Young couple CJ and Marcella struggle to protect their relationship against the rising tide of pressure from family, faith, and friends when a devastating discovery upends their lives on Jude Okwudiafor Johnson’s Senior Year: Love Never Fails.
Senior Year: Love Never Fails is a sequel to 2019’s Freshman Year, a Christian faith-based film that is available to view on Netflix. Freshman was the story of CJ and Marcella who had left their sheltered homes and diverse backgrounds to attend college. CJ had grown up in a strict Christian home, while Marcella had a more secular upbringing. Both of them became overwhelmed by their newfound freedom and independence, and we watched them struggle to balance their faith with their newfound desires. Freshman Year focused on the story of CJ getting Marcella pregnant and the strain that it had on them, their families, and the difficult life choices they faced. Senior Year picks up the thread five years later on their daughter’s 5th birthday, and again our main couple faces some life-changing circumstances.
Senior Year is a beautiful-looking film that is well-made and well-performed. It is a Christian film that is aimed at that particular audience, but writer and director Okwudiafor Johnson deserves a lot of credit for attempting to open his film up to a more mainstream audience. He does this in a number of ways, firstly his direction is very good, he brings a level of realism and authenticity to the film that is rarely seen in Christian faith-based movies. Secondly, his cinematographer Aaron Leong uses soft lighting, warm colours, and wide shots to create a cozy and inviting atmosphere, with camera work that is exceptionally smooth and fluid, helping create a sense of romance and escapism. Thirdly, his actors are a strong ensemble, there is a truthfulness and likeability about their performances, and this makes every character we meet seem like a real person. This is particularly noticeable with Diallo Thompson as CJ; there is a genuine warmness to his personality, which enables him to hold the screen and draw you into every scene.
Johnson’s biggest success though is how he approaches the religious aspect of his ‘Christian’ film. He doesn’t just make his characters follow God’s plan (although this does happen to some), he actually questions the faith at every possible opportunity. This is brilliantly done in an early family counseling scene where CJ and Marcella are up against a hugely religious psychiatrist who can’t keep her beliefs out of her diagnosis. She lambastes them for living together and having a child out of wedlock, but Marcella (the fiery Natalie Dominguez) doesn’t stand for any of it and fires straight back at her with questions of her own. When a film criticises its very existence then the filmmakers deserve a lot of credit.
Following on from the success of Freshman Year, I can see Senior Year: Love Never Fails doing really well on streaming services like Netflix and Prime. On top of that, thanks to its easily accessible storyline, it would also make a fine addition to the Hallmark Channel and would certainly not look out of place in their listings. So, curl up with a cup of cocoa and settle in for a dramatic and heart-warming movie that will leave you feeling good about yourself and everyone else.
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