The Half of It

Ellie Chu (Leah Lewis) penning love letters on behalf of someone else

The Half of It (2020) dir. by Alice Wu

winner of the Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival
available to stream on Netflix

This coming-of-age dramedy, loosely based on Cyrano de Bergerac, is about Ellie Chu, a loner in a small Pacific Northwest town who helps her widowed, Chinese immigrant father pay the bills by writing papers for her fellow students. Paul, the school jock, wants to hire Ellie to compose love letters to his crush, Aster (the daughter of the strict local minister). Ellie is also in love with her (secretly, from afar), but eventually complies to ghostwrite Paul’s letters and begins an intense correspondence with Aster.

The Half of It is, among many things, a film about identity. What parts of ourselves do we keep secret from others? What do we see in people vs. what they see in us? How do we change — should we change?

Overall, I found the film very sweet. I had issues with the pacing and some of the plot/character development — a lot of new information is thrown in late into the story. But I was impressed with the acting talents of the young cast. Their nuanced performances added to the sincerity of the film.

LOOKING FOR MORE? (OR SOMETHING ELSE?)

Why don't you...

- Try a 30-Day Writing Challenge to practice some creative writing of your own

- Watch this conversation with The Half of It star Leah Lewis and director Alice Wu