The Half of It (Netflix, 2020) by Dir. Alice Wu is really about the WHOLE of it. It’s NOT a teen-rom com. The boy doesn’t get the girl in the end. The girl doesn’t get the girl in the end. Best scene: We see the backs of MC and father washing dinner dishes. Father had just given his blessing for MC to leave their small town for college. Father: I always hoped you’d turn out more like your mother. Silence. MC stops washing dishes. Turns to father.MC: You don’t mean “dead,” right? Father: I don’t think so. Best backstory: Director Alice Wu wanted to write films, so she took a 12-week screen-writing class!The movie’s a smooth pebble to turn over in your thoughts as you choose what to write about, what you’re passionate about. If you don’t give up, it will be shared, even if it’s one EIC asking for a hundred-word movie review. 😉

Shareen K. Murayama lives in Honolulu, Hawaii. She has degrees in English from the University of Hawaii and Creative Writing from Oregon State University. Her art has been published or is forthcoming in No Contact Mag, Stone of Madness Press, The West Review, 433 Magazine, Ghostheart Lit., Crab Fat, Prometheus Dreaming, Inter|rupture & Phoebe. You can find her on IG & Twitter @ambusypoeming.