09/09/2023 - VENICE 2023: Anna Buryachkova’s feature debut presents a slice of teen life in 1990s Kyiv

l-r: Arthur Aliiev, Alina Cheban and Zachary Shadrin in Forever-Forever

First-time feature director Anna Buryachkova has crafted a love letter to the late 1990s with all the ambiguity this period brought to the post-Soviet states, such as her motherland, Ukraine. Premiering as part of this year’s Orizzonti Extra strand of the 80th Venice Film Festival, Forever-Forever [+see also:
trailer
interview: Anna Buryachkova
film profile] is full of life and empathy. The sparks of young love glow and sizzle until they burn, and one never knows whether the scars will heal. Ephemeral and everlasting, a teenage love affair is a formative experience, and the journey of the film’s protagonist is no exception.

Tonia (a cherubic Alina Cheban) has just switched schools, ending up in the suburbs of Kyiv in the hope of having a fresh start. But before the audience is made aware of the reason for her departure, she’s allowed a few peaceful weeks. She re-joins swimming practice after having given up the sport, where she befriends the outspoken Lera, played by Yelyzaveta Tsilyk (Rhino [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]). Soon, the two become inseparable, and the close-knit group of friends seem more than happy to welcome a newcomer at the cost of some innocent teasing. Zhurik (Zachary Shadrin), aka The Con, addresses Tonia as “Hottie” on every occasion, but it is his desire to share a poem he wrote that wins her over. To make things more complicated, Lera’s brother Sania (Arthur Aliiev) also wants Tonia for himself.

Forever-Forever takes its time to give shape to the love triangle, and in the process, it allows the viewer more time with the characters as an ensemble. The world contracts, hanging on every exchange of glances, every stolen kiss, as if nothing else exists. Like the world, parents also seem non-existent. They are either absent or ill-equipped to interfere; they misunderstand and look the other way. But this is not a film about parenting, in the slightest. In a way, it is more about self-parenting in times of rough, unsupervised uncertainty. Guiding oneself through the trials and tribulations of teenhood is never a choice, and it certainly isn’t one for Tonia.

Cinematographer Lena Chekhovska captures the allure of young love in intimate shots and slightly longer takes to emulate the feeling of time being stretched ad infinitum when gazing into a lover’s eyes. The question of belonging, which is central to the film’s narrative and emotional journey, is further emphasised with central composition to highlight a look or a gesture intended for the other. Chekhovska also often locks in parts of the characters’ bodies more than the whole: feet walking, a torso turning, hands outstretched, perpetually in motion, be it walking, dancing or swimming. An ode to the kids of the 1990s, the first post-Soviet generation sandwiched between an intense foreign past and an equally intense unknown present, Forever-Forever is a promising gem of a debut.

Forever-Forever was produced by Ukraine’s DGTL RLGN and Dutch outfit Rinkel Film BV. Pluto Film handles its international sales.