We are firmly in a vibes era. That’s particularly true now, in this cursed year of our Lord 2024. We’re in the midst of a vicious Presidential campaign, and the vast majority of ads, speeches, and platforms aren’t really based on concrete and coherent policy arguments. They’re based on how the candidates and their operations make voters feel.

Art is firmly vibes-based. It always has been, and the entire point of art is to coax out some kind of an emotional response. I’m more than okay with that. If you’ll forgive me for being pedantic a moment while I put on my screenwriter hat, I’ve always run into problems with vibes-based movies. Why? I’m a prisoner of narrative, I suppose. Most of the time when I watch a film, I’m looking for characters, a story, and a point of view from the filmmakers.

That’s a me problem, though. Some filmmakers are bound and determined to dwell in the land of vibes. Lost Highway is a vibes movie. Terrifier is a vibes movie. The new romance Maybe Forever is precision-engineered by its directors to elicit romance, passion, and a yearning for hard-won love.

Sofia (Ruby Capacete) and Greg (George Capacete) haven’t been dating long. But they’ve been together just long enough to develop a sense of each other. Trust has been established, yet they’re learning the details. That’s a good thing. Sofia spent years in a lousy marriage. Greg spent years with a vague sense of dissatisfaction. Then, the impossible happened. They met each other, and with a click that was audible only to them, they fit together.

That was then, and now, all we see of Sofia and Greg is one day. Today. They savor a cup of coffee in a Los Angeles cafe. They trek up to the hills outside the city, and Sofia shows Greg a secluded spot that has meaning to her. They enjoy an exquisite burrito. They examine the contours of a life that could have been real and could have been shared by them if only it had happened. All the while, they drink each other in.

Maybe Forever is the debut feature from directors Ruby Capacete and George Capacete. They’ve made a microbudget** film that’s elegantly made and, despite its seventy-one minute runtime, feels exactly as long as it needs to be. You know that moment relatively early in a relationship, where you feel like you get them? They get you? Where you can spend a day together, and whatever you’re doing feels right? This film creates that dreamy feeling, while also injecting the reality of a life lived, one with bumps in the road. It’s remarkably effective filmmaking, and it proves that the Capacetes should have a long career.

You might have noticed that the plot recap portion of this review is shorter than normal.* As I mentioned earlier, Maybe Forever is a one hundred percent all vibes movie. There is no plot. There is no conflict. Act One doesn’t exist, Act Two is only a myth, and Act Three has disappeared into the void, never to be seen again. The screenplay is by the Capacetes, and it’s based on aspects of their relationship. The characterization is minimal, but it’s there. It’s all by design. Was it annoying to me from a narrative standpoint? A little, yes, but we can always detect manufactured conflict. I didn’t really need to see this couple pursued by a hulking maniac, or for them to argue over a misunderstanding that could have been cleared up in a thirty second conversation. All I really needed was a sense of them, who they are as individuals and as a couple. I got that. Sometimes the best screenwriting comes from character observation. 

The cast is…well, pretty much two people. Don’t misunderstand me, there are other human beings that show up in the film, and Alberto Henriquez appears in one scene as a waiter. But the only two characters are Sofia and Greg. In a way, that feels right, considering this film is all about new love.*** As Sofia, Ruby Capacete gives a slightly more layered performance. She does good work selling the romantic woo-woo, but there are also moments of vulnerability and regret for time spent that she’ll never get back. George Capacete’s Greg is more of the dreamer, the one with his heart firmly affixed on his sleeve. With this relationship, I can see Greg as the one who waxes rhapsodic about the work of Octavio Paz while constantly losing the car keys. The two of them have terrific chemistry, which is a big reason the film works. Watching likable people be in love is one of the reasons that cinema exists.

You might want something to take your mind off of the swirling morass of insanity we’re dealing with. You might want a film designed to engage the right brain, to focus on emotion as opposed to narrative. You might want something swooningly romantic. Maybe Forever is that movie. It’s not encumbered by a contrived plot, tropes, or lame characters. It’s all heart. Like I said, a vibes movie.

*Some of you are throwing out joyful hosannas that this review is shorter than usual. I get it. 

**This film is more proof that quality filmmaking is not dependent upon spending an insane amount of money. I will direct you to the upcoming Karate Kid: Legends movie, which has an estimated budget of $150 million. Now, it might end up being a solid movie, but I maintain that a $150 million Karate Kid movie is literally psychotic.

***Isn’t that kind of the way a new relationship feels, like nobody else matters?

Tim Brennan Movie Critic

Tim has been alarmingly enthusiastic about movies ever since childhood. He grew up in Boulder and, foolishly, left Colorado to study Communications in Washington State. Making matters worse, he moved to Connecticut after meeting his too-good-for-him wife. Drawn by the Rockies and a mild climate, he triumphantly returned and settled down back in Boulder County. He's written numerous screenplays, loves hiking, and embarrassed himself in front of Samuel L. Jackson. True story.