One of the most glaring themes of coming-of-age films is that there never seems to be a clear or distinguishable plot to keep track of. This genre of film typically falls more into being more slice-of-life than not and while this lack of clear progression used to get on my nerves, I have grown to love it. However, that can only be done to some extent without becoming meaningless. Lara Jean Gallagher's Clementine, unfortunately, falls into this trap and this film reveals itself to be an odd, sexually-driven movie that clearly struggles to find its footing. Gallagher seems to be a decent writer but I failed to see what any of these characters' actions meant to do with each other. There is a lot to love about this movie, from the excellent performances to the recognizably indie score, and there is no denying that Gallagher is a technically-driven director with lots of promise. I could not expect a masterpiece from her at this point, but this film shows the promise and talent she has as a writer and director and it will be interesting to see what story she takes on next.
When Karen (Otmara Marrero) finds out that her ex-girlfriend D (Sonya Walger) had been cheating on her, she moves out and goes to her lakehouse to escape. There, she has an encounter with Lana (Sydney Sweeney), a young and adventurous girl who attracts and tempts Karen, challenging her morals more than anyone has done before. The main element of this movie that I genuinely loved was the direction from Lara Jean Gallagher. She proves that she absolutely knows how to direct a film, as this movie hits all of the story beats and touches on all of its characters decently well. The pacing was excellent and so much of this story is derived from visual storytelling, which I will always adore. While Gallagher is definitely a strong director, her script is where I failed to really get into this story as much as I would have liked. It almost seems like too much of this film was left to her direction instead of written dialogue or screenwriting and because of that, it was very difficult to follow what was going on in the minds of Karen and Lana. But even when there was dialogue, it came off as incredibly generic, almost to the point of being inauthentic. There are many tropes and clichés that writers follow when it comes to writing dialogue and I just really do not think that any of the characters involved in this film were interesting enough to warrant 95 minutes about their struggles, given that they did not seem to have much to work off. The main issue is that no context at all is given to these characters' actions, why they ended up at this lakehouse, and why they do the things that they do. That is not always a problem, but once the characters of Karen and Lana are fleshed out more, there is no payoff whatsoever. Karen remains a frustrated woman at the center of not one, but two complex relationships, and nothing is really resolved for her while Lana just turns out to be what the audience expected the entire time. This movie does not quite do what most coming-of-age movies do and although films don't have to follow rules to be successful, this one definitely needed a more concise path to follow.
As for the rest of Clementine, it was fine! There are lots of things about this movie that I genuinely enjoyed, including the performances and music that was used throughout. Katy Jarzebowski's score was incredible and accompanied the tone of the film very well. It did border a bit too much on thriller than was necessary, but it added an extra level of discomfort to display Karen's story very well. Marrero and Sweeney's performances are also clear highlights, as they reach fantastic levels that I have not seen from them before. As Marrero is a somewhat newcomer to acting in features, Sweeney has a bit more experience and she, in particular, is incredible as Lana. I mostly know her as a supporting actress up until this point but she takes over this film with a naive sense of seduction that is incredibly fitting for her character. Although the actual words from their mouths never seemed to be the most believable, Sweeney and Marrero work with what they have to the best degree possible. Their chemistry together was a bit stoic and awkward but for the sake of this film, that is exactly what it called for. As their characters grew on each other, they became a lot better together on screen and this progression was fantastic to see. I also really appreciated how this movie does not only focus on Karen's past relationship and her newfound entanglement with Lana. Her character arc is thankfully not completely characterized by being gay but Gallagher's script makes her a multi-dimensional and actually interesting person. This film touches on the power of music in a relationship, how harmful putting labels on people can be, and shining light on the horrible, underage exploitation that happens to young girls every day. These themes are not entirely what the film revolves around, but I at least liked how they were introduced to build this world a bit more. If only Gallagher's direction had delved deeper into the backstory and personal life of Karen I would have been a bit more sold, but I am happy with the representation and clear sense of writing that we were given.
Clementine is definitely worth a watch for the superb and vulnerable performances by the two leads and some creative technical choices, but I just did not get much from this overall story. Despite the script lacking in much-needed detail, this film has everything else that a little indie movie needs to succeed. It might not be the most memorable of films or the most groundbreaking, but the storytelling abilities showcased throughout this movie display just how passionate Gallagher is about her work.
My Rating: ★★★
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