspaper, we look to attach meaning that is directly significant to our own lives – whether it is truly there or not. Yet, as coming-of-age films are often over-saturated with emotion it is no surprise they can slip so easily into the clichéd and conventional. All this is not to say that coming-of-age films are bad; in fact, quite the opposite. Some of the most powerful stories are a result of this timeless struggle for self-understanding. The fundamental need for introspection makes this one of the most powerful and challenging genres of expression across all means of storytelling. You & Me Forever, the second feature from Danish director Kasper Munk, breathes new life into the longstanding “coming-of-age” tale with inspirational spontaneity. It wasn’t until after I’d seen the film that I learned it had no script. While Munk knew very specifically the ins and outs the story would take, and each day’s scenes were carefully constructed and considered, there were no lines for the actresses to learn, no confines to their characters. It is philosophical method acting taken to an extreme, and the effect is captivating. While Munk weaves an authentic tale of the symbiotic friendships that often develop between teenage girls, it is virtually impossible not to find pieces of one’s self in each of the three main characters. Living in the suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark, Laura and Christine have al-
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FEBRUARY 2014 VERITE
ways been best friends. Yet at sixteen, the lure of adulthood proves too intoxicating for Laura; when she meets a mysterious and exciting new girl at school, Maria, she abandons Christine’s friendship for an increasingly intense world of sex, drugs, and inhibition. It is a decision that may prove the defining moment in the lives of all three girls, as Munk expertly crafts a portrait of vulnerability, independence and the enduring strength of friendship. The conviction of the characters, maintained to perfection throughout an emotionally charged narrative is the essential success of Munk’s film. The spontaneity in the production process permeates the film so completely that the aesthetics of the film itself embody a sense of youthful impulsiveness. Hand-held camera work emphasizes the dynamism of the story, while the dominance of close-framed shots accentuates the complexities of emotion inherent in the narrative. Frustration, excitement, fear, loneliness and above all doubt splash across the blank canvases that are Munk’s teenage protagonists. It is a film where what is said is often less important than what is left unsaid. The element of unpredictability is intoxicating. In the blink of an eye the viewer can go from anxious to excited – unsure what might happen next, much like the young protagonists themselves. Throughout the film the sense of possibility teeters on the brink of elation and heartbreak, the kind of real-life thriller that needs no special effects or sensationalized suspense sequences. I left the cinema not only with a sense of hope for the potential inherent in the power of cinema but also the reaffirming strength of friendship and possibility illuminated by You & Me Forever.
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