Jessica Forever Explained

Jessica Forever
Director:Caroline Poggi
Jonathan Vinel
Producer:Emmanuel Chaumet
Narrator:Sarah-Megan Allouch
Editing:Vincent Tricon
Cinematography:Marine Atlan
Music:Ulysse Klotz
Runtime:97 minutes
Country:France
Language:French

Jessica Forever is a 2018 French fantasy sci-fi drama film written and directed by Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel. The film premiered as the closing film of the Platform Prize section of the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival.[1] [2] It also showed in the Panorama section of the 69th Berlin International Film Festival in 2019.[3]

Plot

As a leader of a group of lost boys, Jessica, a loving and compassionate person, needs to lead them to a place where peace and harmony exists. Her goal is to create a world where Julien, Kevin, Lucas, Michael and Raiden, can live in peace together, and forever.

Cast

Reception

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes the film has a score of based on reviews from critics, with an average rating of .[4]

Pat Mullen of POV praised the lead actress, writing "Jessica Forever features a heroic woman of the Lara Croft variety leading a group of lost boys through a world in which orphans are hunted, but the film proves too sparse and thinly conceived for its ambiguously open premise to be remotely intriguing or effective".[5]

Jonathan Romney of Film Comment wrote that "Jessica Forever isn't primarily about effects or action - it's largely about feelings, and surprisingly delicate feelings at that".[6]

According to Rafael Motamayor of Bloody Disgusting, "[the film] starts up with a promising premise that it abandons after 5 minutes in favor of following the most boring group of characters in recent memory".[7]

Lena Wilson of The Playlist gave the film a "D" rating, explaining her reasoning by writing that "Jessica Forever has a few delightfully experimental moments – birthday cake letters and self-immolation make for some stunning visuals – but it quickly dovetails into nonsense".[8] She also added that "[t]here are movies, like I Think We're Alone Now and Annihilation" that according to her "use sci-fi strangeness to enhance their dramatic potential and further captivate the audience".[8]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: World Premiere of JESSICA FOREVER to Close TIFF's 2018 Platform Programme. Broadway World. Kaitlin. Milligan. 8 August 2018. 15 August 2021.
  2. Web site: 15 August 2021. Jessica Forever. Toronto International Film Festival.
  3. Web site: Jessica Forever. Berlin International Film Festival. 15 August 2021.
  4. Web site: Jessica Forever (2018). Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. .
  5. 'Destroyer' Dominated TIFF's Platform Competition, But Where Were the Docs?. 17 September 2018. POV. Mullen. Pat.
  6. Film of the Week: Jessica Forever. Romney. Jonathan. Film Comment. 24 January 2018.
  7. Web site: [TIFF Review] 'Jessica Forever' Aims High But Falls Flat]. Bloody Disgusting. Motamayor. Rafael. 16 September 2018. 15 August 2021.
  8. Web site: 'Jessica Forever': Sci-Fi Drama Drones On With No Plot In Sight [TIFF Review]]. Wilson. Lena. The Playlist. 15 September 2018. 15 August 2021.