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Short Film Review: The Summer of 12 (2019) by Kuo Kuan Ling

In its 2020 edition, Queer East Film Festival too offers its program online. The festival launched a charitable initiative to raise money to support independent cinemas. Welcome to the Queer East: HomeSexual Edition that features five programmes, with 17 feature-length and short films from 9 countries. Their stories celebrate inspiring queer activism and storytelling from East and Southeast Asia

” is part of Shorts 1: She/Her at Queer East HomeSexual Edition on Demand 18 April – 17 May.

Kids swimming team, the sound of the water hitting the walls of a pool, the rhythm of the strokes. The setting makes it difficult not to think of the Taiwanese LGBTQ+ classics “Blue Gate Crossing” (2002) by Yee Chin-yen. Yet, “The Summer of 12” manages to strike its own independent way.

Changing bodies, first crushes, friendships that might become more intimate. tells a story of becoming aware of own body, feelings, inclinations. The choice of situations, moments, as well as their portrayal, constitute an eloquent mosaic. Chen Yu-hsia is one of the girls in the team. She spends her time training, playing games with friends, but only one gets to look into her world. In this world, she can become a fish, she can change her body from female to male.

The image composition that not only complies with the intimacy but also works with the architecture of the spaces adds to the playful, effortless air of the narration. The pool and water are the centerpieces, both literary and metaphorically. The walls of the pool might set the limits to the water, yet it keeps its own, fluid identity.

Kuo's script chooses familiar instants, unspoken love that becomes a frustration. She definitely shows great self-confidence and solid skill as a director. Besides, “The Summer of 12” works with a wonderful cast of kids interpreting the characters' turmoils with delicate understanding and effortless seriousness. The looks, gestures, silence, or the words that can be reassuring as they can be hurtful.

“The Summer of 12” is a beautiful take on early coming of age, full of hopes, fulfilled and those that ended in disappointment. As the film picks a spectrum of fleeting moments, it becomes a mosaic of familiar memories. In this case, these memories belong to the world, where a hurt “A girl will always be a girl,” might not stop a girl from becoming a man.

About the author

Anomalilly

Hello everyone! Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be an actress. I absolutely adored Greta Garbo. Far from her looks and even further from her talents, I ditched acting as a professional career option and went for film studies.
It must have been sometimes in my early teens, which is still too late if you look at the origin stories of my colleagues, I fell for action cinema and cinemas of the Far East. Depending on who asks, the answer to "why" question is either: 1/ The lighting style just hit me in the guts, or 2/ Have you really seen those men? (Up until now, I would welcome Han Suk-kyu to read me anything.)
I program the Asian sidebars "Eastern Promises" at Art Film Fest Košice and "Queer Asia" for Slovak Queer Film Festival. Both in Slovakia. I come from there.
Oh, and I talk quite a lot.
So long, and thanks for all the fish.

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