Two Friends

(New Yorker)

Jane Campion's first feature (1986) traces the relationship between two ill-matched but complementary teenage girls (a prim and elfin Emma Coales, a blowzy and endearing Kris Bidenko), beginning with their final break-up and ending with their greatest moment of triumph. Limpid and understated, with meticulous performances, Two Friends builds to its bittersweet conclusion with a steady accumulation of insight and emotion.