She Makes My Heart Flutter (2022)

Lesbian friendships at the forefront of this little show

Soo not Sue is back with another delightful show. I love the fact that even though there is a romantic storyline, this show is about people. It is about friends, it is about women who are together because they are lesbians, not romantically, but because community is important. This is about the place, Dickinson’s Room (love a good lesbian reference in the name of a place), and the people in it above all else.

The main relationship is between Seol and her aunt Jung-won. They have always been close, but Jung-won never told Seol about the fact that she was gay and that she had left her job to open a women-only café/bar. Where Seol is bubbly, Jung-won is introverted and quiet. They are not that different in age, but they have very different outlooks on being out, being open, being in the public eye as a woman who loves women.
This show is about showing that neither way is better than the other, that sometimes, you might need to adjust, to be calmer or to be more open.

It’s also about how society and Korean society in particular acts towards wlw. Thanks to the several different lesbian characters, Soo not Sue shows us that there is not one way to be a lesbian in Korea today. That you can be an influencer and be a lesbian, but that you will be prevented from getting jobs by some homophobic people. That you can be out, but that some people are still too afraid for that and that it's okay and you should respect that. That places where you can be yourself exist, but that they’re often hidden away and you need to walk around the block three times before you see it.

It is about the friendship that is made between queer women (and the jokes that if you spend enough time in lesbian spaces, you will be meeting your exes a lot), about how lesbian relationships can be as toxic as straight ones and you really should dump once and for all your ex that keeps asking you to come back together before dumping you again. It is about the fact that friendship is so important and all too often in media, it is put aside in favour of pure romance.

She Makes My Heart Flutter shows us the reverse. A story about queer friendship and family with a healthy dose of a very cute romance on the side.

The cinematography and the production quality in general is tip top, as we have come to expect from Soo Not Sue and Korea in general. The actors did a good job with their characters, even those secondary ones that felt a bit more like stereotypes.

It is a short show, bit quite a bit longer than others when compared to other indie lesbian shows on YouTube. Contrary to some of the short K-BL we have seen in the past few years, this show manages its time quite well and even though I would have appreciated more time to develop the characters and their stories, it didn't feel too lacking because it knew to limit its stories to what fitted in its timeframe.

I had a really good time watching this show and I will be both rewatching it and recommending it to people. Sometimes in those reviews I recommend people watch it with the caveat that it is not very good, but beggars can’t be choosers and we should support wlw shows and short films to show there is interest. But no such caveat here, She Makes My Heart Flutter is good show with a good story, a good message, very high production value and at only 5x13 min, it is a quick watch.

Can someone with a lot of money give Soo Not Sue money to produce a long form drama with lesbians? Please and thank you.

Lees verder