Written and directed by Devyn Waitt, “Not Waving But Drowning” (released in 2012), is a sad but touching coming-of-age-film about friendship, the loss of innocence and identity.

Preluding “Not Waving But Drowning” is a short film, “The Most Girl Part of You.” It tells the tale of best friends Kate and Big Guy, detailing how their relationship changes after Big Guy’s mother commits suicide.

Overall it’s a dark, sweet film that sets the scene thematically for what’s about to come. 

Lifelong friends Adele (Vanessa Ray) and Sara (Megan Guinan), sick of the small town life in Bartow, FL, plan to move at the beginning of the summer to New York. But when an accident occurs, Sara is forced to stay home as the Adele escapes, wide-eyed, to the big city.

Separated from each other for the first time in their lives, they struggle to maintain ties, as each of deals with new relationships and life apart.

That said, “Not Waving But Drowning” spends a bit more camera time following Adele instead of Sara. Her character get the most time screen time here out of anyone, and her transformation from bubbly to confused and troubled is the most jarring.

New York isn’t quite as glamorous as she expected—there’s one scene that darkly illustrates this. Her story, ultimately, is the most interesting, and perhaps, the saddest.

Sara’s story on the other hand is sad too, but also liberating. Her summer in Bartow changes her for the better; and ultimately it changes how she see Adele.

Parts of “Not Waving But Drowning” are shot untraditionally, as musical montages serve to propel the story forward.  The music, except for a few stumbles, is smartly picked and does a great job of mirroring the mood of scenes or the moods of characters.  

However the movie isn’t perfect and at times it can honestly be a bit too ambiguous. For example, after a night of rooftop partying, Adele rides the subway home—a horse appears in her car—she then pets it for a few minutes, and sadly, we never see the horse again.

Is Adele a secret horse-girl? Did this horse have symbolic meaning? How did he get on the subway? Audiences will never know.

Frustrating as well are the minor characters. Adam (Adam Driver from “Girls”) is underutilized and basically written off lazily near the end. Sara’s father (Scott Bryce), who has a big impact on the story, gets only three scenes where he speaks almost the same amount of lines each time.  Lastly Adele’s newfound friend in New York, Kim (Isabelle McNally), starts out strong and interesting but she ultimately ends up locked into stupid lines such as, “Like, you don’t want to go to this party?”

Regardless of its problems, quirks and some ambiguity “Not Waving But Drowning” is one of the better films on Netflix. 

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