Blush

Blush is the story of Israeli teen Naama. Naama falls quickly for the new girl at her school, Dana. In addition to her budding romance, Naama’s family is dealing with the fact that Naama’s older sister has recently disappeared.

What is so intriguing about Blush is its mixture of universal experiences and cultural specific ones. Naama’s teen years are marked by the most common of teen experiences- drinking, experimenting with drugs, getting stupid hairstyles to look cool etc. Yet there is also the background of this being Israel. The search for the military-enrolled sister is a plot that necessitates this movie take place in Israel. Blush walks a line between grounding this movie in its country of origin while also showing the universality of many things the main character experiences.

One thing about Blush that I adored is how public Naama and Dana are with their relationship. So, so many WLW movies involve relationships developing in secret and shame. Blush really gave me hope that this era is ending. Naama and Dana are extremely public with their relationship and affections. After their first kiss, their immediate action is to go on Snapchat. I love this. I love that Blush shows that as a society, we are getting to a point where young, queer couples can be as obnoxious about their relationships on social media as their straight counterparts

Similarly, this is not a movie where Naama has a great deal of angst about her identity as a WLW. So many movies with teenage protagonists are like, 90 minutes of them going “oh jeez, I’m a lesbian. This is awful?” Naama genuinely doesn’t seem to care. Of all the things in her teenage life that bring her angst, her sexuality is not one of them; it genuinely doesn’t seem to be a concern for her. Again, this depiction of queer teenage years gives me a lot of hope for a future where increasingly, queer young people don’t feel shame in their identities

I always end up critiquing sex scenes in WLW movies because I am picky about onscreen depictions of sex and that goes double for scenes with two women. I am pleased to report that the sex scene in Blush is excellent. First of all, it doesn’t happen right away, which is a pet peeve of mine. Naama and Dana’s relationship develops before they reach the sex stage. It’s also perfect in its imperfection. Nobody’s first time is going to be perfect, despite what many movies suggest. Naama has no idea what she’s doing and needs instruction. That’s fine! That’s good! Communication during sex is necessary yet so many films don’t have it. The scene is also punctuated by awkward laughter which I love. Sex is ridiculous and awkward and totally a thing to be laughed at.

Blush is a good coming-of-age film that gave me a lot of hope for queer girls of the future. Naama being so matter of fact with her affections and angst-free in regards to her sexuality was really refreshing to see. I hope that as a society, we are moving towards a place where this is the reality for queer girls. And whether or not that is true, it is nice that Blush shows that being shameful and angsty about your sexuality isn’t the only narrative available for queer youth.

Overall rating: 6.9/10

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