Forever First Love
A two-hander love story about perspective, memory and the elusiveness of love.
Paul (Steven Rooke) is a photographer, who is on a shoot in the Philippines when his lens happens across Anna (Carlotta Morelli), his former (indeed first) love. Paul takes a chance and entices Anna into spending the day with him - a day that quickly turns into an evening of deep discussions and passionate lovemaking. But their night together, spent in their apartment, at a restaurant, and in a club, takes twists and turns as their views on religion, relationships and morality clash.
Forever First Love, the directorial debut of Australian director Luke Mayze, straddles the indie film divide between big cinema look and small budget backyard content. It walks the line between ‘good for something a friend made’ and ‘alright movie’; a film that at once has a foot in local filmmaking, and another in Hollywood.
Let’s talk about what works first. Both Rooke and Morelli are well cast, and have moments of genuine compatibility and chemistry that aid the script. Visually, the film is also frequently well shot, with an array of beautiful scenes captured - moments in the bed, in the club, and closeups as they potter around the Philippines in particular standing out. Indeed, it’s the mid-shots and close-ups that are the strongest suit here, with beautiful depth of field lending a cinematic look that makes this film feel bigger than its budget.
The issues seep out pretty readily, however, on closer inspection. From a story perspective, there’s a lot of Blue Jay and Before Sunset on display. The dialogue is relatively staid and played out - an amalgam of quotes and phrases we’ve heard in other films before. It’s all tied together in a love story that never quite feels right. Perhaps it’s the lack of flesh on the bones of Anna as a character, perhaps it’s the forced antagonism of jokey Paul on uptight Anna, or perhaps it’s the inevitable conclusion, but it all works together to just feel slightly off. This isn’t a love story we really want to see succeed, or have a reason to at least. It seems like for everyone but the protagonist Paul, this is a one night stand - Anna, and audience, included.
There’s also a range of production issues at hand - the sound mix is wildly off, with the dialogue booming from different characters at different times, drowning out the cityscape. The visuals when wide are flat and dull, contrasting heavily with the moody, intriguing close-ups. The score is flat, and never entices enough to create the mood that the film is trying to set. In the end, this feels like a germ of an idea that needed a little more love, and as much as it sucks to say, a little more money on the table. Because the broad strokes of the plot, the beauty and freshness of the Filipino setting, and a lot of the visuals are actually really promising; it’s just a shame that it can never really set itself apart.
