[Life Is All About Friends], a project invited by PPP of 1999`s PIFF, is the first film of director Murali Nair`s new trilogy. Through the eyes of a child named Unni, the film captures the reality of Kerala, India, a small rural town in the 1970s. To little Unni, the world is full of mystery and curiosity. His sexuality curiosity is getting bigger. He also learns about the bitterness of life from a tragic accident that happened to his friend Gopi′s family. However, to Unni′s eyes, the world is still a place of magic and fantasy, when Unni sees a magic performance in school, when he goes to see a movie with his grandmother and parents who make a short visit home, and when he has a crush on a beautiful girl. Apart from his parents who stay abroad for earning money, Unni′s path of growing up is unfolded mostly in his school. Through his close relationship with his friend, he finds a way of growing up on his own. While [Life is All About Friends] is less satirical than Nair`s previous films, it renders us to see the world through the various perspectives of a boy who is growing up. (Kim Ji-Seok)