Screenshot by K. Reyes, March 2021
Bibliographic Information:
- Title: The Half of It
- Writer/Director: Alice Wu
- Starring: Leah Lewis, Daniel Diemer, Alexxis Lemire, Wolfgang Novogratz
- Release Date: May 1, 2020
- Distributed by: Netflix
- Running time: 1 hr 44 min
Genre [Format]:
- Rom-Com, Drama, Romance, LGBTQ+, #OwnVoices [Movie]
Awards or Honors:
- Tribeca Film Festival, 2020 Winner: Best Narrative Film Feature
- ReFrame Stamp 2021 Winner: Top 100 Most Popular Narrative & Animated Feature
- Plus, eight other nominations (IMDb, 2021b).
Interest Level/Rating: PG-13
Plot Summary:
Ellie Chu is a high school senior, the only Chinese girl in a fictional small town in Washington called Squahamish. ( It reminded me of Snohomish). She writes others’ essays for a fee and she’s good at it. Aster Flores is a beautiful girl whose cerebral nature is overshadowed by her beauty. She is dating a rich and handsome, local boy, Trig. Paul Munsky, awkward with girls but great in the football field, is wildly in love with Aster so he hires Ellie to revise the letter he wrote to Aster. Ellie and Paul plot to get Aster to fall in love with Paul through these letters.
It’s a modern day Cyrano de Bergerac though there is nothing unattractive about Ellie, but she is an outsider, the only Chinese person in a predominantly White town. This is not a typical modern day rom-com. It’s as messy and beautiful as the friendships and love that bloom in the world of these three seniors and in the changes in Ellie’s dad. There are many important sub plots about family loyalty, following your dreams, and finding and making that one bold stroke.
Ellie Chu is a high school senior, the only Chinese girl in a fictional small town in Washington called Squahamish. ( It reminded me of Snohomish). She writes others’ essays for a fee and she’s good at it. Aster Flores is a beautiful girl whose cerebral nature is overshadowed by her beauty. She is dating a rich and handsome, local boy, Trig. Paul Munsky, awkward with girls but great in the football field, is wildly in love with Aster so he hires Ellie to revise the letter he wrote to Aster. Ellie and Paul plot to get Aster to fall in love with Paul through these letters.
It’s a modern day Cyrano de Bergerac though there is nothing unattractive about Ellie, but she is an outsider, the only Chinese person in a predominantly White town. This is not a typical modern day rom-com. It’s as messy and beautiful as the friendships and love that bloom in the world of these three seniors and in the changes in Ellie’s dad. There are many important sub plots about family loyalty, following your dreams, and finding and making that one bold stroke.
Author Background:
Alice Wu, the director and writer of this film made her first film debut in 2005 with Saving Face, a film exploring a relationship between two female Chinese-Americans (Ito, 2020). Fifteen years later, she wrote and directed The Half of It, making this only her second film. Wu was born in California in 1970, the daughter of Taiwanese immigrant parents. She attended MIT then transferred to Stanford where she studied Computer Science (IMDb.com. (2021a). She worked for Microsoft for a while before a screenwriting class, taken on a whim, changed the trajectory of her career (Ito, 2020). Wu came out as lesbian while she was in Stanford and where one of her classes on Gender Studies made her realize her identity. But this revelation, shared with her mother, resulted in their estranged relationship for a few years (Johnson, 2012).
Alice Wu, the director and writer of this film made her first film debut in 2005 with Saving Face, a film exploring a relationship between two female Chinese-Americans (Ito, 2020). Fifteen years later, she wrote and directed The Half of It, making this only her second film. Wu was born in California in 1970, the daughter of Taiwanese immigrant parents. She attended MIT then transferred to Stanford where she studied Computer Science (IMDb.com. (2021a). She worked for Microsoft for a while before a screenwriting class, taken on a whim, changed the trajectory of her career (Ito, 2020). Wu came out as lesbian while she was in Stanford and where one of her classes on Gender Studies made her realize her identity. But this revelation, shared with her mother, resulted in their estranged relationship for a few years (Johnson, 2012).
Critical Evaluation:
The Half of It is the first film I’ve seen in years where the protagonist is not a stereotypical model minority or the brilliant Asian sidekick trope. The plot is very much an homaige to Cyrano deBergerac but with a clever twist that makes this Rom-Com so refreshing. The movie works on so many different levels. Besides the seemingly simple love story that blossoms, not where one expects, there is also the larger theme of the tight bonds of family and the families we are born with versus the families that we build ourselves. The plot is replete with symbols and recurring motifs such as reflecting mirrors and blank walls. Ellie is shown in the beginning of the story huffing up the hill in her bike in an image reminiscent of Sisyphus.
The cinematography creatively blends 2D animation in the beginning which contains symbols that show up later in the film. The film also incorporates augmented reality scenes where we see the characters texting each other and we read the text almost as if we were voyeurs. Overall, the actors so naturally inhabit their characters that the viewer becomes vested in the happy outcome of each of them, even if it is not what any of the characters planned for themselves. This film is sure to be a classic and will withstand critical scrutiny.
The Half of It is the first film I’ve seen in years where the protagonist is not a stereotypical model minority or the brilliant Asian sidekick trope. The plot is very much an homaige to Cyrano deBergerac but with a clever twist that makes this Rom-Com so refreshing. The movie works on so many different levels. Besides the seemingly simple love story that blossoms, not where one expects, there is also the larger theme of the tight bonds of family and the families we are born with versus the families that we build ourselves. The plot is replete with symbols and recurring motifs such as reflecting mirrors and blank walls. Ellie is shown in the beginning of the story huffing up the hill in her bike in an image reminiscent of Sisyphus.
The cinematography creatively blends 2D animation in the beginning which contains symbols that show up later in the film. The film also incorporates augmented reality scenes where we see the characters texting each other and we read the text almost as if we were voyeurs. Overall, the actors so naturally inhabit their characters that the viewer becomes vested in the happy outcome of each of them, even if it is not what any of the characters planned for themselves. This film is sure to be a classic and will withstand critical scrutiny.
Exploring Love - looking at the opening scene of the movie:
(Netflix Film Club, 2020)
Creative Use for a Library Program:
Resurrecting the dying (or practically dead) art of letter writing has always been a secret wish of mine. This movie would be fun to show as a prelude to doing a letter writing project. I have always envisioned a letter writing station equipped with attractive stationary, stickers and other fun writing accoutrements and students can write their letters and send them via snail mail (stamps provided by me...because I doubt they’d take the time to purchase them from the post office).
Resurrecting the dying (or practically dead) art of letter writing has always been a secret wish of mine. This movie would be fun to show as a prelude to doing a letter writing project. I have always envisioned a letter writing station equipped with attractive stationary, stickers and other fun writing accoutrements and students can write their letters and send them via snail mail (stamps provided by me...because I doubt they’d take the time to purchase them from the post office).
Speed-Round Book Talk or Short Book Trailer:
Ever wish you could find that perfect someone made just for you and they fall madly in love when they see you? This movie will make you wish that as you watch Ellie, Paul, and Aster get to know each other and in turn discover the different ways we love and show that love. You will laugh, cry, and feel all their pain as they break and rebuild themselves and their friendship.
Ever wish you could find that perfect someone made just for you and they fall madly in love when they see you? This movie will make you wish that as you watch Ellie, Paul, and Aster get to know each other and in turn discover the different ways we love and show that love. You will laugh, cry, and feel all their pain as they break and rebuild themselves and their friendship.
Potential Challenge Issues and Defense Preparation:
Topics involving LGBTQ+ is still sadly something being challenged. Houde’s book provides excellent rationale to address many of the questions from those who are resistant to LGBTQ+ materials to those who are outright hostile towards anything LGBTQ+ (2018). Every librarian should read this book to help them prepare their defense or just to give them the language to explain why these types of materials and subjects are worthy of an audience.
Topics involving LGBTQ+ is still sadly something being challenged. Houde’s book provides excellent rationale to address many of the questions from those who are resistant to LGBTQ+ materials to those who are outright hostile towards anything LGBTQ+ (2018). Every librarian should read this book to help them prepare their defense or just to give them the language to explain why these types of materials and subjects are worthy of an audience.
Reason for Inclusion:
This movie will appeal to teens especially those who have always felt marginalized and underrepresented or unrepresented in the big screen. Ellie is every kid who’s so used to being a wallflower that you’ll cheer when she finally finds her own voice.
This movie will appeal to teens especially those who have always felt marginalized and underrepresented or unrepresented in the big screen. Ellie is every kid who’s so used to being a wallflower that you’ll cheer when she finally finds her own voice.
REFERENCES
IMDb.com. (2021a). Alice Wu. IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1226108/bio
IMDb.com. (2021b). The half of it. IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9683478/awards?ref_=tt_awd
Houde, L. (2018). Collection development: Will they find themselves at the library? In Serving LGBTQ teens: a practical guide for librarians (pp. 35–52). Rowman & Littlefield.
Ito, R. (2020, May 1). Alice Wu's lesbian rom-com was influential, but her follow-up wasn't easy. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/29/movies/the-half-of-it-alice-wu.html
Johnson, G. A. (2012, January 19). Alice Wu saved up her own doubts and struggles and turned them into the new comedy 'Saving Face'. SFGATE. https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Alice-Wu-saved-up-her-own-doubts-and-struggles-2629266.php
Netflix Film Club. (2020, May 6). Alice Wu breaks down The Half of It opening sequence [Video File]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/k-HluiLrsvw
IMDb.com. (2021b). The half of it. IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9683478/awards?ref_=tt_awd
Houde, L. (2018). Collection development: Will they find themselves at the library? In Serving LGBTQ teens: a practical guide for librarians (pp. 35–52). Rowman & Littlefield.
Ito, R. (2020, May 1). Alice Wu's lesbian rom-com was influential, but her follow-up wasn't easy. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/29/movies/the-half-of-it-alice-wu.html
Johnson, G. A. (2012, January 19). Alice Wu saved up her own doubts and struggles and turned them into the new comedy 'Saving Face'. SFGATE. https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Alice-Wu-saved-up-her-own-doubts-and-struggles-2629266.php
Netflix Film Club. (2020, May 6). Alice Wu breaks down The Half of It opening sequence [Video File]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/k-HluiLrsvw
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