I watched this movie with my mom and we both couldn’t help but notice it had a lot of similarities to Moonrise Kingdom (which I found dark enough to be upsetting, although I could see the merit of it) in aspects such as pacing, colour, music and even themes. I wasn’t sure what to think of it at first but I was surprised to find I actually quite liked it.
I think my enjoyment was largely due to the portrayal of Philip. When I was about 12 I’m pretty sure I viewed boys almost exactly the way Philip actually was: like they would treat me differently (better) when it was just me then when we were in groups (where I was often ignored). Or in other words, they were often willing to treat me poorly on behalf of their image. And I definitely had lots of experiences with boys that support this belief (I don’t think I even really shook this feeling until university). Maybe that’s the reason I enjoyed watching Vanessa realize Phillip wasn’t worth her time.
You go girl.