Sally nicholls ways to live forever

Unsentimental but never callous, this British-Spanish production gingerly addresses terminal illness in ways that won’t traumatize your tween. To Sam, the end of life is a mystery he’s compelled to solve. Rather, everyone involved, from Sam’s attentive but far from clingy parents (Emilia Fox and Ben Chaplin) to his sensible best friend (Alex Etel) to his cheerfully punkish district nurse (Natalia Tena), seems incapable of being maudlin. Ron (working from the novel by Sally Nicholls) infuses the story with forced uplift.

A little wan but a lot likable, Gustavo Ron’s “Ways to Live Forever” is a forthright and surprisingly buoyant drama about facing death before you have really lived.Īnd not just because Sam (Robbie Kay), a 12-year-old with leukemia, is determined to make the most of his final months.