Ways to Live Forever

Sam is a boy who loves collecting facts. He writes lists in his notebook: UFOs, ghosts, airships, horror films, what it feels like to kiss a girl. Because he has leukaemia there is one more list, about what dying is like. Nobody is willing to give him answers to those questions. So Sam decides to do his own research. The source is Sally Nicholls's novel; the book was written in the form of Sam's own notebook and the film keeps that narrator. Directed by Gustavo Ron, this Spanish and British co-production keeps the illness in the background and puts the boy's curiosity in front. Robbie Kay plays Sam and Alex Etel the friend he meets in hospital; Ben Chaplin and Emilia Fox are the parents. It does not avoid being emotional, but it never uses pity; the two boys set about doing the items on the list one by one.