Ellie & Abbie (& Ellie's Dead Aunt Too): NZIFF Review

Perfectly charming and sweetly told, Ellie & Abbie (& Ellie's Dead Aunt Too) is a high school romance set within the walls of LGBTQI world.

Ellie (Sophie Hawkshaw) is an awkward teen finding her way through high school and trying to find the words to tell her crush Abbie (Zoe Terakes) how she feels about her. When she tells her mother that she's gay, her mother goes into a tailspin, but Ellie's world is changed when the revelation brings back her dead aunt into her life.

Ellie & Abbie (& Ellie's Dead Aunt Too) is a film that's as breezy as they come.

But that's not to damn it with feint praise.

Bursting with life and with a pace that's rewarding to the narrative, Ellie & Abbie (& Ellie's Dead Aunt Too) benefits from its leads, as well as Julia Billington as dead aunt Tara. While the film does veer dangerously close to sentimentality in parts, it's to be forgiven, simply because it avoids the usual bullying tropes in these kind of coming of age films.

It's heartwarming but slight in many ways, enjoyable but largely forgettable - it's the very definition of sweet and cute, but as a festival palate cleanser, it has a heart that's hard to deny.