To All the Boys I've Loved Before
Aug. 19th, 2018 08:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerNetflix’s latest offering, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, is adorable. Sixteen-year-old Lara Jean is totally marginal to her high school social scene - not bullied, but invisible - and prefers to explore the world of social interaction by reading romance novels and writing secret love letters to her crushes, which she hides in a teal hatbox.
Naturally, the letters mysteriously get sent. And, just as naturally, this ends with Lara Jean fake-dating her junior high crush Peter Kavinsky (these letters have been piling up for a few years). He hopes their fake relationship will make his ex-girlfriend (who coincidentally is also Lara Jean’s ex-best-friend) jealous, while Lara Jean hopes it will convince her real crush that she doesn’t actually have a crush on him, because he happens to be her sister’s ex-boyfriend...
Well, when you write it out like that it all sounds rather contrived, but in the movie it seems quite natural: the actors are almost uniformly excellent, and they really sell the story.
And despite all the convoluted trappings it really is a sweet story. I particularly liked how much time the leads spend talking to each other and getting to know each other: they really do seem well-suited, which is somewhat rare in a romantic comedy and even moreso in a teen movie.
It does retain one of the features I find irritating in teen movie feature teen movies, though: teen movie friendships rarely get as much screen time as I think they need. In this case, I felt that Lara Jean’s ex-friend Gen needed more development: why were they ever friends when Gen’s only real character trait is “bitchiness”?
But on the other hand To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before did give a good amount of space to Lara Jean’s relationships with her sisters: I particularly liked Lara Jean’s little sister, Kitty, who takes a part that could seem obnoxiously precocious and makes her character feel real and lovable. There’s a scene near the beginning where Kitty and Lara Jean are having a Golden Girls marathon and it’s just so real and cute and yet slightly sad, too, because eleven-year-old Kitty had other plans that Saturday night and sixteen-year-old Lara Jean didn’t.
And, on the opposite end of the emotional spectrum, there’s the scene where Lara Jean’s little sister admits to being the one who sent Lara Jean’s love letters out into the world (inspired by sad Golden Girls marathon). “I’m going to kill you,” Lara Jean says, her voice totally flat, so furious that her entire being has become an arrow of murderous intent and she has no emotion to spare for her voice. The next moment she’s chasing Kitty around the room. That also is such a sibling interaction.
Naturally, the letters mysteriously get sent. And, just as naturally, this ends with Lara Jean fake-dating her junior high crush Peter Kavinsky (these letters have been piling up for a few years). He hopes their fake relationship will make his ex-girlfriend (who coincidentally is also Lara Jean’s ex-best-friend) jealous, while Lara Jean hopes it will convince her real crush that she doesn’t actually have a crush on him, because he happens to be her sister’s ex-boyfriend...
Well, when you write it out like that it all sounds rather contrived, but in the movie it seems quite natural: the actors are almost uniformly excellent, and they really sell the story.
And despite all the convoluted trappings it really is a sweet story. I particularly liked how much time the leads spend talking to each other and getting to know each other: they really do seem well-suited, which is somewhat rare in a romantic comedy and even moreso in a teen movie.
It does retain one of the features I find irritating in teen movie feature teen movies, though: teen movie friendships rarely get as much screen time as I think they need. In this case, I felt that Lara Jean’s ex-friend Gen needed more development: why were they ever friends when Gen’s only real character trait is “bitchiness”?
But on the other hand To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before did give a good amount of space to Lara Jean’s relationships with her sisters: I particularly liked Lara Jean’s little sister, Kitty, who takes a part that could seem obnoxiously precocious and makes her character feel real and lovable. There’s a scene near the beginning where Kitty and Lara Jean are having a Golden Girls marathon and it’s just so real and cute and yet slightly sad, too, because eleven-year-old Kitty had other plans that Saturday night and sixteen-year-old Lara Jean didn’t.
And, on the opposite end of the emotional spectrum, there’s the scene where Lara Jean’s little sister admits to being the one who sent Lara Jean’s love letters out into the world (inspired by sad Golden Girls marathon). “I’m going to kill you,” Lara Jean says, her voice totally flat, so furious that her entire being has become an arrow of murderous intent and she has no emotion to spare for her voice. The next moment she’s chasing Kitty around the room. That also is such a sibling interaction.
no subject
Date: 2018-08-20 04:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-08-20 10:06 pm (UTC)