To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before is a charming romantic comedy that was adapted based on the New York Times Bestselling novel under the same name. The Netflix movie was directed by Susan Johnson starring up and coming actors like Lana Condor and Noah Centineo, as well as familiar faces like Janel Parrish and John Corbett. The movie is put together in such a way that it was captivating because of certain details and aesthetics but it was also pure rom-com magic that depicts love in many different ways.
“The cinematography was really good from the broad features to the tiny details, all of it was great,” said Stacy Mabiala, senior.
The movie is about a girl named Lara Jean Covey. When Lara Jean experiences herself developing an intense crush, she writes a letter to her crush and expresses her feelings to the person without mailing them out. She wrote five letters addressed to five different guys who are special to her in one way or another. One day, all of the letters get mailed out and Lara Jean has to deal with what comes after. All in all, the movie teaches readers the importance of expressing the way a person feel to those who are important or those who need to know.
“I really enjoyed the fresh approach to a ‘coming-of-age’ movie, and the casting was phenomenal. The actors had a great sense of natural chemistry which made them believable on screen,” said Alicia Hatmaker, social studies teacher.
One detail of the movie that has received much praise is how relatable the characters are, in particularly Lara Jean. The character Lara Jean was written by an Asian American author and played by an Asian American which excited fans because of the diversity and the fresh new faces of the film.
“It is such a refreshing change in the movie industry, especially for Netflix,” said Aislinn Chavez, senior.
When To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before was rumored to become a movie, fans of Jenny Han who had read the book prior to the announcement were ecstatic. The process of adapting the book into a movie however was not so simple for Han. In a New York Times article by Han, she expresses the difficulty of getting the books off the shelf and onto the big screen. She states in the article that many directors rejected the idea of having an Asian American actress as the lead role but ultimately Han’s stubborn steadfast belief in an diverse cast ended up becoming one of the of the most lovable qualities of the movie.
“There is power in seeing a face that looks like yours do something, be someone. There is power in moving from the sidelines to the center,” said Han in the New York Times article.
The simple fact of having the lead of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before portrayed by an Asian American female promotes the idea of diversity in movies and TV shows.
“In a movie like this, especially, where the characters are vulnerable and made to feel very ‘normal’ and human, seeing a diverse cast leads us to treat the diverse people around us as more ‘normal’ and human, as well,” said Hatmaker.
