Here and Now (originally titled Best Day of My Life and later Blue Night) is a 2018 American romantic drama film directed by Fabien Constant, starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Simon Baker.
[2][3] The film was shot in 16 days in New York City, and follows Vivienne (Parker), a singer who is diagnosed with a glioblastoma.
It was released in the United States on November 9, 2018, by AMBI Distribution and Paramount Pictures.
The film starts with a close-up of Vivienne's (Sarah Jessica Parker) trembling blue eyes.
Vivienne receives a call from her manager, Ben (Common), that she is late for a rehearsal.
Afterwards, Vivienne finds out from her doctor, Dr. Marianne Holt (Mary Beth Peil), that she has a terminal brain tumor.
She receives multiple phone calls from her mother, Jeanne (Jacqueline Bisset).
After drinking a glass of wine, Vivienne locks herself in her room, sees a picture of her daughter, Lucie (Gus Birney), and starts crying.
In her bedroom, Lucie plays her song to her mother and is met with adoration by Vivienne.
Vivienne kisses Lucie goodnight and goes into the living room to see Nick watching an old French movie.
In July 2017, it was announced that Jacqueline Bisset had joined the cast in the role of Parker's mother.
[12] Peter Debruge of Variety found that "Constant can't decide whether Vivienne is keeping her emotions buried deep inside or wearing them on her sleeve, and because Parker plays it somewhere in between, we rely on other characters to elucidate the situation.
"[2] Rex Reed of The Observer similarly found the film "Bleak and paced with the energy of drops of water from a plumbing leak, Here and Now is deliberately slow, hoping to provide viewers a chance to share the torturous mental anguish Vivienne is going through.
The film, widely considered an homage to Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962), was negatively compared to the original.
David Erhlich of IndieWire felt that "for an homage boasting a far more fatal outlook than Varda's original, it's frustrating and kind of perverse that Blue Night [Here and Now] should be so gentle.
Erhlich also found that "a chance run-in with an estranged friend (Renée Zellweger, in a very welcome cameo) leaves all sorts of meat on the table, minutes of screen time wasted on the vague understanding that growing older requires people to tighten their emotional bandwidth.
"[3] In a mixed review, Dana Schwartz of Entertainment Weekly found that "the premise—an homage to the 1962 Agnès Varda film Cléo From 5 to 7—works in spurts" while praising the appearance of Zellweger, describing the film as "heightened by the magnetic Renée Zellweger, barely concealing her suburban rage behind a cheerfully swirled glass of wine."