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My Girl

October 09, 2023

Between the 1970s to the 1990s there was a very interesting period in Hollywood. Directors like Steven Spielberg came from relative nobodies to super-stars. Which inspired a lot of directors to take upon the formula of sentimental adventure and try doing something else with it. My Girl looks like a movie clearly inspired by Spielberg, but not quite Spielbergian, in a sense that it doesn't deal with extraordinary circumstances, but rather deals with a family and friendship dynamics.

The film feels like E.T. but without the aliens. It is a movie about serious things like death, sexuality and aftermaths of divorce. But the film is shot from the perspective of a little 11 year old girl wonderfully played by Anna Chlumsky. She lives with a single father who's job revolves around funerals. And she goes over various traumatic events, the beginning of puberty and heart break. But with that all, the movie manages to be a comedy. Even though you are going to cry in the end.

The director of My Girl Howard Zieff started making feature films roughly at the same time as Spielberg and he is quite Spielbergian in his style. Spielberg likes to hide a complex shot in such a way that you would not feel that it's a complex shot. So there is a lot of work, but it's not showy. Howard Zieff did it quite often in this movie. There are multiple shots that has evolving composition, similar to how Spielberg works. But you really need to pay attention to see it. He is very good at not calling any attention to his directing.

But while the shots themselves are great and the direction is very nice, he lacks the Spielbergian sense of flow that only a few very good directors have. It's where one thing goes into the other with such an energy that it's a blast to watch. Spielberg is very good at it. My Girl on the other hand is more slow passed and less worried about flow. It is more worried about character. If you like action films, this film is not something that can substitute a good action scene. But if you are into dramas, this is a very good film.

Story-wise the movie holds almost entirely on characters. There are no villains in the film. But there are tensions between people. And those tensions are exploited by the writer Laurice Elehwany to make everything very interesting. The movie has this atmosphere of a film for children. But the adult themes stick as a sword out of it in a very interesting way. Making some scenes almost shocking at times. And while the director definitely exploits those shocking moments for comedy, they also have a lot of dramatic weight, which a lot of shocking films do not have. And therefor the movie doesn't feel forced, because it respects the subject matters that it explores.

The acting in the movie is very good. There is a believable sadness in Dan Aykroyd's character which is perfectly balanced by the complete joyfulness of Vada, the main character played by Anna Chlumsky. Macaulay Culkin is in it. And he shared with Chlumsky an award from MTV in 1991 for the best kiss scene for this movie. The second love interest of Vada is played by Griffin Dunne who you may know from An American Werewolf in London. And there is a surprisingly good performance by the legendary Jamie Lee Curtis considering that her character is basically there just to be a love interest to Aykroyd's character, which stirs some drama in the film.

The soundtrack is also notable ( pun very intended ). It was composed by James Newton Howard that goes for a very John Williams like style. Strangely while the directing reminds Spielberg in style, the music remind Williams in style. And Williams is the composer that worked on almost all Spielberg films. They intentionally trying to sprinkle a little Spielberg in the movie.

Happy Hacking!!!

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