City of Trees

Finally we, rainbow people, get our own holiday love story on celluloid. Thank you Alexandra Swarens for writing and directing this gem. The movie has the right pace, the build up feels natural, and it is never rushed. The chemistry between the two characters is very genuine and flows perfectly. The intimate scenes are of great taste, although I wish their kisses would have been a bit more intense.. I thought to myself, "they are being careful with this... don't! no one is in real life!".. but still incredible chemistry. Another thing I was having a hard time with was the coffee cups.. it seemed to me they kept drinking the horrible coffee for a long time.. maybe the director missed that during editing, but I thought "the coffee, by now, has to be plain cold... and gone!" The narrative is very real and it is told in a very honest way. I love everything about this film.. and the soundtrack, oh boy!

This is hands-down the best women-loving-women (wlw) film I've seen. The chemistry between the two leads is what wins the day. It is an honest story of two women falling for each other after years apart. It's so tenderly and beautifully acted by both women and the family scenes are great as well. There is no drama for the sake of it, the love scene is the first authentic wlw scene I've seen on screen, and the pace is perfect. You feel like you are falling in love along with them, and the awkward moments are as uncomfortable as if you were there.

Alexandra Swarens, who wrote, directed and stars in this as Ainsley, is clearly a very talented (and beautiful) woman who had a vision of a wlw love story and executed it to perfection. Olivia Buckle, who plays Sophie, is fabulous, and her growing love for Ainsley is portrayed with a touching sweetness. The only thing that bugged me were Sophie's nails. They didn't match with her being a tree conservationist, and I don't know any woman who would let those anywhere near her.

Other than that, perfect.

Loved the interaction and the buildup and that huge feeling that this story had despite a small cast. Great love development between two high school girls who would 'never' be part of the same world, until one returns home years later, which lines up with class reunion. Well done.

Low production values, so expectations to be managed. Pacing is slow but it fits the story being told. There is no 'big event' in the film. I've watched a lot of wlw films and, despite the budget, this felt very authentic and I was surprised with how much I enjoyed it. Perhaps one or two scenes felt a little wooden, but on the whole there was good acting and believable chemistry between the leads. A nice little festive film.

I really enjoyed this one, it's light, it's authentic and everyone did a great job. If you can look past some minor sound imperfections and let yourself dive into the world of someone who has not only been in her hometown for 7 years, but also wasn't invited to the high school reunion, and you just know this would be awkward but also maybe the time to realise people are not the same as they were in high school before. Really lovely characters and well written, which is no surprise coming from Alexandra Swarens. It's a thumbs up from me and looking forward to more stories.