Now & Forever

The sleeper of the year, perhaps the decade, "Now and Forever," which won t he audience award at the Festival of Festivals in Cathedral City, CA., is a movie waiting to be discovered. A story of cross-cultural love, prejudice and eternal commitment, the film was expertly directed by Bob Clark ("A Christmas Story"). He kept things simple, involving and on track every minute. Casting: perfect. Location: marvelous. Emotional pull of the story: overwhelming, flawlessly combining elements of "Romeo and Juliet," "The Sixth Sense" and "Ghost" to keep the audience constantly involved in the drama. And the ending is a total surprise. When I saw it, people of all ages loved this film and demanded to know when they could see it again. And that is another story: Bob Clark is literally betting the ranch, putting up his own money to distribute the film himself to prove to major studios that a film which has his total support is also a viable commercial product. A film that demands to be seen. Four stars.