Neasa Ní Chianáin’s disappointing documentary takes on the Irish Green Party and its former leader Eamon Ryan.
Eamon Ryan in New York
Photo courtesy of Soilsiú Films.
by MANSEL STIMPSON
I approached this film with high expectations and there were two reasons for that. First and foremost was the fact that many of those involved had previously worked together on a documentary entitled Young Plato. That is not a work that is as well-known as it deserves to be, but when I saw it in 2021, I hailed it as an outstanding piece by artists unknown to me. It was filmed in the Ardoyne area of Belfast and was centred on a marvellous teacher, Kevin McArevey. He was somebody who sought to encourage individuality and intolerance in his pupils, that being a way of challenging continuing problems in an area that had been a focal spot during the Troubles. Although Declan McGrath who is not credited on Forever Is Now was both a co-director and co-writer on that film, this new piece is the work of Neasa Ní Chianáin who shared those credits with him while, in addition, the editor Philippe Ravoet and the producer David Rane are both again in place. Young Plato was so humane a work and so sensitive and skilled in its making that it seemed highly likely that those same memorable qualities would be found in Forever Is Now.
The other reason why I felt so optimistic when approaching their new offering arose from its subject matter. The film’s focus is on an Irish politician, Eamon Ryan. He stepped down from being party leader of Ireland's Green Party in 2025 but in July 2023 he had agreed to give Neasa Ní Chianáin the freedom of making a fly on the wall documentary about him. She had known him for many years and she embraced this opportunity to present a sympathetic portrait of the man and of his work little knowing that she would be covering what would turn out to be the last eighteen months of his time as leader. If I found the prospect of her film distinctly appealing, that was in part because it was reminiscent of another documentary to which I had responded strongly. The film in question was 2025’s Prime Minister a comparable study of New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern. It too eventually showed a term in office coming to an end and, while Prime Minister portrayed Ardern as having to combine her work with the responsibility of looking after a young baby, Forever Is Now sees Eamon Ryan finding as much time as he can to be with his autistic son Tommy who is now in his twenties.
The access that Eamon Ryan gave to Neasa Ní Chianáin means that Forever Is Now readily offers up much footage of Ryan at work in his office (his adviser Edel Hackett is a significant presence here) and equally much time is devoted to his visits abroad. Early on we find him attending a UN gathering in New York and two COP conferences feature prominently, the summit meeting in Dubai in December 2023 and that in Baku, Azerbaijan in November of the following year. Between times we witness preparations for a Green Party convention where he gives a key speech and we also find him meeting comments from members of Dublin City Council and Donegal County Council. Earlier still we have seen him in Ballina attending the inaugural Mary Robinson Climate Conference and there's an event of a different kind when we see him being interviewed for television on ‘The Late Late Show’.
All of this presents us with a convincing portrait of a man who is deeply sincere and works very hard indeed. As one would expect in a Green Party context, the central issue is the environment even though other issues do indeed come up. The need to abandon fossil fuel for cleaner energy and issues about the financing of this provide a key concern. Indeed, that belief with which we are familiar comes up again and again, but unfortunately the international exchanges about it are observed without the further details needed to make the individual difficulties encountered gripping and involving. Again and again Ryan and others who are like-minded deplore how slowly things are moving given the vital nature of this crisis - but if this is frustrating for them, as it clearly is, it also feels so for us.
If the general line here is clear but repetitive, one finds in contrast that the actual steps taken by Ireland’s Green Party are somewhat vaguely defined. In addition to there being a great deal of extreme abuse aimed at Ryan by those opposed in general to what the Green Party stands for, we also have many examples of specific protest about the impact of what is being done by them in Ireland. But, because there is no detailed examination of what is involved, it is difficult to know to what extent these criticisms may be justified.
In Prime Minister, we not only got a clear look at Jacinda Ardern’s political work but also a rounded portrait of her as a person. Here, however, what we learn of the private life of Eamon Ryan is severely limited. We see his wife, Victoria, but only in passing and, while Tommy is featured, we learn nothing about his other three children. His care and concern for Tommy is self-evident (in addition to quiet times together in the countryside we see him bring his son into his office from time to time). Indeed, acknowledging the extent to which his work adds to the pressure on Victoria in this context, he indicates that his eventual decision not to continue in politics was made in order to allow him to be at home more. But, even if one admires the way in which he builds a bond with Tommy and sees it as valuable, what we see here never gives us a full sense of what it means to be Eamon Ryan. That failure may in part be attributed to the decision not to include any interviews in which he talks directly to the filmmaker. He may not have had the inclination to do that and certainly might well have found it difficult to find the time for it in any case. Nevertheless, the absence of such footage means that the depth found in Prime Minister's portrait of Ardern is lacking here (occasional voice-over personal comments are not enough to compensate). Clearly the intentions behind this film were good but I found it a wasted opportunity. What a pity.
Featuring Eamon Ryan, Tommy Ryan, Edel Hackett.
Dir Neasa Ní Chianáin, Pro David Rane, Screenplay Neasa Ní Chianáin, Ph Neasa Ní Chianáin, Gregor Meerman and Victor Horstink, Ed Philippe Ravoet, Music Alex Simu.
Soilsiú Films/Docmakers/Clin d’Oeil Films-Soilsiú Films.
100 mins. Ireland/The Netherlands/Belgium. 2026. UK Rel: 19 October 2026. Cert. 12A.
