Over/Under review – beautiful coming of age story of female best friends set across five summers

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Over/Under review – beautiful coming of age story of female best friends set across five summers

The Guardian · 3 hours ago

This is a review of Over/Under, a coming-of-age drama directed by Sophia Silver that follows two American girls, Violet and Stella, from ages nine to thirteen as they navigate a close friendship, bodily changes and family upheaval over five summers. The reviewer praises the film for its "astonishing naturalism" and restraint, contrasting it with Richard Linklater's Boyhood while noting it achieves its effect on a far more compact production schedule.

The two girls, played by Emajean Bullock and Anastasia Veronica Lee, spend summers together in New England but face harder realities at home during the rest of the year: Violet is bullied over her appearance and her parents' marriage appears to be failing in Los Angeles, while Stella in San Diego copes with her mother's breast cancer and her father's own family struggles. The film candidly depicts the pair's curiosity about puberty, including a scene about learning to use tampons that the reviewer says is rarely shown on screen, and the review concludes the young actors' naturalistic performances keep the story affecting without becoming twee or melodramatic.

  • Guardian reviews Over/Under, a coming-of-age film about two best friends
  • Follows Violet and Stella from ages nine to thirteen across five summers
  • Praised for naturalistic performances and honest depiction of puberty and family struggles

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