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Girlfriends review – love and growing pains in queer coming-of-age tale that goes from Hong Kong to Taiwan

A trio of actors play one woman from high school to her mid-30s in Tracy Choi’s thoughtful romantic drama It can stretch credibility a little when an actor plays the same character over a long time span in one film. Richard Linklater solved the problem in Boyhood by shooting scenes over succeeding years; AI and de-ageing effects are now an option. With this intimate queer coming-of-age drama, film-maker Tracy Choi instead casts a trio of actors to play one woman from high school to her mid-30s. The three don’t look particularly alike; their temperaments overlap but are by no means identical. The point is perhaps to show how intense the transitions into adulthood are, how unrecognisable are the people we used to be. Working backwards, Girlfriends begins in Hong Kong, where 34-year-old film director Lok (Fish Liew) lives with her actor girlfriend Bei (Jennifer Yu). Five years earlier, Choi

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What happened

According to The Guardian’s source item, Girlfriends review – love and growing pains in queer coming-of-age tale that goes from Hong Kong to Taiwan, A trio of actors play one woman from high school to her mid-30s in Tracy Choi’s thoughtful romantic drama It can stretch credibility a little when an actor plays the same character over a long time span in one film. Richard Linklater solved the problem in Boyhood by shooting scenes over succeeding years; AI and de-ageing effects are now an option. With this intimate queer coming-of-age drama, film-maker Tracy Choi instead casts a trio of actors to play one woman from high school to her mid-30s. The three don’t look particularly alike; their temperaments overlap but are by no means identical. The point is perhaps to show how intense the transitions into adulthood are, how unrecognisable are the people we used to be. Working backwards, Girlfriends begins in Hong Kong, where 34-year-old film director Lok (Fish Liew) lives with her actor girlfriend Bei (Jennifer Yu). Five years earlier, Choi

Context

The development sits in VINI’s Technology file for readers following technology, science, product policy, markets, infrastructure, and the public consequences of innovation. The original report is linked so readers can check the source account, follow later updates, and compare new coverage against the first published record. The source item is dated 2026-06-16T08:00:49+00:00.

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Open questions include whether primary sources issue follow-up statements, whether local or market impacts become clearer, and whether additional reporting changes the timeline or adds material context.

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Primary source: Girlfriends review – love and growing pains in queer coming-of-age tale that goes from Hong Kong to Taiwan via The Guardian. VINI cites and links the source; it does not reproduce the publisher’s full article text without rights clearance.

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