Inbetween Girl

This beautiful and intimate movie focuses on Asian-American teenager Angie, a budding artist and independent thinker, who has her first sexual experiences on the down-low with Liam, the "it" boy of their small private school. Liam is involved with the beautiful Social Media influencer "it" girl, Sheryl, and though they appear to be a perfect couple, she won't 'go all-the-way' with Liam, which has him roving elsewhere. While this sounds like it could produce a redux one-dimensional tale of a teen-triangle, the performances are complex, authentic and wonderfully rendered by Emma Galbraith as Angie, William Magnuson as Liam and Emily Garrett as Sheryl. They bring a depth to their performances that made me feel the complexity of what it feels like to be chosen and alternately ignored, wanted and rejected, seen and unseen. These relationships play out against the backdrop of Angie's parents getting divorced, and Angie's father moving on with a Chinese woman and her 'more' Asian daughter. The convoluted territory of biracial relationships, multidimensional people and flawed but loving human beings is steered masterfully by Mei Makino, the writer/director. The movie is set in Galveston TX, which presents a very quaint / 'white' backdrop for the story to pop. I HIGHLY recommend this movie. I must also give a shoutout to the artist who rendered Angie's drawings - Larissa Akhmetova. They are imaginative and add great insight to Angie's passion and emotions. A gem of a movie -- and it's getting great reviews (NY Times Critic's pic, npr interview, SXSW and Caamfest winner). Worth it.

From the very first moment, I feel like Angie is someone I know intimately. Emma Galbraith's performance is stunning and heartfelt (and funny!). I really hope to see her in more complex roles like this.

Director Mei Makino has created something phenomenal and unforgettable.

These are the teenagers I want to see in movies! Characters who are real and flawed - and dealing with problems so many understand. Angie is someone you root for the entire film without them stripping her of her ability to make mistakes. No blank-canvas characters or too-perfect "strong females" in this movie.

Beautifully shot in a location that makes Angie's personality feel even more three-dimensional. The colors and style of the film bring her (and the people around her) to life.

No spoilers here - but the way this film deals with teenage relationships is something I've never seen on screen. The writing mixes the magic of first love with the grounded realism that makes viewers feel seen and understood.

I would (and will!) recommend this to anyone who wants to feel like their struggle to find themselves is normal, and that they can work through it. Beautiful, beautiful story.

Similar in many ways to Marvelous and the Black Hole (2021) in that both are indy coming-of-age dramas featuring a breakout rubber-faced star who outshines the rest of the cast. INBETWEEN GIRL has the weaker script of the two, however. After a strong and promising start, the movie takes a sharp turn and becomes more of an Afterschool Special.

An Asian lead who is allowed to be flawed, allowed to be fully human, and still deal with very real Chinese-American experiences. It feels good to see this type of character being able to have a social plot with their peers without just being a Chinese-American but just being human; it was the type of drama you could see the typical (white) American actor in but with more layers due to additionally being in between cultures. This is very clearly not Hollywood, but even then it doesn't feel like cutting this film slack by mentioning how stunning the camera work is and how genuine the script felt, even with the awkward moments feeling like actual teenage moments. All in all, it is a great coming-of-age film that truly fulfills its role as a form of our representation as fully fleshed-out humans!

This was a brilliant movie - the acting prowess of the lead, played by Emma Galbraith, was especially notable. Angie is a profoundly nuanced character to me, and I think that Emma's portrayal of her was incredible. Her behaviour just felt so...realistic, if that makes any sense? She really just feels like another Asian girl trying to figure out life and sexuality, and as someone in that demographic, I related so much.

Moreover, the story, although not particularly grand, was incredibly compelling. I found it extremely easy to get invested in what was happening (also in part because of my attachment to the lead character). In a way, I felt as if the non-grandness of the story was exactly where its prowess lay - this is a wholly real story, and I love it.

I'm extremely disappointed to see the Asian meninists review-bombing this movie, especially since this movie was created by an Asian woman. It's important to have movies with Asian men leads, but just because this specific movie does not include one.

This film was an excellent exploration of biracial identity, coming of age, and budding romance.