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Independent cinema has long been enamored with the coming-of-age story. Especially for early career filmmakers, the rough road from adolescence to some semblance of adulthood offers the ultimate hero’s journey — mired in unexpected obstacles both external and within. There’s another reason so many first-time filmmakers choose this narrative path: they’re usually quite close to it themselves.

In her scrappy feature debut “Inbetween Girl,” writer/director Mei Makino shows small town America through the experience of a biracial Chinese American teenager as she navigates first love, sexuality, family upheaval, and artistic ambitions. With so many irons in the fire, “Inbetween Girl” bites off more than it can chew, and the amateur cast does it no favors, but it is

The saving grace of “Inbetween Girl” is its boisterous, sarcastic, and amiable protagonist, sixteen-year-old Angie Chen, who is brought to life by a naturalistic performance from newcomer Emma Galbraith.

Mei Makino's Inbetween Girl thrives at the crossroads of cultural identity, sexual exploration, and complex relationships - the recipe for a modern coming-of-age film. In her directorial debut, Makino explores life through the lens of high-school senior Angie Chen (played by Emma Galbraith), and to put it bluntly, Angie is going through it. Her parents are getting divorced, she's crushing on a boy who's out of reach, and she's confronted with racial insecurities otherwise left undisturbed.

Inbetween Girl stands in contrast to your traditional teen rom-coms, although the director did use many classic films for inspiration. Instead, Angie confronts the messiness of her senior year head on, and in a film that tackles heavy issues, Makino makes room for hope, growth, and humor. There's a comical relatability to Angie's awkwardness, her quick wit, and even her immaturity. Angie's endearing flawed nature makes her easy to root for. To explore her story even more,...

Romcoms have long been a staple of the American high school fantasy, but what happens when high school is actually kind of… messy? Mei Makino’s debut feature “Inbetween Girl” presents a raw coming-of-age drama revolving around Angie Chen (Emma Galbraith), a bluntly unapologetic Chinese-Caucasian high school student. Her tough facade begins to falter, however, when things start to spin out of control. Her white mother seems inattentive at home; her Chinese father moves on to the dream Chinese American family; and her crush, school heartthrob Liam (William Magnuson), starts to whisper sweet-nothings in her ear while dating the school’s most popular girl, Sheryl (Emily Garrett). “Inbetween Girl” grapples with the growing pains of a soul-searching outsider pit in an existential maelstrom amid the picturesque East End of Galveston, Texas.

“Inbetween Girl” will play at SXSW, and perhaps no festival would have been a better fit for this Texas native.