『Between the End and Beginning of Friendship: Moments of Growing Up』
🎥 Series Overview
🎬 Title: Almost Adults (2016)
🌍 Country: 🇨🇦 Canada
🎞️ Genre: Coming-of-Age / Friendship / Queer
🗓️ Production & Release: Unsolicited Projects, 2016, Feature-Length
⏳ Runtime: 90 minutes
📢 Director: Sarah Rotella
🖋️ Screenplay: Adrianna DiLonardo
📺 Platform: Netflix, Amazon Prime, Tubi, Vimeo On Demand
👩💼 Cast: Elise Bauman – Mackenzie
Natasha Negovanlis – Cassie
Justin Gerhard – Elliot
🧩 Story Deep Dive (Spoilers)
🌱 Shared Lives and Interdependence
Mackenzie and Cassie are lifelong friends and roommates who have shared everything since childhood.
- Comfort in Familiarity: They are each other’s safest refuge, navigating the uncertainties of adulthood together. Their conversations are candid, humorous, and at times brutally honest, showcasing an exceptionally high level of intimacy.
- Companions Through Rites of Passage: When Cassie struggles with her romantic relationship or Mackenzie grapples with her queer identity, they instinctively rely on each other. Their relationship embodies a shared identity.
❓ The Threat of 'Change'
The main source of strain in their friendship is 'change.' Both friends face major life transitions, but the nature of these changes differs, causing distance between them.
① Mackenzie’s Internal Change and Secrets
Mackenzie’s life change begins as an internal journey of discovering her sexual identity.
- Delaying Coming-Out: Mackenzie comes out to her parents but hesitates to tell Cassie. This is not due to lack of trust, but rather a fear that Cassie might not understand this pivotal change in her identity, or that it could permanently alter their friendship.
- The 'Baby Dyke' Struggle: As Mackenzie explores the queer community and dating world, Cassie senses Mackenzie drifting into unknown realms of life. Mackenzie becomes somewhat distant as she adjusts to this new chapter.
② Cassie’s External Change and Self-Centeredness
Cassie’s life change stems from an external event: a breakup with a long-term boyfriend.
- Immersion in Heartbreak: Cassie is overwhelmed by confusion and grief after the breakup. She becomes so absorbed in her own emotions that she fails to notice Mackenzie’s subtle changes and struggles, neglecting to listen to her friend’s experiences.
- Jealousy Over Alienation: When Cassie learns of Mackenzie’s coming-out, she reacts selfishly with "Why didn’t you tell me?" rather than criticizing Mackenzie’s sexual identity. To Cassie, Mackenzie’s secret feels like a betrayal of their friendship and evokes a sense of exclusion, as if she is no longer the 'most important person' in Mackenzie’s life.
🔄 Psychological Dynamics: Selfishness and Recalibration
The film acknowledges that both protagonists are imperfect and self-centered young adults.
- Mutual Blame: Mackenzie’s anger at Cassie for not understanding her secret collides with Cassie’s frustration that Mackenzie ignored her struggles. This conflict reflects the clash of their immature selfishness.
- Redefining Friendship: They physically distance themselves temporarily to grow individually. Mackenzie learns from new relationships and her own mistakes, while Cassie secures a job and achieves emotional independence. This process redefines friendship as a relationship based on choice and effort rather than dependency.
🧑🤝🧑 Platonic Love Through Maturity
The most moving moment in 'Almost Adults' occurs when conflict resolution is reached. Cassie and Mackenzie learn to accept each other’s new identities and life directions, reaffirming that they still love and need each other.
Their friendship demonstrates that "growing up is not simply about finding a romantic partner, but about making room for old relationships to accommodate new ways of life." Mackenzie and Cassie’s story candidly captures the universal pains of growth: the sense of loss and joy of reconnection when a friend grows faster or differently than you, portraying platonic love in its most honest form.
🎯 Personal Rating
💕 Love Scene Intensity: ♥
⭐ Rating: ★★★★
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