電影《青春未知數》影評：Rare Gem among U.S. films

「The half of it」 is the second and also the latest work by director Alice Wu, who had a computer science degree at Stanford, worked as a programmer in a tech firm, and discovered her passion for film making, and then she went on to make her first film - Saving Face in 2004. I mean Jesus, who even does that?

So needless to say, I am EXCITED for her second firm about high schoolers having some love triangle, but just like Alice Wu herself, the story never develops the usual way.

I can imagine someone who hasn’t watched the film imagining it being some cheesy anti-mainstream films that create twists that make questionable senses and being 「innovative」 in that regard to attract viewers. And this brings the the most remarkable feature, also the part that I love the most about the film - Yes it has twist. Yes it is not exactly a completely heterosexual story, but it is so greatly deadly wonderfully and uniquely authentic. The cycling in the woods, the haphazardly placed furniture, the face that doesn’t have any makeup, the emotion that are so strong yet pure. Everything in this film make sense in the most therapeutic way.

While the story does develop a bit fast near the end to create drama and tension, I can completely see those stories being more convincing if she’s allowed to make a three hour film, but she wasn’t, and as a viewer, I feel that is fine.

Alice Wu, while born and raised in the U.S., brings that unique nerdy shyness to life through her writings of the characters that is absolutely nowhere else to be found. People in her films are young, naive but also incredibly kind. They are pretty, inexperienced but eager to learn. They are in the stage where they don’t label things and simply have the instincts to embraces feelings. You can call those feeling romance, or friendship. They are essentially just connections between souls. And nothing is prettier than that.