''First Girl I Loved'' is a 2016 American
romantic drama
Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...
film written and directed by Kerem Sanga. It stars
Dylan Gelula
Dylan Nicole Gelula (born May 7, 1994) is an American actress who is best known for her role of Xanthippe on ''Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt'', as well as her work in independent film.
In 2016, Gelula made her film debut as the lead actress with r ...
,
Brianna Hildebrand
Brianna Caitlin Hildebrand (born August 14, 1996) is an American actress. She is best known for appearing as Negasonic Teenage Warhead in the films ''Deadpool'' (2016) and ''Deadpool 2'' (2018). She is also known for appearing in the web series ...
,
Tim Heidecker
Timothy Richard Heidecker (; born February 3, 1976) is an American comedian, writer, director, actor, and musician. Along with Eric Wareheim, he is a member of the comedy duo Tim & Eric.
He has also appeared in films, including ''Bridesmaids' ...
and
Pamela Adlon
Pamela Fionna Adlon (; ; born July 9, 1966) is an American actress. She is known for voicing Bobby Hill in the animated comedy series ''King of the Hill'' (1997–2010), for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award. She also voiced Baloo in ''Jungl ...
. The film
premiered
A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition.
A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its first ...
at the
2016 Sundance Film Festival
The 2016 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 21 to January 31, 2016. The first lineup of competition films was announced on December 2, 2015. The opening night film was ''Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You'', directed by Heidi Ew ...
and won the Audience Award for "Best of NEXT".
The film follows two teenage girls, nerdy yearbook editor Anne and
softball
Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...
star Sasha, wrestling with their sexuality at a Los Angeles high school.
It was released in the United States and Canada in select theaters and on demand October 18, 2016.
Plot
While watching a high school softball game, yearbook editor Anne falls for the team star Sasha. She confesses her realization to her best friend Clifton, who reacts badly due to his own feelings for Anne. He kisses Anne, and, after she pushes him away, Cliff rapes her, while she remains frozen in shock. She eventually pushes him away and tearfully expresses that her current crush is not a boy, as Clifton had assumed, but a girl. Clifton calls her a dyke and accuses her of leading him on.
Under the guise of yearbook interviews, Anne visits Sasha and the two begin to strike up a friendship. Their relationship grows over the upcoming weeks through their
texting
Text messaging, or texting, is the act of composing and sending electronic messages, typically consisting of alphabetic and numeric characters, between two or more users of mobile devices, desktops/laptops, or another type of compatible compute ...
, culminating in Anne comforting Sasha after the latter causes her team to lose their big game.
Clifton continues to lash out at Anne in jealousy. When Anne discovers he broke her bike lock and caused it to be stolen, she attacks him during their yearbook class, causing her to receive disciplinary action from the school. Clifton remains engaged in his plan to sabotage Anne, ultimately asking out Sasha himself. However, he begins to regret his actions during a meeting with his guidance counselor.
After being reprimanded by the school and arguing with her mother, Anne goes on a hangout with Sasha and convinces her to let her sleep over at Sasha's house. That same night, the two sneak out to a bar and flirt with some men, but end up dancing with each other and kissing. Sasha is confused following their encounter, but lets Anne return home and the two share her bed.
The following day, Sasha refuses to speak to Anne and attempts dating Clifton, but he has accepted Anne dating her and mistakes Sasha's offer to be for him to be a
beard
A beard is the hair that grows on the jaw, chin, upper lip, lower lip, cheeks, and neck of humans and some non-human animals. In humans, usually pubescent or adult males are able to grow beards.
Throughout the course of history, societal at ...
. Anne tries unsuccessfully to resume her relationship with Sasha, even admitting her crush in public, but Sasha remains distant.
Growing hurt, Anne secretly includes a picture in the school yearbook of her and Sasha kissing. The swapped photo is printed in every yearbook, and the families of Clifton, Anne, and Sasha are called by the school to convene. There, Sasha asserts that the encounter in the photograph was non-consensual and depicted Anne taking advantage of her while she was drunk. Clifton, grappling with his own breach of Anne's consent, takes the blame for placing the photo in the yearbook and expresses how much of the student body knew the two were dating. Sasha ultimately concedes that she "doesn't know" if she hadn't or had consented. Anne and her mother then leave the meeting.
Later that day, Anne visits Jasmine, the owner of the bar and retail store where she and Sasha hung out, now to test herself for
HIV
The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...
. The two share a period of reflection over her history, in which Anne comments on another coercive sexual experience. Anne discuss her heartache over Sasha and accepts that she is gay. As she leaves, she sees her stolen bike in the shop window and reenters the store.
Cast
Critical reception
The film has received positive reviews and has a 90% "Fresh" rating on
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, based on 31 reviews.
The website's critics consensus reads, "Intelligent, empathetic, and well-acted, ''First Girl I Loved'' explores teen romance from a refreshing - and emotionally resonant - perspective."
''
Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...
'' critic Peter Howell praised the "smouldering drama," saying "Sexual disorientation in high school makes for movie brilliance in this "Best of NEXT" audience award winner from Sundance 2016."
''
Consequence of Sound
''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. In addition, the website also features the Festival Outlook ...
'' critic Justin Gerber wrote: "What writer and director Kerem Sanga captures so well in ''First Girl I Loved'' is high school. What he captures even better is falling in love, or the naïve idea of what it means to be in love as a teenager."
Bilge Ebiri
Bilge Ebiri (; born 1973) is an English-born American journalist and filmmaker. His first feature film, a comedy thriller entitled ''New Guy'', was released in 2004.
Early life and education
Ebiri studied film at Yale University where his thesis ...
of ''
Vulture
A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and ...
'' admired the way language, both spoken and unspoken, is used in the film, saying: "All around these kids swirls a matrix of communication: voice-over, multiple languages, text messages, innuendo, made-up diction, fake accents, even softball signals. Writer-director Kerem Sanga finds stylistic ways to express this diversity of speech."
''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' critic Dennis Harvey favored the acting performances, but stated: "The results are more well intentioned than actually purposeful, but nonetheless slick and pacey enough to hold attention." ''
SLUG
Slug, or land slug, is a common name for any apparently shell-less terrestrial gastropod mollusc. The word ''slug'' is also often used as part of the common name of any gastropod mollusc that has no shell, a very reduced shell, or only a smal ...
''s Alexander Ortega praised the film's "nontraditional narrative structure" and commented: "The sensations that ''First Girl I Love'' generates through the fugue storytelling device, however, communicates their urgency and gravity."
''
Collider
A collider is a type of particle accelerator which brings two opposing particle beams together such that the particles collide. Colliders may either be ring accelerators or linear accelerators.
Colliders are used as a research tool in particle ...
'' critic Tommy Cook described the film as "a collage of time-half-remembered," saying that "for a film that tackles such weighty subjects as consent & homophobia, ''First Girl I Loved'' never gets bogged down in melodrama. It's a kind film – heartfelt and empathetic – a memory more than earned."
Awards
2016 Audience Award: Next at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival
References
External links
* {{IMDb title, tt4262174
2016 films
2016 independent films
2016 LGBT-related films
2016 romantic drama films
2010s coming-of-age drama films
2010s high school films
American coming-of-age drama films
American high school films
American independent films
American romantic drama films
American teen LGBT-related films
American teen romance films
Films scored by John Swihart
Films set in Los Angeles
Lesbian-related films
LGBT-related coming-of-age films
LGBT-related romantic drama films
Sundance Film Festival award-winning films
2010s English-language films
2010s American films