Movie Review: Two Teen Girls Get Tangled Up in LGBTQI Romance "First Girl I Loved"

Awkward teen romance gets even more complicated in First Girl I Loved.

The poster for First Girl I Loved—of two young women inches away from a kiss, tinged with fluorescent pink lights—is pretty blatantly similar to that of 2013 lesbian drama Blue is the Warmest Colour.

To be honest, it basically looks like they just changed the Instagram filter.

But it’s not entirely inaccurate to market the Los Angeles-based movie as a sort-of fuchsia-shaded, teen-friendly alternative to its extremely graphic French cousin.

They’re both queer, melancholy coming-of-age stories, after all. But where Blue spanned years, First Girl focuses on just a few painful months. And with a subplot centered on consent in ambiguous romantic encounters, First Girl I Loved also delves into a debate that is very much of the moment.

Written and directed by Kerem Sanga, it stars Dylan Gelula as Anne, a high schooler who develops a crush on softball star Sasha (Brianna Hildebrand) while profiling her for their college's yearbook.

Anne initially comes out to her best friend Clifton (Mateo Arias), and he tries to compel her back to straightness, in a highly inappropriate fashion. Sasha, meanwhile, struggles to accept her own feelings for Anne, and a dancefloor kiss between the two of them later becomes the subject of debate. It gets even more complicated when their politically correct teachers and bewildered parents try to understand what’s going on.

However, the film’s not nearly as melodramatic and grim as that synopsis might suggest. Beyond the dreamy, sun-drenched camerawork by Ricardo Diaz, there’s the warm, playful, naturalistic romance between Gelula and Hildebrand to soak in. Gelula, in particular, is excellent; Hildebrand, though good too, unfortunately can’t outshine the elaborate wig that threatens to engulf her skull throughout the flick. (As you may recall from Deadpool, she has a shaved head.)

Alternative comedians Tim Heidecker, Pamela Adlon, Cameron Esposito and Erik Griffin show off their serious sides as the adults on the periphery of the teenagers’ increasingly complicated lives. They’re each strangely compelling and effective, playing as far against type as anyone familiar with their work could imagine.

If First Girl I Loved can’t quite come to a conclusion on the myriad questions it raises about consent, it at least gently delivers the modest, honest story promised in its title.

3/5

In Melbourne's Cinema Nova and Perth's Cinema Paradiso from June 29. In Sydney's Dendy Newtown from July 13 and Brisbane's New Farm Cinemas from July 14. Rated M for mature themes, sex and coarse language.