Girl in Progress

Image via IMBD

Most coming to age films are usually dominated by white male teens in high school, Girl in Progress isn’t. It focuses on a young girl, Ansiedad, being raised by her single mother, Grace. What’s so charming about Girl in Progress is that it’s not the events and actions that life brings upon its protagonist that makes her grow, but the experiences she chooses to inflict upon herself. In short, it’s about a girl taking charge of her own coming to age story.

Rather than enjoy her youth, Ansiedad decides to follow the same plot the coming to age stories she’s learned in class have in order to quickly grow up. Determined to leave everything behind, Ansiedad completes tasks in order to fulfill her story such as sacrificing her first kiss for the sake of adulthood.

Throughout her journey, Ansiedad drives away her best friend and mother in the process. But you’ll see in the film that it’s her mother who needs to grow up most of all. Grace leaves a long trail of men she’s dated, along with the many places her daughter and her self-have moved each time a relationship didn’t work. Her current relationship, an affair with a married man.

As the film ends, it proves that every coming to age story happens to everyone, no matter what the age as both mother and daughter come to learn and grow from each other and most importantly, themselves. Girl in Progress is an underrated but truly bright film.