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1. Growing
United Kingdom 2017
Director: Chloe Williams
With Georgia Loosely and Henry
Tomlin
Certificate: TBC 5m 30s
Reviewed by Olivia
Saunders
Following her debut
film Waiting For One earlier
in 2017 - which looked at
homosexuality in teenagers
and the battle to find oneself,
British filmmaker Chloe
Williams presents us with a
story of maturation and truth
from the perspective of
teenagers going out into the
world. Her new film Growing
explores the challenges of
adolescent development and
letting go of close friends.
Williams is establishing
herself as an astute
documenter of teenage
issues within the social
realism community,
demonstrating a unique
insightfulness in her texts.
Georgia Loosley,
making her film debut,
playing the protagonist, also
named Georgia, is supported
by Henry Tomlin, who’s break
out performance in Williams’
first film earned him several
regional awards. Loosley’s
character is a 17 year-old
student, awaiting the arrival
home of her best friend Billy
(portrayed by Tomlin) to
reveal what she has thus far
concealed; namely that he
has been offered a place at
Columbia University. Both
actors are previously
technically untrained, but
Williams has described
working with Tomlin again as
‘reassuring’ as he had prior
knowledge of working on a
set with her and experience
of her social realist directing
techniques. The two actors
manage to give this short a
raw, real quality that aligns
the film with the work of other
female directors in the genre
such as Cleo Bernard and
Andrea Arnold, achieving a
naturalism rarely seen in
contemporary British cinema.
This convention serves to
deepen and drive the impact
of the film’s message into the
audience.
Whilst the main
problem for the protagonist is
ultimately somewhat unclear
- the morality of Georgia lying
to her friend Billy, or the
impact of growing up and
moving on in adolescent
friendships - there remains, in
either reception, an
overarching message for the
audience concerning the
significance of this
transitional period in a young
person’s life and the
immense changes that
characterize their close
relationships. Therefore,
younger members of the
audience may be able to
identify more distinctly with
the feelings being
experienced by the
characters. Nevertheless,
there is a strong universal
meaning in the emotional
strain of leaving/being left by
friends as we grow up and
the impact of this on final
year school students in
particular. The key
representational area here is
age, with a subordinate focus
on ability. Consequently, the
primary audience for the film
comprises that niche group
about to or having recently -
made the transition from
school to university.
The scene depicting
an argument between the two
friends in particular connotes
both the strength of their
friendship - through the
loving yet despairing look
in their eyes - and the Page 22
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2. repercussions of the
deception and the events to
take place in the future. It is a
crucial moment of truth that
explicates the mystery of the
protagonist’s actions in the
opening minutes, and allows
for the initiation of resolution
for both characters in the final
act of the short. The
directorial decision to have
such a buildup that only
focuses on Georgia, and then
suddenly introduce Billy into
a whirlwind of duplicity gives
this short the emotional force
needed by Williams to
achieve the gritty, visceral
impact we associate with the
genre.
Williams’ last project won Best Director at the Epsom Film
Festival
The performance
from Loosley is powerful in
how she subtly conveys the
pain and suffering the
character endures as she
makes the decision to give
Billy his university
acceptance letter. It is the
acting skill and the strength
of the dynamic nurtured by
Williams and achieved by
Loosley and Tomlin in their
performance that achieves
this emotional precision and
clarity. Likewise, the lack of
extended dialogue in the
argument scene allows for
clever acting and dramatic
use of technical codes to
come to the forefront as so
few words are exchanged.
Billy’s line, ‘that’s not my
problem’, is followed by
Georgia snatching her letter
out of his hands and running
away further constructs the
improvised element some
social realism texts exhibit -
that is becoming a
convention of Williams’ work.
The meaning is created in the
sophisticated and nuanced
physical performances from
both actors - stares filled with
anguish as realizations occur
and relationships seem to be
crushed.
The actual process of
Georgia’s growth is, however,
unclear to the audience as
we are given/shown limited
background information to
support it. If this was the
heart of the film, it was not
effectively signposted.
Williams is a
filmmaker’s filmmaker - she
shows this vividly in her
second film. Every shot is
constructed with a powerful
and elegant synthesis of
technical codes. As such her
shots are ripe with symbolism
and connotations that offer
the more film literate
members of the audience
plenty to decode. For
example, through the
contrasting lighting Williams’
uses, we can infer Georgia is
growing and moving from a
place of deception to one of
selflessness.
Despite that, what we
do receive is a heartfelt
insight into the struggle to
hold on to friendships as best
friends go their separate
ways - and to different
countries. Even those
audience members who are
not in the same phase in their
lives will be able to relate in
some form as we have all felt
that pain of losing someone
we love. This aspect of the
message is signified in the
final shot of Georgia and Billy
in the car, sharing a moment
of passivity after simmering
conflict.
Credits:
Directed by:
Chloe Williams
Produced by:
Courtney Harrington
Written by:
Chloe Williams
Cinematography by:
Ben Bishop
Music composed by:
Harry Heaven
Cast:
Georgia:
Georgia Loosley
Billy:
Henry Tomlin
Synopsis:
Banstead, Surrey, present day.
Seven- teen year-old Georgia
lives with her best friend Billy in
her family home. She sits in her
bedroom arranging and looking
through various papers. It
becomes clear these papers all
relate to university in America
and studying abroad. She moves
around the house placing the
papers in a different bedroom,
and a letter from Columbia
University in the kitchen. As
Georgia sits waiting for Billy to
return home, she looks visibly
anxious and breathes very
heavily. Billy returns and
finds the letter – at first he is
relieved to find out he was
accepted to Columbia, but …
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3. then he realises this letter came
months ago Georgia tells Billy
that she hid the letter from him
because she didn’t get in, and
she didn’t want them to drift in
their friendship. She wants
things to remain the same. Billy
is furious with her, and an
argument ensues. Georgia
storms out of the room and
begins having a panic attack in
her bedroom. She hears Billy
walk into his own bedroom and
look through the papers she put
in there earlier. There is a pause
throughout the house. Billy walks
downstairs. Sometime has
elapsed, and Georgia hears a
song playing loudly in the
distance. She follows the song
out the front door and finds Billy
sitting in his car. Georgia gets
into the car and they begin
talking about Columbia and New
York.
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