I Love You Forever

There are so many red flags right from the start. It's a little too obvious. The two other characters are fine in their roles and I don't mind the main actress but the villain is a pathetic sociopath in the most obvious ways, it's not even a movie. You failed with the plot. It was all there and you messed it up director.

As "I Love You Forever" (2024 release; 89 min.) opens, Mackenzie attend the birthday party of her friend Ally, and there she strikes up a conversation with a guy named Finn. Finn is super-charming, and Mackenzie is intrigued. At this point we are 10 min into the movie.

Couple of comments: this is written and directed by Cazzie David and Elisa Kalani (both from "Eighty-Sixed"). And for good measure Cazzie also pays the role of Ally. Without going into any of the plot's details, the movie starts slowly and then when the relationship starts to sour, the transformation is as quickly as it is disturbing. Ray Nicholson (son of Jack) is outstanding as Finn, playing a deeply dislikeable character (his dad will approve!). During some of these scenes, I thought to myself "this is in essence a "feel-bad" movie, but it's so well made!" To be honest, I think Ray Nicholson needs to diversify upcoming roles, as otherwise he risks getting stereotyped in a same or similar role. Please note that Diabolo Cody is credited as a Producer, and that makes perfect sense to me.

"I Love You Forever" premiered at the 2024 SXSW film fest, yes over a year ago. I don't recall whether it played in US theaters at all. Regardless, it's now streaming on Netflix, where I caught it the other night. The movie is currently rated 80% Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, which feels a bit generous to me. It is a "feel-bad" movie after all. If you like another take on "modern relationships", I'd readily suggest you check it out and draw your own conclusion.

I don't normally watch these type of movies, but I just wanted to give something random a try and I think because I have had very similar experiences it spoke to me, and because of that I loved it. It's definitely an Indie vibe, but it is funny, dramatic, and although some things are definitely made more dramatic for movie purposes it is still realistic. I think for especially millennials and younger it's incredibly relatable. I believe it will touch a lot of people's hearts in an unexpected way. It was really well done.

For those of you that haven't dated alot and kept things on the surface with relationships, this is an uncomfortably accurate depiction of how gaslighting can microscopically start to eat away at your life.

I recognize the behavior of our Lead Male as someone who studies behavior for a living. He can dramatically escalate every situation and immediately be the victim, which further sends him an abusive emotional spiral.

What he does to MacKenzie throughout the movie is tear her souls apart by quickly love bombing her, drowning her in a false narrative of love and affection and sex, then quickly flipping the mirror and ridiculing her, stalking her and mentally abusing her because she "isn't giving him anything in return."

One has to understand human behavior to enjoy the movie. It's a low budget indie with focus on human condition. It does the job nicely.

This was a happy find for me and not at all what I expected. The first scene, I was like, oh no, not another one of those movies. Then the tone shifted and I started to chuckle. I laughed through a lot of the film, and was insanely annoyed through a good bit of it. The parts with Finn. Arrrgggh! I loved the friends and thought the writing was top notch. Many of us have been in this type of relationship, but to a much lesser degree. I decided to go to IMDb and review it, which I rarely do unless I am really impressed. Finding out who the writers were and that is was based on a true story sent me on another search. I can totally see PD having this personality trait. Cazzie what a ride it must have been. I will end with the old cliche "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" (although sometimes you wish it had.) Great film girl!!