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Independent cinema has long been enamored with the coming-of-age story. Especially for early career filmmakers, the rough road from adolescence to some semblance of adulthood offers the ultimate hero’s journey — mired in unexpected obstacles both external and within. There’s another reason so many first-time filmmakers choose this narrative path: they’re usually quite close to it themselves.

In her scrappy feature debut “Inbetween Girl,” writer/director Mei Makino shows small town America through the experience of a biracial Chinese American teenager as she navigates first love, sexuality, family upheaval, and artistic ambitions. With so many irons in the fire, “Inbetween Girl” bites off more than it can chew, and the amateur cast does it no favors, but it is

The saving grace of “Inbetween Girl” is its boisterous, sarcastic, and amiable protagonist, sixteen-year-old Angie Chen, who is brought to life by a naturalistic performance from newcomer Emma Galbraith.

Writer-director Mei Makino explores biracial identity in the coming-of-age film “Inbetween Girl,” which won the Visions Award at SXSW 2021. The film will be released by Utopia on demand May 3. Below, IndieWire shares the exclusive trailer.

Newcomer Emma Galbraith stars as Angie Chen, a teen artist who is secretly hooking up with popular jock Liam (William Magnuson). While Angie starts having sex — and endures the awkwardness of losing her virginity — Liam starts flirting with her classmates.

Angie vlogs diary entries to get through her parents’ divorce and grapple with the fact that there are few things in her control. Throwing another wrench into Angie’s problems is the fact that her Chinese father starts to date a Chinese woman with the “perfect” archetypal Chinese-American daughter, someone that Angie feels like she can never be since she is half white.

“With our partnership with Utopia, I sincerely hope ‘Inbetween Girl’ finds its...

Mei Makino's Inbetween Girl thrives at the crossroads of cultural identity, sexual exploration, and complex relationships - the recipe for a modern coming-of-age film. In her directorial debut, Makino explores life through the lens of high-school senior Angie Chen (played by Emma Galbraith), and to put it bluntly, Angie is going through it. Her parents are getting divorced, she's crushing on a boy who's out of reach, and she's confronted with racial insecurities otherwise left undisturbed.

Inbetween Girl stands in contrast to your traditional teen rom-coms, although the director did use many classic films for inspiration. Instead, Angie confronts the messiness of her senior year head on, and in a film that tackles heavy issues, Makino makes room for hope, growth, and humor. There's a comical relatability to Angie's awkwardness, her quick wit, and even her immaturity. Angie's endearing flawed nature makes her easy to root for. To explore her story even more,...

In an SXSW littered with feature directorial debuts, the runway for new voices to emerge has never been wider. While the opportunity has been there, however, the results have been mixed, at best. So you’ll have to understand my excitement when I came across a coming-of-age drama centering an Asian-American teen who becomes sexually liberated in Galveston, Texas, amidst her parents’ messy divorce. Mei Makino’s directorial feature debut “Inbetween Girl” features breakout performances from its young cast, instructional life lessons for teenage girls, and heartwarming growth that never feels mawkish or put-on but organic and tangible.

Read More: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2021

Angie Chen (Emma Galbraith), the focus of Makino’s brisk screenplay, is a sarcastic whip-smart artist attending an Episcopalian high school.

Continue reading ‘Inbetween Girl’: A Liberated, Clever Coming-of-Age Story [SXSW Review] at The Playlist.

Romcoms have long been a staple of the American high school fantasy, but what happens when high school is actually kind of… messy? Mei Makino’s debut feature “Inbetween Girl” presents a raw coming-of-age drama revolving around Angie Chen (Emma Galbraith), a bluntly unapologetic Chinese-Caucasian high school student. Her tough facade begins to falter, however, when things start to spin out of control. Her white mother seems inattentive at home; her Chinese father moves on to the dream Chinese American family; and her crush, school heartthrob Liam (William Magnuson), starts to whisper sweet-nothings in her ear while dating the school’s most popular girl, Sheryl (Emily Garrett). “Inbetween Girl” grapples with the growing pains of a soul-searching outsider pit in an existential maelstrom amid the picturesque East End of Galveston, Texas.

“Inbetween Girl” will play at SXSW, and perhaps no festival would have been a better fit for this Texas native.

For her feature film debut, Mei Makino wanted to create a story that captured the flaws and imperfections of teenage life—particularly the confusion of having a multiracial identity. She initially sought to model her protagonist after the Black Latina students she taught in her Austin, Tex., youth film program, but when local actress Emma Galbraith auditioned, she rewrote the character as hapa—of half-Asian descent, like Makino and Galbraith both are.

The resultant Inbetween Girl (which will have its world premiere tomorrow as part of SXSW’s Visions section) is Angie Chen, a senior at an Episcopalian school on the Texas island ...

For her feature film debut, Mei Makino wanted to create a story that captured the flaws and imperfections of teenage life—particularly the confusion of having a multiracial identity. She initially sought to model her protagonist after the Black Latina students she taught in her Austin, Tex., youth film program, but when local actress Emma Galbraith auditioned, she rewrote the character as hapa—of half-Asian descent, like Makino and Galbraith both are.

The resultant Inbetween Girl (which will have its world premiere tomorrow as part of SXSW’s Visions section) is Angie Chen, a senior at an Episcopalian school on the Texas island ...