surprisingly relatable as it reminded me fondly of ladybird. the water motifs supposedly mirror how she sees herself and what she lacks rather than what she has and that mindset being the root of her unhappiness. her realization that her parents are also imperfect people just trying to make it work. the weight of adolescence and how dramatic and world ending everything can feel. smoking tigers is a perfect title; learned that in korean there’s a saying “when tigers used to smoke”, it’s american equivalent phrase being “once upon a time” which has led me to believe that as shelly’s debut film, she chose to write about her “once upon a time”.