The Half of It (2020) Movie Review

『True Feelings Conveyed in the Most Private Ways』

🎥 Movie Overview

🎬 Title: The Half of It (2020)
🌍 Country: 🇺🇸 United States
🎞️ Genre: Drama / Coming-of-Age / Queer / Romance
📢 Director: Alice Wu
📺 Platform: Netflix

👩‍💼 Cast: Leah Lewis – Ellie Chu
Alexxis Lemire – Aster Flores
Daniel Diemer – Paul Munsky

🧩 In-Depth Story Exploration (Spoilers)

💬 The Triangle of Affection

Ellie Chu is a shy, academically gifted Chinese-American high school student living in the fictional, remote town of Squahamish, Washington. She lives with her widowed father (Colin Chou) who mourns her deceased mother and makes money by writing essays for classmates. Paul Munsky is a soccer player, pure-hearted but socially awkward. He has a crush on the school’s popular and beautiful pastor’s daughter, Aster Flores.

✉️ True Feelings Through Letters

Paul asks Ellie to secretly write love letters to Aster on his behalf, offering her money. Ellie reluctantly agrees due to her family circumstances. Disguised as Paul, Ellie exchanges letters and texts with Aster, discussing art, literature, and other deep topics, secretly growing fond of her. Through this process, Ellie realizes her own feelings for Aster.

💔 Emotional Gaps and Growth

While ghostwriting the letters, Ellie and Paul form an unexpected friendship. The film focuses less on "who wins the girl" and more on the friendship between Ellie and Paul, Ellie’s family bond with her father, and the protagonist’s journey to discover her identity and pursue her dreams—a story of self-love.

🕊️ Facing True Feelings

The Half of It rejects the conventional teen romance comedy formula. As Ellie Chu’s narration opens declaring, "This is not a Love Story," the film explores deeper themes of growth, friendship, and self-discovery.

🦋 Emotional Resonance and Significance

🌈 ‘Cyrano’ Reimagined: Subverting Romantic Expectations

The film twists the plot of the classic play Cyrano de Bergerac for a modern and diverse context. Speech-challenged soccer player Paul Munsky asks the smart but shy outsider Ellie Chu to ghostwrite letters to their crush, the popular Aster Flores.

In the original, Cyrano’s nose was the obstacle; in this film, Ellie’s sexual identity (lesbian) and ethnicity (Chinese-American) isolate her in the conservative town of Squahamish. Through Paul as an anonymous conduit, Ellie communicates genuinely with Aster, cultivating emotions. The narrative emphasizes authentic connection and communication over the question of "who ends up with the girl."

🎥 Journey of Self-Discovery: Finding ‘Me’ Beyond Love

The true triumph of the film is not the acquisition of romance, but each character gaining the courage to pursue the life they truly want, free from oppressive circumstances.

• Ellie Chu: Confined by responsibility toward her father and her isolated life, Ellie neglects her own dream of attending college. Her heartfelt feelings for Aster lead her to bold action (confessing at church) and finally take a 'Bold Stroke' for herself by going to college.
• Aster Flores: Trapped in the role of the perfect daughter and devoted partner to a devout fiancé, Aster realizes through intellectual exchange with Ellie via letters what she truly wants (to attend art school).
• Paul Munsky: Breaks free from family tradition of making sausages and gains the courage to create his own 'taco sausage.'

Ellie narrates, "Love is not patient, kind, or humble. Love is messy, terrible, selfish, and bold." This definition encompasses Ellie’s confession to Aster, Paul pursuing his dreams, and all the imperfect and daring actions that complete the film’s thematic essence.

🧭 How to Complete the Half

The Half of It centers on queer Asian-American teenagers typically sidelined in mainstream teen films, transforming their experiences into universal emotions of loneliness, isolation, and the longing for connection.

At the ending, Ellie shares her first and last kiss with Aster, but this is not a romantic triumph—it is a moment of self-discovery, expressing her emotions, and gaining the strength to move forward. The film suggests that true growth lies not in finding a destined 'other half,' but in understanding one’s own 'half' and standing whole on one’s own.

The film demonstrates that true love is not completed through others, but through relationships that help discover oneself and gain courage to face the world confidently.

🎯 Personal Rating

💕 Love Scene Intensity: ♥
⭐ Rating: ★★★★