In an SXSW littered with feature directorial debuts, the runway for new voices to emerge has never been wider. While the opportunity has been there, however, the results have been mixed, at best. So you’ll have to understand my excitement when I came across a coming-of-age drama centering an Asian-American teen who becomes sexually liberated in Galveston, Texas, amidst her parents’ messy divorce. Mei Makino’s directorial feature debut “Inbetween Girl” features breakout performances from its young cast, instructional life lessons for teenage girls, and heartwarming growth that never feels mawkish or put-on but organic and tangible.
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Angie Chen (Emma Galbraith), the focus of Makino’s brisk screenplay, is a sarcastic whip-smart artist attending an Episcopalian high school. She and Liam (William Magnuson), considered the coolest, most handsome guy in school, are very good friends who banter with each other. While other girls pine for Liam’s attention, he often drives the sardonic Angie home from school. Though they won’t admit it to themselves, they have a crush on one another.
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Angie would make the leap, but two problems exist: She doesn’t think the in-demand Liam would be interested in a girl as unpopular as her. Also, Liam has a girlfriend — the supposedly fragile, blond airhead Instagram influencer Sheryl White (Emily Garrett). Even so, it’s not long before both Liam and Angie act on their desires, causing the pair to enter into a misbegotten tryst behind Sherly’s back that’ll ultimately cause heartache for everyone involved.
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This isn’t to say Angie is the villain of “Inbetween Girl.” Far from it. This low-key film is about how this ostracized 16-year old become comfortable with herself. It concerns a boy who has already picked up bad habits with regards to how to treat women. And it follows how Angie learns to not only value herself but to know who deserves forgiveness and who does not.
These are lessons that Angie not just teaches the audiences but herself too. She spends parts of the film recording video messages for a time capsule to her future self. These installments, whereby she offers self-assurance to her future self that everything will be alright, invites comparisons to Bo Burnham’s raucously hilarious “Eighth Grade.” As does the familiar tale of a young girl judging her own importance based on a guy’s whims. The two films do diverge, however, in terms of Angie’s sexual awakening. Angie explores her own desires. She learns what she enjoys (and, very importantly, what she shouldn’t permit). And in her liberation, she discovers newfound confidence.
Makino’s character writing is so sturdy, and the story she tells is fully formed. See, “Inbetween Girl” might concern teen intimacy, but it also covers other facets of Angie too. Her parents have recently divorced. Her mother, Veronica (Liz Waters), a lawyer, often stays late at the office. While her father, Fai (KaiChow Lau), now has a new family. In fact, his step-daughter Fang (Thanh Phuong Bui) is everything Angie is not. She’s fluent in Mandarin and on her way to Stanford. For a girl already self-conscious about her place in the world, each comparison to Fang delivers a sharp pang. How Makino resolves Angie’s fraught relationship with her parents isn’t illuminated with shiny saccharine. But through a grounded wit.
Makino also avoids other familiar terrains. There is no best friend subplot ala “Lady Bird.” And unlike “Yes God Yes,” Makino doesn’t delve too deeply into Angie’s religious school setting. Instead, Angie’s biggest growth comes by way of her biggest “competition” — Liam’s girlfriend, Sheryl. Without revealing too much, Makino puts the pair on a collision course, and the result isn’t easily resolved. It’s one of the artful ways Makino allows her characters to learn their shortcomings without fully absolving them. It’s also where Galbraith and Garrett shine brightest. In an arc that could easily be overacted, neither take the easy path in their respective performances. Instead, they add contours that shape their characters beyond the page. And they would add so much more if the simple coverage Makino employs wasn’t such a hurdle. By the film’s earnest end, we wonder where these two sincere actresses have been and where they’ll be next.
That’s what film festivals, at their best, allow. They offer a platform for new voices to emerge. They make you excited for others to discover an unfamiliar name. And Makino is one of them. A thoughtful and downright crowd-pleaser, “Inbetween Girl,” is a clever coming-of-age drama that should be seen — and seen soon. [B+]
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