Through Love Letters, Two People Reveal Their Feelings for the Same Person

Leah Lewis in "The Half of It"
Photo Credit: Imdb.com

The power of the high-school genre is as strong as it was back in the ‘80s.  Just as John Hughes managed to bring audiences relatable stories with movies like “The Breakfast Club,” “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” and “Pretty in Pink,” we’ve also had a wealth of high-school films in the 2010s, with movies like “The Edge of Seventeen,” “Lady Bird,” “Love, Simon,” and “Booksmart.”  They all have characters who have different lifestyles when it comes to their home lives, academic lives, and social lives, which promises an eye-opening experience each time a filmmaker brings you back to high school.

This all rings true with the new coming-of-age comedy-drama, “The Half of It,” from writer-director Alice Wu.

In the small town of Squahamish, introvert Ellie Chu (Leah Lewis) makes extra money writing papers for her classmates.  When football player Paul Munsky (Daniel Diemer) asks Ellie to help him write a letter to his crush, Aster Flores (Alexxis Lemire), she agrees.  However, there’s just one problem: Ellie has feelings for Aster, as well.  Soon, as the letters commence, the feelings felt amongst the three students will become much more complicated.

Lewis, in her first major film role, excels as a young woman who’s trying to figure out who she is and where her life is going.  She does superb work in showing someone who’s bottling up everything that she is feeling, but having a need to let it out.  Lewis portrays a character who is both quick with her wit, but is still has so much that she isn’t saying, and the way that she’s able to convey that inability to express what Ellie’s feeling inside is heartbreaking.  As she begins to have her true self be shown little by little, Lewis keeps us hopeful as we wait to see if Ellie will maintain her courageousness to shed her secrets and express who she is.  This is seen in one of best sequences of the film where Ellie performs at her school’s talent show and shows the beginnings of someone who’s becoming comfortable with exhibiting her true self.

Diemer is wonderful as a kindhearted, somewhat goofy student jock.  His character is even more endearing than expected because, despite him being a popular student, he’s someone who needs a confidence boost.  He’s more than just the jock archetype, but is an individual who has an issue with saying what he feels, and the charisma that Diemer brings to the role is both fun and engaging to watch.

Lemire’s performance is one of such emotional grace that she always draws your attention, and even when she’s not on screen, she leaves an impression that has you thinking of her.  Whether she has to express herself through dialogue or expressions of contemplation, Lemire exhibits an elusiveness that hints at many unsaid feelings.  Lenire gives her character a power that has us feeling a need to unlock her character’s thoughts, and she masters the ability to keep you wondering what’s going through her mind during the film’s most pivotal moments.

Other than the three main characters, there are also a couple of fine supporting performances from Collin Chou as Ellie’s wise and supportive father, Wolfgang Novogratz as Aster’s clueless boyfriend, and Betty Ann Baker as one of Ellie’s teachers, who is given some of the movie’s funniest lines.

Wu’s screenplay goes into detail about what it means to be lovestruck and not know what to do about it.  The confusion through which the characters go is palpable, with Wu writing scenarios that feel so authentic in how the three main characters navigate their feelings and try to make sense of them.  She has created characters who are facing the same problem of being apprehensive to show who they are, but does so in such a way that makes them different from each other.  They each have their own issues with which they have to deal, and Wu fleshes out each character and brings you through the full depth of what they’re experiencing.  In the middle of the challenges that they face in terms of their love lives, Wu also provides some details about the lives at home for Ellie, Paul, and Aster, adding another layer to their arcs that makes them even more genuine than they already seem.

Wu captures the essence of what it means to travel through the halls of high school and ponder who it is that you wish to be.  She delivers the lovingness and awkwardness that are shared whenever any combination of the three main characters are on screen, creating many standout moments that show so much understanding into what’s experienced in high school.  Between the characters and the scenarios within the film, Wu keeps everything believable, which helps heighten the emotional impact of what we see.

Through Wu’s lens, “The Half of It” shows that with the high-school genre, there are still plenty of stories to tell.

Grade: A