70/50
2024 · 11m · USA
Directed by Kory Mann
Genres: coming-of-age, LGBTQ+, romance
Kara, a queer autistic high schooler and bundle of nervous energy, finds herself unexpectedly alone in a room with her long-time crush. What follows is a tender, awkward attempt to bridge the gap between fantasy and the terrifying immediacy of being seen.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Everyone's suddenly making neurodivergent romance and calling it groundbreaking—but Mann actually commits to the bit, letting the 70/50 calculus run visibly through the frame instead of just name-dropping it for woke points. It's almost aggressively unglamorous, which is exactly why it works.
The formal restraint here is admirable: Mann resists the urge to literalize Kara's internal monologue, instead trusting the camera to hold on small physical tells and the peculiar rhythms of autistic social navigation. It sits in conversation with a lineage of intimate teen cinema that privileges observation over exposition.
The choice to let us *see* the math happening—the way Mann cuts between Kara's racing thoughts and her frozen body, making her paralysis visual rather than stated—is the decision that elevates this from earnest to essential. That gap between the 70 and the 50 becomes pure cinema.
Reviews
A cute, awkward, and heartwarming coming of age romance.
Explores how autistic people navigate dating and relationships via comedy, magical realism, and fantasy.
Festivals
- Marvels of Media Film Festival 2024