Starring: Clara Harte, Dean Quinn, Amy-Joyce Hastings, Venetia Bowe
Director: Graham Cantwell
Country: Ireland
UK Distributor: Peccadillo Pictures
Adapted from his own short film Lily, Graham Cantwell’s Who We Love is a joyful and fun celebration of the long-established Queer mantra “It Gets Better”.
Lily (Harte) and Simon (Quinn) are best friends at high school and both are LGBT+. While the latter came out several years before, the former is only now taking tentative steps toward coming out, only to find her cover blown by trusting another questioning classmate (Bowe). But as the big wide world outside the closet seems harsh and scary to both of them, they are taken under the wing of their lesbian teacher, Oonagh (Hastings), who becomes their mentor on the Irish gay scene.
A very effective coming-of-age Queer high school movie, this might not reinvent the wheel in terms of plot, but it certainly has a lot to say and does so with crystal clarity. Its leads are likeable – even if they look much older than they’re playing – but the film plays out like a “You’re Gay… What Now?” instruction manual for teenagers who have just come out of the closet. Exploring crushes, support networks, homophobic bullying and the dangers of The Scene, it depicts all the problems these youngsters might face, but gives them a Gay Guide in the shape of the kindly – but hard-nosed – Oonagh.
This might not have the kind of writing with cross-generational appeal like a Love Simon or a Handsome Devil, but it is certainly the kind of teenage issue-based drama that – in the wake of Heartstopper – there is very clearly a market for. At times funny, at others poignant, this is a totally necessary and thoroughly watchable teen-centric drama with a massive beating heart.
UK Release: 6th January 2025 on VOD, released by Peccadillo Pictures
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