‘I Live Here Now’ review: Julie Pacino’s vividly realised debut plays out in remote California motel

Dir: Julie Pacino. US. 2025. 92mins.

“Why do you make everything so weird?” aspiring actress Rose (Lucy Fry) is asked by her boyfriend Travis (Matt Rife) near the start of Julie Pacino’s trippy psychological horror debut I Live Here Now. Some might find themselves wanting to ask the filmmaker the same question, as the heightened sense of reality is so overpowering that her central character seems barely tethered to the real world. While Pacino offers a visually stylish trip into Rose’s psyche, elevated by high-calibre ensemble performances from the female-centric cast, the lack of any initial grounding in normality makes the heroine’s journey less emotionally gripping than it might have been.

More likely to appeal to fans of twisted psychogeography than gore

It is no surprise the visuals are the dominant feature of Pacino’s film, since it started life as her NFT photography series of the same name, which inspired her to write the script and helped fund its development. Rooted in questions of trauma survival, body image and self-determination, I Live Here Now premieres at Fantasia before moving on to Locarno and Edinburgh. Further genre festival play seems likely, and the name recognition of Pacino (daughter of actor Al) will not hurt when it comes to attracting attention. Utopia will release the film in North America.

Pacino presents a nightmarish moment from Rose’s childhood as she introduces the character and her trauma simultaneously. The writer/director’s puzzlebox of a tale offers visual cues from the start that will find their echoes later on, though she is more interested in crafting the various pieces than in building a neat narrative.

The majority of the action plays out in a bizarre, remote motel in California’s Idyllwild. Rose has fled from Travis and his overbearing mother (Sheryl Lee) after a shock revelation, and wildfires are encroaching. The use of saturated colour and the production design from Hannah Rawson and Lucie Brooks Butler lean towards Dario Argento and David Lynch, but it is the non-sequitur style and surreality of Alice In Wonderland that seems the greatest influence.

This is in evidence from the moment Rose is offered a complimentary glass of ’pink milk tonic’ on check-in at The Crown Inn, which practically screams, ’Don’t drink me!’ The hot pink punch of this transitional moment is further emphasised by Pacino’s desaturation of the colour palette in earlier scenes. The structure underlines the film’s literary inclinations, which unfolds as chapters of a book.

The motel – which in a marker of the arch humour Pacino employs throughout, has suites named The Lovin’ Oven and Seventh Heaven – is also full of predictably odd denizens. Owner Ada (Lara Clear) is a lush, while the bright-as-a-button nature of receptionist Sid (Sarah Rich) is in stark contrast to the more disturbing aura given off by guest Lillian (The Handmaid’s Tale’s Madeline Brewer). Rose’s already off-kilter reality comes fully off the rails as the real and imagined churn together with the present and the past, and it becomes clear these new acquaintances are facets of a bigger picture. Pacino employs a smattering of body horror and a jump scare or two, but the result is more likely to appeal to fans of twisted psychogeography than gore.

The strong use of colour helps cinematographer Aron Meinhardt stoke atmosphere, and he is aided by editor Matyas Fekete (working alongside Raaghav Minocha), who as a frequent collaborator with Peter Strickland, is no stranger to stitching together hallucinatory tales. The score from Jackson Greenberg and Pam Autuori (who records under the name TOMI) is equally psychedelic, its use of percussion and panting vocals adding to the general sense of anxiety.

I Live Here Now is anchored by Fry’s collected performance, as she plays it straight against the higher register employed by the rest of the cast – including Cara Seymour as Rose’s acerbic casting agent Cindy. While it would benefit from more plot underpinning and back story, this is a vividly realised debut that invites the viewer to take the trip with Rose as she works out what role she wants to play in her own life.