Written and directed by Lilly Hu, who also stars in the film, two teenage girls, Yin Jia (Chen Xuanyu) and Tong Tong (Hu), live together in this colour-drenched vision of Changsha, China. When Tong Tong drifts away and falls in with a drug dealer (Bo Yang), Yin Jia’s love for her means she’ll risk everything to keep Tong Tong by her side.
Young love can be plenty tragic on its own, before you even add in that it’s unrequited, between a young queer person and a manipulative person, and that the former has had plenty of tragedy in her life already. Adding that all together, Lilly Hu has created a recipe for some difficult viewing in 1 Girl Infinite. It can be painfully awkward and vulnerable to an incredibly uncomfortable degree, so this one isn’t going to be for everyone. Hu injects youth into this film with the utmost authenticity.
The pacing is quite slow so if you were already at a level of discomfort, it isn’t going to go away because it’s very gradual and increasingly intense. Hu captures an extremely strong atmosphere, it has that feel of young love in the sense of that the world could come crumbling down around at any minute, with any tiny decision. It’s filled with notes of desperation, desire and naivety, and Hu employs a really great amount of movement to keep the intensity going. It’s never still, it has a frantic nature and while it does move slowly, it’s always upping the stakes, growing the emotions.
Hu and Chen Xuanyu absolutely match that tone with their performances, they’re truly all in on these characters. They throw themselves into the chaos and catastrophe that is this complicated, unhealthy friendship-relationship. Hu captures the classic popular girl energy, she’s plenty attentive when she needs something but around other popular girls she turns into a different person entirely. She can be quickly harsh and volatile, while Xuanyu’s Yin Jiais sensitive, fiercely loyal and committed. She has a different type of volatility while being exceptionally clingy, making her sweet but combustible.
1 Girl Infinite has the problem of being so convincing that it’s genuinely difficult to watch. Lilly Hu taps so intensely into that unstable relationship, with a remarkably damaged young woman taking the lead that its strengths are also its weaknesses. It’s a touch too slow but sincerely intense, the story is not entirely satisfying but is purposefully chaotic. The performances are strong and the direction from Lilly Hu is undeniably strong. As a debut feature it’s a great effort, it may be flawed but Hu really throws everything into it. It will likely strike a loud, bold chord with young queer women as there’s a lot to relate to in that complex friendship, and it will be interesting to see what she does next.
FilmCarnage.com 