When we first meet them, Violet and Stella are 9-year-old California girls summering at the beach in New England. They are frolicking in the surf, spying on the adults at the nude beach (being alternately awed and disgusted by what they see), and collecting “morning moths,” over which they make secret wishes.
It’s a carefree time, and fairies, wishes, mermaids, and so many other dreams of childhood are still real.
But all is not free of angst. Violet’s parents fight and her father (Brandon Keener – “Shell”) leaves the family during vacation for work. Stella’s Mom (Madeline Wise – “Lapsis”) is suffering from cancer.
Back home, things are not so nice. The thoughtless cruelty of classmates torments Violet. On top of that, she is beginning to enter puberty. Calling her best friend Stella is her only solace. But Stella also faces instability as her mother worsens even as the treatments take hold.
Jump to a year later. The girls are back together at the beach. A new, older girl joins them, paying attention to Stella (Anastasia Veronica Lee) while ignoring Violet (Emajean Bullock).
And so it goes through several more bittersweet years, until a crisis at the beach when the girls are 13.
Director/writer Sophia Silver (“The Highwaymen) and co-writer Sianni Rosenstock have beautifully captured this period of wonder and innocence in the lives of these best friends. In an interview, Silver described the process of how she added directing to her other skills as an actor and writer. Frustrated with the parts she was getting as an actor, she decided that in order to land the juicy parts, she’d just have to write some for herself. She and her longtime friend Sianni Rosenstock were recounting the summers she’d spend with Rosenstock on the coast of New England, a reprieve for both from more hectic home lives back in California during their formative pre-teen years. This led to the development of a script – but one with no place for the adult actress Silver.
“There was not a part for me in it, but it didn’t matter because I was so passionate about this story and I just felt it so deeply in my bones that I could not hand it over to someone else,” she said. “I felt I had to be the one to tell it and to bring my friendship with Sianni to life and now that I’ve made it through my first feature [as a director], it feels like my calling now.”
This is a wonderful story, movingly acted by two amazing girls. Add to that the gorgeous beach and seawater cinematography, the gentle musical score (the background sound was too loud at times in the version I screened) and the heartfelt conversations between Stella and her mild, understanding father (Adam David Thompson – “The Thing About Pam”) and you have a coming of age film that will appeal to anyone going through this stage of life, or still able to remember the joys and pains of that passage.
Note: Director Sophie Silver appears briefly in the film as the smoothie barista.
Runtime: One hour, 28 minutes
Availability: Made in 2022, the film never had a theatrical release and in 2026 was made available digitally.
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