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Zoë Rose Bryant
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not new in 2026 but new to me!
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19w
movies!
past lives!
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probably the movie that inspired me most while writing good friends with the exception of boyhood. while the idea for the novel had been bouncing around my brain for a bit, seeing past lives - and its depiction of childhood friends-to-lovers torn apart by time and reconnecting as adults and making sense of what they meant to each other now - helped cement the structure of the story in my mind and what its ultimate message would be. without giving away too much, the novel's resolution was greatly informed by how past lives resolved its own "one who got away" narrative (similar to la la land before it) and the belief that "you don't only get one love in this life, but you never forget your first."
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19w
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monster!
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much like with lukas dhont's close, hirokazu kore-eda's monster explores the innocence of a friendship between two young boys that borders on affectionate until they find themselves challenged by outside pressure from society to "conform." however, the scenes between the two boys alone - in which they remain insulated from the prejudice and judgment that picks at them at all other times - let their friendship flourish and show the promise a world free of hate where all love can blossom equally. i wanted the scenes my main characters shared in isolation as well to have a similar feeling.
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19w
movies!
close!
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lukas dhont's exploration of how male friendships - and the affection young boys show to each other - grow more complicated and criticized as boys age due to strict social norms and toxic expectations for conventional masculinity greatly inspired the first part of good friends. in this section of the story, the main characters are 13 and in their final year of middle school, and after meeting for the first time, they instantly grow close and nearly inseparable until outside perception of their friendship threatens it. dhont's depiction of the loss of innocence that occurs on the cusp of adolescence was one i aimed to emualte here.
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19w
movies!
moonlight!
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similar to moonlight, good friends is told in three parts - one set in middle school when the leads are 13, one set in high school when they're 16 and 17, and one set during the tail end of college when they're 22 - and it follows the main characters weaving in and out of each other's lives during these time periods as they grapple with both their individual identities and their burgeoning attraction to one another. though we primarily see this through the eyes of our main protagonist, andy, we bear witness to changes to his love interest owen along the way as well and grow with both of them.
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19w
movies!
boyhood!
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my favorite film of all time and the biggest inspiration for good friends by far. shot over the course of 12 years, boyhood follows a fictional story of a boy's coming-of-age from 6 to 18, and i'd always wanted to write something similar to this but from a trans perspective - something where we watch a character privately grapple with their gender identity in their youth, gradually make more sense of it and how it intersects with their sexuality and other aspects of their identity as they age, and eventually fully transition in who they've always wanted to be and who they were always meant to be. good friends, which takes place from 2012 to 2021 and follows its protagonist from age 13 in middle school to age 22 (and fully transitioned) at the tail end of college, does just this :)
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