GIRLS WILL BE GIRLS dir. Shuchi Talati
by Morgan Stone
1/24/24 @ 1:15pm, Library Center Theater
In a strict boarding school nestled in the Himalayas, 16-year-old Mira discovers desire and romance. But her sexual, rebellious awakening is disrupted by her mother who never got to come of age herself.
(Via Sundance)
Filled with nuanced acting and tender portrayals of teenage girlhood, Girls Will Be Girls directed by Shuchi Talati is a complete joy to watch.
Throughout the film, Mira (Preeti Panigrahi) falls for a boy named Sri (Kesav Binoy Kiron) and goes through both the internal and external growing pains of understanding love in a culture where there is a legacy of shame, particularly regarding women’s sexuality and their bodies. Much of this journey is accented by the presence of Mira’s mother, Anila (Kani Kusruti), who enjoys the attention Sri pays her, while simultaneously trying to protect her daughter from the distraction and danger of being involved with a boy.
Talati did a wonderful job of creating a collaborative filmmaking environment, and you can tell in how she allowed the young actors to experiment and come into their own. Preeti Panigrahi and Kesav Binoy Kiron do an incredible job of embodying their characters, and the shifting dynamic between them as their relationship changes is so evident. According to Panigrahi, they came up with many ways to portray the feelings their characters couldn’t portray through their body language, from a scene where Sri apologizes to Mira and their pinkies touch, or once where Mira is bottling up anger and frustration which comes out in her winding herself into a rope swing. In every shot, you can tell that the actors fully committed to the characters and considered all facets of how they would experience a given situation.
What I love so much about Girls Will Be Girls is that it was written with so much consideration of what Mira and her mom would feel in a given situation. We can see Mira make mistakes, but the writing makes clear why she feels they’re decisions she needs to make. The narrative doesn’t punish her for her feelings.
In all ways, it is such a perfect film. There is very little score, which perfectly balances the tension and deep emotion, and the ways that the filmmaking draws us in, and then places us at a distance are perfectly timed. The characters truly feel like they are living and breathing off the screen.
Girls Will Be Girls is filled with such strong emotion. It’s a reflection on how girlhood becomes adulthood, and it delves into how cultural expectations can cause women feelings of shame about their bodies and desires.
Talati did an absolutely fantastic job, and I highly recommend watching Girls Will Be Girls when it becomes available.
