Girls Like Girls finds its grandest beauty and strength through simplicity and nostalgia.
The movie is a great reminder that cinema doesn’t always have to be overly complex to have us mesmerized by what we are witnessing on the screen. Truly.
The early 2000’s settings are at the core of those themes. Simpler times we crave for nowadays. Summer days felt like they were stretching into infinity. What really struck me was the boredom. How people used to be comfortable in doing nothing special. There was no social media to waste time on when you felt bored, you had to sit in it, look at the ceiling and think. The days were filled with walks into suffocating heat, dives into your friend’s pool, bike rides with kids your age or books under the shade of a tree. The smell of sunscreen and melted ice cream. So when Coley lays onto her bed, surrounded by a mess of boxes, moving her feet up in the air, just waiting for Sonya to send her a message, doing nothing; it feels so peaceful, infused with a rare kind of beauty. Sonya’s group of friends sit by the lakeside all day, learn how to skateboard and organize little parties all summer long. They don’t sit at home, all separated, to play video games in their dark, cold basements. They don’t drown themselves out into the void of social media, scrolling by the pool, completely unaware of the wonderful nature around them.
They live, they connect with each other. It’s messy, but it’s real, it’s human, it’s emotional. Coley and Sonya have time. They take the time. Their souls intertwine slowly as the days go by. No distraction, just them, their eyes, their hands, their big feelings. Figuring out what to do with all that. This is also why it’s so overwhelming for Sonya. She has nowhere to hide, she’s soaked in it, she likes it, but she’s terrified of it too. That’s where all the emotion naturally emerges from.
Sometimes, just watching people live, feel, hurt, love, survive, learn, be human… Is more than enough. Sometimes, that’s really what the movies are for. And it’s beautiful.
