Girls Will Be Girls | "beautifully composed coming-of-age story"

Shuchi Talati’s debut feature Girls Will Be Girls premiered at Sundance earlier this year and won the World Cinema Audience Award for a Drama at the festival. Talati’s beautifully composed coming-of-age story drew inspiration from both Talati’s own experiences of school in Vadodara and Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers and St. Clare’s.

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Controlled cinematography

From the opening scene, the static camera shows Talati’s mature formalist approach, a sign of an assured directorial voice that is rarely seen in a director’s first feature. The controlled cinematography is also a testament to the craft of Taiwanese cinematographer Jih-E Peng. Her compositional awareness was really a highlight of the film for me, as it creates the meditative atmosphere that persists through the entire runtime. When used, the score worked so well in complimenting the cinematography, I just wish it was used more often as its brief introduction rang through my ears for the rest of the film.

Deeply personal

The narrative itself seems to be deeply personal to Talati, which can sometimes be difficult to effectively translate to screen as the attempt to do justice to your own memory can sometimes impede a screenplay. However, Talati manages to avoid this and delivers a narrative that plays with teenage awkwardness in a caring way that will be deeply relatable for many people’s teenage years.

Subtle power

I cannot talk about this film without talking about the subtle power of Preeti Panigrahi and Kani Kusruti’s performances. The innate bond between mother and daughter is done so well, even when they argue the love for one another can still be seen gleaming in their eyes when they look at each other. Kusruti had a mammoth task to tackle in her performance, as she has to play a character who is confused by her own relationship with her daughter. They both embody their characters, you really believe the toxicity of their relationship and the love they share. It’s rare to have a film where the performances are so strong that dialogue is spoken between characters through a brief glance, but Panigrahi and Kusruti achieve just that. Kusruti also starred in Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light, which saw strong critical reception out of this years Cannes Film Festival, an excellent year for her all round.

Complex ideas

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Now, the film is not exempt from a few minor criticisms that are expected from a debut feature. It does tend to meander a little, as you can see that the film struggled to find itself sometimes, caught up in a whirlwind of complex ideas surrounding being a teenager and the complexities of mother-daughter relationships during this time. However, I must say that this is not necessarily a weakness, as Talati meanders yet still manages to explore her ideas in a refreshingly subtle way.

Overall, Girls Will Be Girls is a powerfully personal slow-burn debut from promising young director Shuchi Talati. I cannot wait to see what Talati does next, as the talent is there to see.