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It’s hard to tell if B-Side: For Taylor is a dramedy or a coming-of-age story because it features a performing arts heart within its frames. Inspired by Christina YR Lim’s life, B-Side is a film that is structured well, yet messy in all the right ways.
The crux of the movie lies in Taylor (Jeannine Vargas) who is a 14-year-old Korean-American adoptee. After the death of her adoptive mother, Taylor opens up to a whole world of possibilities with an inquisitive father Bill (Dave Huber). The father-daughter duo have a strained relationship controlled by Bill’s authoritarianism and Taylor’s easy rebelliousness.
Lim’s mother brought her from Korea to the US when she was four, instantly cutting her off from her previous life. Following that, she was placed in the care of a white stepfather who became more of an authoritarian figure as she grew older. Like Taylor, Lim had to balance and come to terms with the culture she was from and the one she was brought into.
The essence of B-Side: For Taylor stems from all the vignettes telling Taylor’s story and the numerous possibilities yet undefined in her life.
Lim seems to stretch the story a bit too much, sometimes succeeding and at times failing, but it cannot be denied that this is a film that bears emotional resonance and meaning.
Taylor (Micaela) suffers bullying from Kyle (Dexter Farren Haag) but derives some consolation when Da-Young (Jacky Jung) and her mother Areum (Esther Moon) arrive in the neighborhood. B-Side works best when it focuses on the effortless and realistic bond between Taylor and Da-Young, mainly because both Vargas and Jung are also the highlights of the film.
Sometimes, B-Side has a feel of an afterschool special. Admittedly, I have always liked the old afterschool specials which were filled with simple and impactful stories and practical life lessons. B-Side goes as you would expect it to go, but it does so in a rather sweet and good-natured way. Anyone who has grown up in similar settings, and there are many of us, I suspect will find plenty to like about B-Side.
Even in those scenarios where it seems B-Side is going to start attacking some of the characters, Lim does not take the same path.
B Side turns into a film centering on the idea of abandoning a life and an image of oneself that one has lived with for too long. Lim recognizes the painful honesty that comes with grappling with the deepest and rawest parts of oneself, but she also allows for optimism and hope that even the deepest abyss can inspire resilience and growth. She does not undermine the struggles that surround the singular bond between a surrogated parent and a child. They, like her, are more than just the loneliness. B Side feels personal because it is personal to me.
Even though B Side: For Taylor doesn’t always strike the right chords of cinema, when it does miss, the imperfections are so authentic that one is forced to admire Lim’s storytelling and the bit of heart she puts into her work.
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