You Were My First Boyfriend Review: HBO’s latest documentary is directed by Cecilia Aldarondo. The co-director for the piece is Sarah Enid Hagey. Aldarondo stars in the film along with Ella Fraley, Natalie Grace, Trinity Soos and others.
The feature-length docu-film is produced by Blackscrackle Films and HBO Documentary Films. The runtime is 97 minutes.
You Were My First Boyfriend Trailer
– HBO’s You Are My First Boyfriend Review Contains Mild Spoilers –
You Were My First Boyfriend Review
The uniqueness that You Are My First Boyfriend brings to the table is unparalleled. For starters, it offers a very different documentary-making style or aspect than what we are used to. A form of immersive therapy is reflected in this documentary which is unlike anything most of us have ever seen. And even with that factor coming into play, producing something on this global level only gives rise to awe and appreciation towards the makers.
Cecilia Aldarondo has rightly picked the tagline for her docu-film which reads: “She’s doing high school again”. What more should have been there is- ‘and you are invited to it’ because Aldarondo leaves no page unturned for us when she takes us back on a ride to the 1990s. She shakes us into understanding that the cliches in the films are truly a reality in so many ways. In labelling things cliche, we forget how predictably true cliches are and where they originate from.
Cecilia Aldarondo takes all the odd girl cliche in YA or high school movies where an individual who does not really fit into the particular place because of how they look or talk or behave (or, sometimes simply because they aren’t ‘cool enough’) and shows us how true it is from the lens of her adolescent years, which was nothing less than a nightmare for her. At the heart of the story is the story of a boy who played a prank or moment that just changed the life our director is living forever.
However, the heart is not all there is because what keeps the story flowing, much like blood in our body, are the other anecdotes and the reenactment of the same that has shaped not only Aldarondo’s life but, the lives of some of her peers and friends from back in highschool. For instance, a rather triggering and overwhelming experience while watching the film was the segment dedicated to an overweight girl being bullied at camp and how she reacts in the present day to the replication and revisiting of those past moments.
The documentary is frank, open and at moments extremely upsetting- not in regards to the content it is putting forward or how it is being put forward, but because is done remarkably well. But, it makes you realize the impact even the smallest of your actions might have in someone’s life. Something that might feel inconsequential to you can possibly be something that ends up becoming consequential in someone else’s life. It makes you think, hard about what you give and take away from the world you are living in.
You Are My First Boyfriend: Final Verdict
Overall, You Are My First Boyfriend is so different from most things present in the OTT platforms that it demands a rewatch to let the nuances of the film truly settle deep inside your bones. There is so much love and acceptance alongside awareness and the bitterness that high school life brings that you will be moved by the time the final credits roll.
You can watch You Are My First Boyfriend now on streaming on Max.
Let us know in the comments below what you think about this documentary film!