I Will Make You Mine

Its an eye opener. Great story line. Glad to watch a film like this in womans perspective. Sometimes womans point of view are least prioritized. But in this movie it feels like woman are given chance to tell their own story and struggles. I love you Lynn Chen! 🙌🏼

Some of my favourite movies are those that have now been given the term "Mumblecore." This is when a movie is pretty much only about characters walking around, talking, reminiscing, while also conveying a compelling narrative along the way. Back in 2011, a film called Surrogate Valentine made its way around a few film festivals, as well as its sequel, Daylight Savings, in 2012. Having really enjoyed both of those films, I was very much looking forward to the conclusion of this trilogy eight years later. I Will Make You Mine is now streaming on-demand and I absolutely recommend it to film fans, but only if you go back and watch Surrogate Valentine and Daylight Savings first.

The first two films followed Goh Nakamura and his struggling career, while also trying to juggle some romance in his life. Being with a few girls along the way, I Will Make You Mine slightly takes the focus away from him, but also keeps him as the heart of the story. All three of his love interests in Yea-Ming, Rachel, and Erika are all at the forefront here, as they all come into contact with Goh once again. With the way that the story was left at the end of the last film, this movie just felt like one big breath of fresh air to me.

If you're wondering what the story of this film is, it's really just that. We pick up eight years later with Goh and these girls all come back into his life. These films are all under 80 minutes long and at their core, they're really just letting you spend time with these characters. Unlike the films Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, and Before Midnight, these films felt even looser in terms of storytelling. That trilogy had a beginning, middle, and end, while these films could probably pick up once again in another ten years. So, if you're looking for something very light and breezy to throw on one day, I would recommend watching all three of these movies.

Surrogate Valentine and Daylight Savings were both directed by Dave Boyle, who did a fantastic job with such low budgets. Following in that same vein, Lynn Chen, who also stars in the films as Rachel, tried her hand at both writing and directing this one, and I must admit, after making it through the first two movies, I believe this one had the most payoff. I think her directing capabilities are the best in the trilogy, not to take away anything from Boyle though. Although this was incredibly low budget, I would love to see her breakout with a slightly bigger budget and wider release.

In the end, it really is films like this that make me appreciate filmmaking so much. You can make a movie with a budget of 250-300 million dollars like Avengers: Endgame and be fantastic, but sometimes it just takes the touch of a good filmmaker, no matter how big your budget is, in order to make something worth watching. I highly recommend this trilogy of films. Sure, some viewers may ponder what the point of these films even is, but I think you'll appreciate it as a trilogy once you make it to I Will Make You Mine. This third installment was great and the trilogy itself is very much worthwhile, especially for young filmmakers. It's a great example of a low budget being used in the right way.

What a treat to find a movie with this kind of heart. At a time when the world is hurting so much, and so torn apart, 'I Will Make You Mine' takes great care to tell a story that we all need. A story about love, and loss, about friendship and heart ache, and about getting on with living. Lynn Chen tells this story with tenderness but doesn't pull any punches, and the cast is pitch perfect. I highly recommend it.

Listening to a song compels Rachel to wonder about her best friend growing up, Goh. A song performed by Goh at a funeral moves his partner to reconsider her life. And another part of Goh's past misses her music and puts her on a path to reconnect with him as well. The outcomes of each transforming their lives and sparking old memories and feelings.

I wonder if young people will get it but I thought it was an interesting plot that riffs on memory and music being so thickly intertwined. I thought it was touching and had great performances from the actors and best direction and writing. I don't really understand why black and white was a good fit for the film, but i really enjoyed the film regardless.

As a first time feature director, I feel like Lynn Chen had an awful lot to say about women, about being Asian in America, about relationships, about getting older, and about the female perspective on love and just life in general. A lot of these topics are things that don't get explored very often in cinema so this adds a level of importance to the film as well. If these are the types of stories that we are going to see from Chen in the future, I am going to need to know where I can sign up to be first in line for all of it.

I Will Make You Mine will make you fall in love with story telling, with cinema, and with a film maker that I believe is just getting started. This movie not only completes the Surrogate Valentine trilogy, it makes the other two films better. In a year that so far has been quite a bit different from any we have experienced during our time, this movie easily stands out as 2020's first truly great film.