Ellie & Abbie (& Ellie's Dead Aunt)

I'd look at Rotten Tomatoes and Amazon reviews for a more accurate representation of this film. So charming, so funny - clearly a low budget but it still won the AACTA award for best Indie film in Australia. I'm a good repressed queer so naturally obsessed with the English teacher.

Australian teen Ellie is struggling to ask her classmate Abbie to the formal. That's when her Fairy Godmother shows up. She's her gay aunt Tara who died before they ever met. Tara has all kinds of advice whether Ellie wants it or not.

This is cute with a moment of emotional reveal. Ellie is a bit amateurish but there is a sweetness in that. It's the awkwardness of puppy love, no matter the sexual orientation. Dead Aunt Tara tries her best to inject irreverence into this movie. Again, it's cute. In a Hollywood production, the lead would be more experienced and prettier. This feels more awkward and that's perfectly fine.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. It made me laugh out loud and tear up. All the characters are entertaining and well acted. It was refreshing to watch a film with such a great diversity of female characters. Most of all I really enjoyed watching such positive and healthy interactions between characters. Ellie in particular is so likable as a character (and portrayed beautifully by the actor). She communicates her feelings openly and honestly and while Abbie is more 'flawed' and uncertain they navigate their relationship in a healthy way that I think provides a good road map for teens on how to have healthy, productive relationships. I find it very heartening to see some films offering a more balanced, rational portrayal of the teenage years, something I wish had been more prevalent in my formative years.

We see queer youths act like queer youths and we see the traumas without there being any fetishization. It is a funny, sweet and strange film in keeping with the high quality content that comes out of screen Australia. There is no hiding from the fear and pain that affects queer kids and also the past our community holds but it looks forward. The girls are quirky and unique and their realtionship is asperational without being unrealistic. It could have been longer and more elaborated but it was very fun to watch and one of the best ones, romantic comedies with drama, i have seen for a while.

I've been looking for positive queer stories since watching heartstopper and this one is really lovely. It doesn't have the budget of some of the others - but hopefully people will now start to see that LGBT content can be profitable and invest more in it. Apparently they shot this film in 10 days. So for that alone it's pretty much a triumph. The soundtrack and the script were also excellent. Would definitely recommend to queer teens!