In Fanfic, while navigating her life through her high-school years, Tosia ends up finding out who she truly is when she meets Leon. The movie is now streaming on Netflix.
Story
Tośka, also known as Tosia, spends her life staying away from everyone and keeping things to herself. She writes fanfics online and steals her father’s pills to get through the day.
The whole school dubs her weird, except for the new transfer student, Leon, who finds himself drawn toward her. Tosia also feels attracted to him, but she dismisses her feelings and pushes him away.
Tosia fails to get Leon out of her mind, as he ends up becoming a character in her fanfics—the one her main character is attracted to. She eventually joins him at the party he invited her to and kisses him.
Though Tosia learns that he is not into her, on the bright side, she finds out what makes her more comfortable when she wears his clothes.
Performances
Alin Szewczyk delivers a strong performance as Tosia, who is quite bold and not afraid of facing consequences for her actions. At the same time, Tosia has a heart that breaks. Szewczyk balances those emotions well and doesn’t lose Tosia’s charm when the character breaks down.
Jan Cieciara, on the other hand, as Leon, does a good job of misleading the viewers. Leon looks like a carefree romantic partner to the main character, as portrayed in most romcoms, but here, Leon has gone through a lot.
Cieciara hides those feelings and puts on a brave face. Cieciara starts showing signs that something is wrong with Leon when he faces troubles because of Tosia, and yet the viewers fail to notice it just like Tosia.
Positives
The world of Tosia’s fanfic in the show is quite intriguing in itself, where she is a 90s grunge rockstar who resembles Kurt Cobain. The show switches filters and gets the aesthetics right, making this alternative universe appealing.
Fanfic helps the viewers understand what people like Tosia are going through without presenting it through an inspirational speech filled with hard truths. Tosia’s acceptance of herself is the priority of the film.
Along the way, Tosia faces people who won’t accept her and would rather make fun of people like her. In one such instance, a character even tries to educate the bully, which itself is a heartwarming scene, and to know that the bully has a story as well just makes it all better.
Amidst all of this, somehow the movie manages to balance the romance between Tosia and Leon.
Negatives
Fanfic could have had a brilliant parallel storyline with Tosia’s fanfic, in which she is a 90s rockstar. The part seemed promising and could have added an extra layer of entertainment. The movie leaves that story hanging in the second half of the film and only mentions it at the end.
For the first 10 minutes, Fanfic struggles to address its tone. The introduction of Leon isn’t handled well, and it feels like the movie is going to be another teen rom-com. Maybe the movie just wants to mislead the viewers into thinking that Leon is a carefree teenager, but it just feels out of touch.
Furthermore, Leon had a strong backstory that could have been explored to a great extent and may have promised more memorable scenes. Unfortunately, the movie prioritizes Tosia’s story over Leon’s, and even their final reunion feels a bit rushed.
Verdict
Fanfic introduces the viewers to an important topic in the most light-hearted manner. It doesn’t rely on the good old formula of its genre and is deeper than most teen dramas out there.
With a strong lead cast, a heartwarming story, and limited time, Fanfic is not only a perfect comfort watch but also quite an educational one.
Also Read: Fanfic summary and ending explained
