From Omeleto.
A woman reunites with a childhood friend.
GOLDEN CHILD is used with permission from Hannah Levin. Learn more at https://instagram.com/hannahblevin.
Lulu is a young woman trying to feel confident and at home in her skin, trying to feel empowered and positive about her body and self. At her dad’s birthday party, she re-encounters her childhood friend Alex, who urinated on her when they played together when they were little.
Lulu finds it hard to maintain an empowered attitude when the people around her have certain attitudes about bodies, weight and other topics. But seeing Alex makes Lulu realize she might not have moved on from her past trauma as much as she thinks.
Directed and written by Hannah Levin, this acerbic short comedy takes a satirical look at the ideas of healing, empowerment and self-confidence. Lulu is trying to embrace and live out concepts like body positivity, healing and other trendy mental health topics. But when her childhood "friend" Alex shows up at her dad’s birthday party, she is forced to confront a painful memory of that time. How that past is treated by Lulu and others in her life offers rich comedic minefields to explore, as Lulu tries to get her family to take her discomfort seriously, only for them to take misguided measures to avoid conflict and accountability.
Shot with a bright, natural contemporary look that evokes a willfully blithe take on California suburbia, the writing is sharp, perceptive and smart, observing the tension between extolling self-confidence and actually having it. Lulu proclaims her empowerment with her proclamations and choices of a revealing swimsuit, which pokes fun at the absurd and hollow ways we’re "sold" empowerment. But she also can’t escape and react to the perceptions that her family has of her, her body and her past. Anyone who has ever felt their parent or authority figure treat them like a child or a teenager understands this dynamic and how it can provoke irritation and a strong desire to prove them wrong or right the injustice — a trap that Lulu falls into, especially when Lulu’s childhood tormentor arrives at the party.
The comedy is particularly satirical when Lulu tries to get her family to understand why his presence makes her uncomfortable, and they exert considerable mental or verbal gymnastics to avoid their role in Lulu’s pain. She’s indignant when they minimize her feelings or experience, and though these moments are played for laughs, Levin as the actor playing Lulu keeps her emotions real and understatedly natural.
The film in general keeps the discomfort of everyone — from the parents trying to pretend their neuroses haven’t affected Lulu to the childhood meanie who acts as if nothing happened — close to the surface but barely varnished with denial and minimization. It makes the final joke of GOLDEN CHILD not only richly deserved but also a clever way to wrap up Lulu’s emotional arc. As unorthodox as it is, it helps her find her way of healing the past, even when everyone around her refuses to acknowledge it.
