You & Me Forever

Who would be a teenager? Hot on the heels of last year’s critical hit Blue Is the Warmest Colour comes another European coming-of-age tale focused on the adolescent struggles of two 16-year-old friends.

Shot in 2012 by second-time Danish director Kaspar Munk, You & Me Forever follows Laura (Julie Brochorst Andersen) and Christine (Emilie Kruse) as two BFFs whose rebellion extends little further than the occasional cigarette and drunken party. That is until Maria (Frederikke Dahl Hansen) enters the fray. Instantly taken by Maria’s maturity, Laura decides it’s time to jettison her long-time friend and seek something more chaotic in place of sleepover talks of makeup and boys.

While films such as The Kings of Summer and The Way Way Back have tackled the growing pains of young males in recent years with both craft and heart, the girls of Munk’s piece can be two dimensional at times. The film’s brevity, with a runtime of only 82 minutes (less than half that of Blue Is the Warmest Colour), allows the characters little time to develop, and their decisions rarely seem understandable or relatable.

The more touching scenes occur between Christine, cut adrift and companionless, and another outsider Jonas (Benjamin Wandschneider), a young squatter in an abandoned tower block who dotes on Laura.  Having both been coldly rejected by Laura, their blossoming friendship reflects an innocence that contrasts with the moral descent into which Laura finds herself gradually coaxed by Maria.

Munk’s encouragement of his cast to improvise around a skeleton 30-page script results in some fine naturalistic performances and dialogue from the teenage protagonists, with Andersen striking the right notes as the film’s lost and surly, if not always likeable, star.

You & Me Forever is certainly a well shot and watchable tale of the dangers of growing up too fast, although it’s likely to be overshadowed by similar recent releases.

Joshua Roberts

You & Me Forever is released nationwide on 25^th April 2014.

Watch the trailer for You & Me Forever here: