Face 2 Face is a movie that I recently stumbled upon while searching through Netflix. The entire movie was told completely through video chats between two childhood friends that had just reconnected. I figured that it would be interesting since most movies are not shown in such a creative way, which made me decide to watch it. The description listed in Netflix seemed extremely vague to me after watching the movie. The movie was not only about these childhood friends reconnecting, but also harder topics and more serious things. It showed what some people go through and how sometimes these hard things are not detected. The movie was also more focused on the characters friendship rather than romance, which I enjoyed. I find that friendship is often more reliable and supportive and I enjoyed that they incorporated it into the movie the way they did.
Even though this movie is rated MA, I found it beneficial for me, as a teenager, to watch it. I know many people would disagree with my statement and would find it inappropriate for me to believe such a thing, which is why I included the reasoning below. First of all, it not only talked about topics that people are afraid to speak about and create awareness, but also explored the importance of friendship and having someone to trust who is there for you. The trust throughout the movie ended up helping the character Madison escape an unfortunate recurrence that was ruining her life, and helped the character Teel feel accepted, appreciated, and loved. Secondly, it showed how you should not stay quiet about something significant, even if you believe at the time you have to. When things go wrong and people end up in bad situations, they sometimes feel as if they cannot ask for help. This movie displayed how it was okay for things to change and how they changed for the better, despite what the character thought at the time. It gave the character and the viewer a different outlook that isn’t always displayed in a positive way throughout stories.
Another thing the movie addressed was bullying. Although many stories address bullying, I found the way they addressed it in this movie beneficial. (!!Tiny spoil up ahead, so if you’re thinking about watching the movie, please do before reading the rest!!) When Teel came out gay to Madison, she accepted him and encouraged him to tell his crush. He recorded it on his phone when he told him, but ended up being beaten up and bullied by his crush’s friends. The movies that address bullying mostly focus on the girl who was shamed on social media, the unfortunate new girl who couldn’t find her way at a new school, or something along those lines. Although those could be very real situations and DO need awareness, it only addresses bullying in that sense. Since there has been an increase in LGBTQ+ characters in films and there have been many arguments over it, I found addressing this in this movie was necessary and very well done, by showing how Teel wasn’t bullied or discriminated against until he came out gay.
The way the movie was written helped me, personally, to better understand the very real life things that could be/are happening to my peers, which made me want to raise more awareness for these things and speak out about topics which people are uncomfortable to discuss even though they need to be addressed. The movie displayed many more real life things and situations, but I’ve decided to stop here because that was a lot. Overall it was a really good movie that I would recommend (with parents permission and what-not. If you are a teenager or younger I DID NOT GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO WATCH THIS MOVIE) Anyway, if you read this far, thank you. You read way more than I would have.
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