Who We Love – Film Review
by Frank L.

Director – Graham Cantwell
Writers – Graham Cantwell, Katie McNeice
Stars – Clara Harte, Dean Quinn, Amy-Joyce Hastings, Venetia Bowe

Lily (Clara Harte) and Simon (Dean Quinn) are best friends at a co-educational school and while they are both fairly confident of their respective lesbian and gay sexuality, Lily is deeply conscious of the censorious attitudes of some of her classmates. Simon is different in that he is uncompromisingly camp with a devil-may-care attitude. Lily is in comparison struggling. She is a good friend with Violet (Venetia Bowe) who sends out amorous signals.  But Violet is two-faced, someone not to be trusted but Lily is too young, too innocent or too trusting to realise that Violet is dangerous. All three of them are lucky to be in a school which has many progressive attitudes. However, the school is not free from bullying and being a lesbian is not something that all the pupils take to kindly.

The home lives of the principal characters are also explored as the respective adults in their lives have contrasting parental expectations and aspirations which of course help to explain why their offspring act in the way that they do. Although there is heartache and incomprehension there is a great deal of love on  display as well.

This film has been developed from a short film entitled “Lily” which Cantwell made in 2016. In order to make it into a full-length feature Cantwell has joined with Katie McNeice to create a wider script. They have created a film which explains the daily challenges that a young gay or lesbian person has to negotiate both at home and in school as they traverse what is a minefield. The fact that this film is made in Dublin and its suburbs will make the experiences of these young adults easily accessible to all young Dubliners and hopefully a wider audience. Many young Irish people are negotiating the issues which Lily, Simon and Violet are handling as best they can.

Cantwell and McNeice are to be congratulated for creating this thoughtful film. Cantwell has directed a large cast with skill so that all of the characters have credibility. What is important for the future of this film is that it has the widest audience possible among young adults and their parents. Young adults face a myriad of challenges. For this generation, those challenges are exacerbated by social media. This film helps to explain some of those challenges in an entertaining way.