This Coming-Of-Age Drama About A Nonbinary Teen Could Be A Quiet Game Changer

“I Wish You All the Best” offers “a fantasy version of what community should look like” for young people seeking to live as their true selves.

Eight years after “13 Reasons Why” put her on the Hollywood map, Tommy Dorfman has shifted her focus behind the camera with a film that offers “a fantasy version of what community should look like” when a young queer person is grappling with their sexuality or gender identity.

Dorfman is making her feature directorial and screenwriting debut with “I Wish You All the Best,” released last week. The coming-of-age drama is based on Mason Deaver’s 2019 novel and follows Ben (played by “Girl Meets World” actor Corey Fogelmanis), a nonbinary teen who is forced to move in with their long-estranged sister, Hannah (Alexandra Daddario), after being kicked out by their conservative parents at Christmas.

Family turmoil aside, a fresh start turns out to be just what Ben needed. With the support of their eccentric art teacher, Ms. Lyons (Lena Dunham), and a gaggle of new friends, they begin to excel in school. They also find themselves smitten with a close pal turned prospective love interest, Nathan (Miles Gutierrez-Riley).

Dorfman first encountered Deaver’s book around the time of its publication, after which she was filled with a “spiritual, inexplicable desire to create this world in a visual medium,” she said.

“As queer people, we often have to contort ourselves emotionally and physically to relate to characters in media and books,” she told HuffPost. “I didn’t have to have that lens on.”