Film

Now Is Good

Name: Now Is Good
Genre: Drama, Romance
Released: 2012
Cast: Dakota Fanning, Jeremy Irvine, Kaya Scodelario, Olivia Williams, Paddy Considine

Drama

A teenager with terminal leukemia makes a bucket list, determined to live fully in whatever time remains. It's a film about mortality that doesn't flinch from sex, friendship, and the messy reality of dying young. For anyone who's ever wondered how to say goodbye, or how to really live.

TMDb rating

3.7

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you want a teenage love story told with emotional honesty and a sharp eye for small, awkward moments, and you can handle a film that leans into sorrow without apology.

Skip it if you'd rather the illness stay in the background; here it sits at the centre, and the sadness is never far off.

What it asks of you: Its rhythm is loose and episodic, built around a list, moving in brief scenes through a mood that swings between giggles and heaviness over 103 minutes.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Fault in Our Stars2014

Two teenagers with cancer fall in love in a story that treats them as fully alive people, not tragic symbols. It's funny, tender, and earns every tear without manipulation.

But The romance arc is the whole point, which means if you're not invested in the couple, the film loses its anchor.

Me Before You2016

A woman falls for a man with a spinal cord injury, but the film is really about autonomy, choice, and what we owe each other. Beautifully acted and surprisingly complex.

But It's more melodrama than subtlety, and the ending divides people sharply on ethical grounds.

A Walk to Remember2002

A bad boy and a good girl fall in love as she faces terminal illness. It's sincere without irony, and utterly committed to the romance despite—or because of—its brevity.

But The earnestness will feel cloying if you're not in the mood for unironic emotion, and the pacing is slow.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Now Is Good

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Ginger & Rosa2012

Both centre on how young women define themselves in the shadow of mortality—not as cancer patients or dying girls, but as people becoming who they choose to be.

Two girls come of age in 1960s London as one's mother is dying of cancer. It's a film about female friendship, activism, and loss told with rare tenderness and specificity.

But It moves between timelines and holds back emotion deliberately, which can feel cold if you want catharsis. The resolution is ambiguous.

Five Days2007

A taut drama about a missing girl that unfolds in real time. Each episode is gripping, and it treats police procedure with genuine respect while building real dread.

But It's a procedural first and foremost, so if you want intimacy and character depth, it stays at arm's length.

Bend It Like Beckham2002

A young woman fights her family's expectations to play soccer and find her own life. It's joyful, funny, and genuinely about agency and self-determination.

But The romance subplot feels tacked on, and the cultural specificity might not land if you're unfamiliar with the community it depicts.

My Sister's Keeper2009

A teenager sues her parents over medical decisions, raising questions about bodily autonomy and what families owe each other. Complex and genuinely thought-provoking.

But The ending reversal feels cheap, and the film sometimes prioritises sentiment over logic.

Never Let Me Go2010

A quiet, haunting story about three friends and the slow dawning of what their futures hold. Carey Mulligan is extraordinary, and it stays with you long after.

But It's deliberately paced and emotionally restrained, which some find distant rather than moving.

The Theory of Everything2014

A girl isolated by illness falls for her neighbour and has to decide if living safe is the same as living. It's visually inventive and asks real questions about risk and autonomy.

But The magical-thinking tone clashes awkwardly with medical reality, and it can feel slight.

The Sun Is Also a Star2019

Two teenagers meet on a single day in New York; one is facing deportation. A beautiful argument for fate and connection, with genuine chemistry between the leads.

But The 24-hour timeframe is constraining, and the resolution feels too neat given the stakes.

The Kings of Summer2013

Where Now Is Good asks 'how do we live before we die?', this asks 'what does it mean to be truly alive?' Both are bucket-list films, but this one is thrashed out in real time rather than compiled on paper.

Three teenage boys build a house in the woods and live there for a summer, escaping their families. It's funny, anarchic, and genuinely alive—a film about freedom and growing up.

But The tonal shift in the final act is jarring, moving from comedy to something heavier without grace.

Cléo from 5 to 71962

Both films are fascinated by how time changes when you know it might be running out. But where Now Is Good builds a list, Cléo discovers that living is happening whether you plan it or not—in the café, on the street, with a stranger.

A woman waits for cancer test results over two hours in Paris. Agnès Varda makes mundane moments profound—a walk, a conversation, a song—finding depth in stillness and surface.

But It's a 1962 French film with a slow, observational style. If you want plot momentum, you will be bored. Subtitles required.