Las Lindas, The Pretty Ones, has some excellent content, but the structure and videography make it difficult to watch and absorb.
Interviewing several friends, and adding her own commentary, Melissa shows us that a group of girls, of a common culture and similar ages, can have widely different experiences as they traverse puberty and the subsequent teen years. All of the self-doubt and insecurity, some self-sown but much of it fostered by peers, takes a toll that can affect young women for years to come. And we see examples of how the larger society shapes their expectations of themselves and of each other. Questions are addressed of what they thought it meant to be pretty, to be feminine, and how they should or could interact with the opposite sex at various ages. What's wrong with body hair, they wonder, and why are they expected to conform to certain styles of hair length and clothing? Each girl/woman's experience is different.
Young people of either sex could benefit from hearing these stories; it would foster insight and empathy. But to be more accessible, the film would benefit from massive re-editing. The conversational style gets real responses, but lacks direction and coherency. A couple of times, the conversations were muffled, and the start is slow. And the large amount of hand-held camera work is just plain unpleasant. It doesn't so much add "immediacy" as it annoys, as do the many times when images are out of focus until corrected.
So it's an 8 for content, and a 4 for format. I hope we'll see an improved version one day. But even as is, it's still worth watching.
