Thinking you cannot get have a child conventionally due to something out of your control leads to making different choices, but when you’re proven wrong, everything turns your world upside down. However, in Julie Pacino’s feature debut, I Live Here Now, having its world premiere in the Cheval Noir section of Fantasia International Film Festival 2025, she tackles just this topic in one of the most disturbed, haunting, and psychological trips. If this is what Julie Pacino has for audiences going forward, her name will eventually by synonymous with her father’s for being one of the most daring directors out there, a new voice emerging that is surely going to shake up the scene and for the better.
L-R: Lucy Fry as Rose and Matt Rife as Travis in I LIVE HERE NOW. Photo courtesy of Fantasia International Film Festival.
The movie focuses on Rose (Lucy Fry) who’s a struggling actress in L.A. just trying to get her big break, which is no easy feat, and there is nothing glamorized here. She is in an unserious relationship with her casual boyfriend, Travis (Matt Rife), who seems to be more interested in himself and his aspirations than anything to do with Rose, let alone her well-being and career aspirations. We learn that at a young age, Rose had some serious trauma inflicted upon her which makes it impossible to have children, which is one of the reasons Travis is with her at all. Everything hits the fan and then some when Cindy (Cara Seymour), Rose’s agent, tells her of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and the unthinkable and unfathomable happens — Rose finds out she is pregnant and her entire world is turned upside down.
Madeline Brewer as Lillian in I LIVE HERE NOW. Photo courtesy of Fantasia International Film Festival.
Rose ends up being pregnant and Travis, being the preputial child he is, goes running to his mother, Martha (Sheryl Lee), about how to handle the unexpected news. Instead of this being between two responsible adults (Rose and Travis), Martha decides mother knows best and rears her uncontrollable, overbearing head into the mix. It’s clear this isn’t the first time Travis has found himself in this predicament either as he sheepishly stumbles to tell his mother “she said she can’t get pregnant” and Martha essentially tells him to shut up and she’ll handle it. It is made clear, as simple as it can be put, neither of them care about Rose. All they care about is whether the life inside of her is “worthy” of being born and put into their care or whether Rose is “allowed” to get an abortion. Realizing that Rose is in this all on her own, she does the only sensible thing one can possibly do in this situation and flees to The Crown Inn, a motel on the outskirts of town where everything and anything is far from reality and the chaos truly begins to unfold. Lillian (Madeline Brewer) is alongside Rose for the journey in some capacity, but as everything is a Lynchian nightmare in The Crown Inn, nothing can be believed as it is and the audience gets thrown into a tailspin of epic proportions.
Making the transition from short features to feature-length and tackling both writing and directing for the first time is not an easy task, not even for veterans of the craft, however Pacino does this easily. She manages to create a story so enriched in humanity while bringing a surrealistic spin that is so transcendent that it feels like she’s been doing this for years. When she pulls this off, in what feels like second nature, it comes down to her cast who only perpetuate how incredibly talented and absolutely brilliant they are, peaking our the interest in future projects, as well.
A scene from I LIVE HERE NOW. Photo courtesy of Fantasia International Film Festival.
It should be stated that Lucy Fry (Bright) is a revelation here. She is simply perfect in the role balancing trauma, realization, and fight or flight effortlessly and magically throughout her performance. Fry manages to convey every emotion throughout the film, whether it be the horror of realizing her nightmare of becoming pregnant or the horrors of having to escape Travis and his mother, her performance shines bright throughout. Conveying all forms of emotion — anger, fear, happiness, despair —Fry makes it evident throughout, captivating the audience and bringing us on the journey with her. While Matt Rife (Trapped Inn) plays the cowardice boytoy perfectly, it is his mother by way of the incomparable Sheryl Lee (Twin Peaks; Wild at Heart) who invokes fear and terror in the audience from a strictly performance standpoint. Though, the entire movie does hinge on Fry, she bears the weight not only masterfully but exceptionally.
L-R: Madeline Brewer as Lillian and Lucy Fry as Rose in I LIVE HERE NOW. Photo courtesy of Fantasia International Film Festival.
I Live Here Now is one of the best feature debuts in some time, creating a world of unease balanced by a brilliant performance that is clearly influenced by some of the best directors and storytellers who have dived into surrealism and out-of-body experiences in their work. There is nothing easy about I Live Here Now, and it doesn’t hold back its punches. It is amplified by the engrossing performances, and simply everything in the film is brilliant, making it one of the year’s best and most moving movies. Whatever Julie Pacino has in store next is going to be an easy sell if its delivers on even half of what I Live Here Now delivers.
Screening during Fantasia International Film Festival 2025.
In select theaters March 5th, 2026.
For more information, head to the official Fantasia International Film Festival I Live Here Now webpage.
Final Score: 4.5 out of 5.
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Categories: In Theaters, Reviews
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