Just like the red-colored lunch box that is used as a pivotal story-telling tool in Sunflower Girl, the story itself is packed full, except with a bunch of different themes and emotions. That’s particularly remarkable given Sunflower Girl just happens to be a short that clocks in at a mere thirteen minutes. However, that proves to be enough for director Holly M. Kaplan to convey what she was set out to.Â
The story here is rather simple. Rosie, a Chinese-American teenager, is asked by her mother to pick up her kid sister Amy from school. Her mother hands over to her the red tiffin box, packed with snacks for Amy. Rosie sets out to run the errand for her mother on her skateboard. On her way, she runs into Skyler and his best friend Cooper. It’s quite evident that Rosie has an innocent crush on Skyler, and from the look of it, he has the same for her. Skyler and Cooper are also both budding skateboarding enthusiasts, which quickly prompts Rosie into hanging out with them and going on a sort of adventure. But what happens to Amy then? And what about the red tiffin box? Well, for that, you do have to give the short film a watch. All I’ve told you so far is practically what was in the press material, which I received for reviewing purposes.
That said, you’ll be disappointed if you’re expecting a thriller. Sunflower Girl is clearly not that movie. It doesn’t make a villain out of Rosie for spending time with the boy she likes and kind of abandoning her sister. Instead, the story just treats her like a teenager. Her very realistic emotions get validated, and the character does feel like a random teenager that lives in your neighborhood. Just like her sister, Rosie is also a minor. And so are the two skateboarding boys—Skyler and Cooper. Skyler appears to be a bit shy and cautious around Rosie, and he talks to her in a very gentle manner. In stark comparison, Cooper is uncouth and acts like one of those kids who are not so easy to be friends with (that doesn’t mean you should abandon them, by the way, just clarifying). On some level, he might even be a tiny bit jealous (or sad) that his best friend is being taken away by this girl. Skateboarding, however, plays a very essential role in the story and practically binds these three with a thread. That’s certainly a common interest for them, and it’s easy to bond as kids when you have something like that.Â
Rosie being Chinese-American also has a lot of significance here. I was wondering whether director Kaplan’s own life experience has something to do with that, and then I found out that she came from Hong Kong and grew up in New York after all. Quite naturally, the immigrant angle is visible here, with Rosie originally being an outsider who’s growing up in America. For a young teenager, that poses a considerable challenge. Like, for example, other than her mother and sister, nobody actually knows her Mandarin name, Kui. That actually means sunflower, from where the title of the short comes. Rosie is like any other teenager of her age, but being an Asian-American, she does face challenges fitting in, which essentially leads to her doing certain things that might seem a bit irresponsible to you (but please consider it’s just a kid). The anticipation of liking a person at such a tender age is also there, and the way director Kaplan has handled that is a testimony of how strong her craft is.
Speaking of craft, I absolutely loved how Sunflower Girl looks. The very nineties/early 2000s aesthetic is visible here, and the credit for that goes to cinematographer Zheijan Michael Cong. Another noticeable thing is the use of the 4:3 aspect ratio, which has certainly added uniqueness to this narrative, and I guess both Cong and director Kaplan deserve the credit for that. We should also save some praise for editor Hailey Choi, who is the person responsible for making this a thirteen-minute-only thing, making complete sense. Not one single second of Sunflower Girl seems wasted, and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call this a technical marvel. My respect for Kaplan and her team also grew further after finding out the difficulties they faced while shooting the film in the busy streets of New York City.Â
It would be blasphemy on my part if I didn’t mention anything about the very young actors who have done pretty amazing work in the short. The star of the show has to be our sunflower girl Rosie, played by Indonesian actor Malea Emma. It’s impressive that, at such a young age, she has managed to deliver such a nuanced performance where she mostly had to rely on expressions rather than words. Cairo Zion, who plays Skylar, has also done a solid job. Among the rest, the little girl who plays Rosie’s sister Annie is quite the revelation.
From the press material, I got to know that director Kaplan has a plan to turn Sunflower Girl into a full-length feature. That’s an aspiration probably every short filmmaker has inside them, and given what Kaplan has managed to do in thirteen minutes, I fully believe a ninety-minute version of Sunflower Girl can work wonder. With Netflix on board as a sponsor, that’s a very real possibility, and I can’t wait for that to actually happen.