Today I woke up at 6:30am and made my way to the Library Theatre in Park City in near-zero degree weather to see a film I had been eager to see since arriving at Sundance Film Festival. The film, First Girl I Loved, was showing at 9:00am but due to a miscalculation in the bus schedule I ended up arriving at 7:30am and being the first person in line for the screening. This turned out to be fortunate for me because I got awesome seats to the best film I have seen in quite a while and it was preceded by the short Catching Up which set the tone for the film to come.
First Girl I Loved, written and directed by Karem Senga, tells the story of a Anne, a high school girl, who finds herself attracted to Sasha who is on the school's softball team. Anne uses her connections in the year book to get close to Sasha and the two become extremely close, taking their relationship beyond friendship. This upsets one of Anne's friends Clifton, who is in love with Anne and unable to cope with the fact that she is not sexually attracted to him. As Sasha and Anne's relationship progresses it becomes more complicated as Sasha pulls away fearing being stigmatized by her family and teammates for being a lesbian.
I was blown away by how well the film was written and produced, especially for a writer/director who was only making his third film. The cinematography was excellent and served as an important vehicle for portraying the emotions and ideas of characters. At the same time the editing was crucial for displaying the passage of time, which was done through parallel cutting between takes of cause and effect. For the first full length film I screened at Sundance, it completely surpassed my expectations. I would give this film a 10/10, but on top of that I would suggest that everybody take the time to watch this film because it has a positive message and is a perfect mix of comedy, drama, and is one of the most accurate depictions of high school relationships I have seen.
First Girl I Loved, written and directed by Karem Senga, tells the story of a Anne, a high school girl, who finds herself attracted to Sasha who is on the school's softball team. Anne uses her connections in the year book to get close to Sasha and the two become extremely close, taking their relationship beyond friendship. This upsets one of Anne's friends Clifton, who is in love with Anne and unable to cope with the fact that she is not sexually attracted to him. As Sasha and Anne's relationship progresses it becomes more complicated as Sasha pulls away fearing being stigmatized by her family and teammates for being a lesbian.
I was blown away by how well the film was written and produced, especially for a writer/director who was only making his third film. The cinematography was excellent and served as an important vehicle for portraying the emotions and ideas of characters. At the same time the editing was crucial for displaying the passage of time, which was done through parallel cutting between takes of cause and effect. For the first full length film I screened at Sundance, it completely surpassed my expectations. I would give this film a 10/10, but on top of that I would suggest that everybody take the time to watch this film because it has a positive message and is a perfect mix of comedy, drama, and is one of the most accurate depictions of high school relationships I have seen.