I really loved this Netflix original film, a sweet but wistful coming-of-age Cyrano story in which friendship is just as important as romance. Featuring cool representation and great performances, this moody little indie piece drew me in from moment one.
Ellie Chu is out of place in her small town. She’s a quiet intellectual, one of the only people of color she knows, and she’s trying to keep her family afloat as her widowed immigrant father struggles with depression. She earns extra cash by writing students’ papers for them, but when earnest meathead Paul offers her a more lucrative gig, she’s unsure of what to do. The job? Help him write a love letter to his crush Aster. Aside from the question of the dubious morals of the situation, there’s a bigger issue at play: Ellie has a crush on Aster too.
Modern twists on the tale of Cyrano are nothing new, but this one offers up a nice take. I like that, as the film goes on, Ellie actually has two separate relationships with Aster, the pseudo-romance she’s penning under the guise of being Paul as well as the very tentative friendship she eventually starts to develop with Aster. “Paul’s” methods of courting Aster are also really lovely and inventive, but at the same time, the film never really lets Ellie off the hook for the deception she’s pulling – on both Aster and Paul.
Because as the story progresses, Ellie’s relationship with Paul becomes crucial to the story too. Obviously, since Paul’s proposition gives Ellie a “safe” way to flirt with Aster, the arrangement quickly becomes about more than just the money, but Ellie and Paul’s relationship also becomes about more than just their scheme. Even though they’re wildly-different people who are into different things and have different concerns, they bond over small moments and start to find themselves caring about each other. I’m sure there’s a non-LGBTQ version of this tale that would pivot to the Ellie and Paul characters falling for each other instead of Aster, but I love how deep/special their platonic connection becomes. As they grow to understand one another, each helps the other in vital ways that are meaningful to them, and just as Ellie feels uneasy about her lies to Aster, she also starts to feel guilty about the fact that she’s essentially using Paul’s crush on Aster to explore her own feelings.
All of the characters are drawn so specifically within their broader types. On the face of it, you have Ellie the smart loner, Paul the dumb jock, and Aster the popular girl, but the details of the story and the acting are just exquisite. I love the way it teases out the self-sufficiency Ellie has carved out for herself amid her unkind classmates and maintaining the household for her struggling father. It’s cool to learn about Paul’s own ambitions, which, even though they’re nothing like Ellie’s, are every bit as important to him as Ellie’s are to her. And the films does a great job showing how Aster chafes within her role as someone who’s popular by default, trapped by people’s expectations of her even as she very slowly tries to step outside of that and own who she is.
Great acting all around. Leah Lewis, who plays George on the CW’s Nancy Drew, is fantastic as Ellie, prickly and guarded but also incredibly vulnerable. As Paul, Daniel Diemer is sweet and uncomplicated to a fault, and Alexxis Lemire navigates the balancing act of showing Aster as a complete person, not just the object of Paul and Ellie’s feelings. I also want to shout out Collin Chou, who’s really wonderful in his understated role as Ellie’s dad.
Warnings
Language, drinking, and thematic elements.
No comments:
Post a Comment