‘Fanfic’ (2023) Netflix Movie Review - A Fresh Coming-of-Age Story

Fanfic is a coming-of-age Polish movie based on the novel written by Natalia Osinska and directed by Marta Karwowska and Grzegorz Jaroszuk. After watching the first scene of the film in which Toska, a 17-year-old teenager is vomiting, my first reaction was “Bless this mess” because who likes watching the contents of a vomit? Just like every teenager, Toska doesn’t know what works for her. She steals medicines from her Dad to make herself calm and threatens her psychiatrist to prescribe her medicines. Her father isn’t aware of this fact and doesn’t even notice his medicines missing. 

There’s another boy in her school, Leon who seems to be fond of her. Toska doesn’t like being social and hence has no friends. Thus, when Leon approaches her initially, she’s reluctant to talk to him. Being a closed person, she likes spending her time writing fanfic which is titled “Cinderella”. Through her writing, she expresses herself, and people like her work which is also shown in “Fanfic” through a white and black depiction of the same with characters playing their parts. The lead of her story, Cinderella, is a moody character just like her. There are many attributes shared by Cinderella and Toska which can be understood in the initial parts of the fanfic itself.

After many rounds of avoiding Leon, she finally talks to him at a party where after borrowing Leon’s clothes, she realizes that she’s not a girl but a boy. In the scene in which she wears Leon’s clothes, watching in the mirror she finds herself attractive, and on her exit two girls showering glitter on her is beautiful. Tosiek was now able to live free and form positive relations. Everyone around him didn’t take the change positively and even bullied him online. This aspect of society was hard to digest as I can’t understand the fact that people don’t allow each other to live in peace. 

The transformation seen in Tosiek’s character after she realized that she’s not a girl but a boy was soothing. Earlier, she used to have anger spells but after accepting her identity, her life bloomed. She even started to share a healthy relationship with her father who missed her daughter but adored the new Toshiek. I didn’t like the ending as it got very boring and predictable. 

I think that the topic of the LGBTQIA+ community has been discussed superficially in the film, and it could have been even more beautiful. It’s pretty enough, but there is a scope for improvement. Maybe the time duration of the film and the short plot didn’t give justice to the whole idea the writers had in mind. You get a subtle idea of what they want to talk about and see them explore the topic, but disappointment crawls in when the film seems to be wrapped up hastily. 

Leon and Tosiek’s love story is a treat to the eyes. These two individuals discovered their real selves in each other's company which wouldn’t have been possible without all the things their relationship had to go through. With a total duration of 95 minutes, this Polish film touches the heart of the audience and has brought something good and worthy to the OTT platform Netflix. Jan Cieciara as Leon and Alin Szewczyk in the role of Tosiek steal the show. Apart from the last few minutes, Fanfic is worth your time.

Final Score – [7/10]
Reviewed by - Riya Singh
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Publisher at Midgard Times