‘Girls Like Girls’ in Full Bloom
Young love, it’s one of the sweetest kinds of stories to witness take shape and unfold. Naive characters form a connection that’s wildly unfamiliar to them, whereas—I’d bet—many moviegoers are more familiar with that phenomenal four-letter feeling. In films that explore this subject, in all its blissfulness and challenges, there’s both a heartfelt hopefulness and an understood apprehensiveness for the young lovers on-screen. Still, some love stories are remarkably more layered than others, as is the case of those with queer perspectives. On June 16, Film Independent spotlighted one of these perspectives in an advanced screening of the romance drama Girls Like Girls by writer/director Haley Kiyoko, her whirlwind lesbian story come to life. It was followed by a Q&A with the filmmaker and leading cast, Maya da Costa and Myra Molloy, moderated by Mia Vicinio.
Set in 2006 rural Oregon, the film follows teenage Coley (da Costa) who moves in with her estranged father Curtis (Zach Braff) after her mother’s passing. She meets Sonya (Molloy), a high-spirited girl, and the two form an unexpected romance. Self-doubt and social fears seep into their magnetic connection, which they confront and try to learn from for the chance of a blossoming relationship.
Girls Like Girls marks Hayley Kiyoko’s directorial debut and Maya da Costa’s feature-film acting debut. As for Myra Molloy, although not her first film acting role, it marks her first leading role. Each artist was in a unique position to bring something new to the project, and the result was an emotionally-driven and graceful portrait of two girls not only discovering their sexuality, but also a deep attraction for each other as individuals. It’s not often that we get films centered on women or girls falling in love. Kiyoko stated, “I think that representation is so important. We get a movie like this every ten years…and we deserve to be able to name ten movies at the top of our head that are two girls falling in love, or two women—two POC women—starring as leads,” adding, “that’s really challenging to do, so I’m just so immensely proud of their performances.”
Racial identity doesn’t play a significant role in the story, however the main characters are seen and shown as mixed race, and that detail adds to the discourse about the marginalization of queer love that the film explores. Vicinio asked Kiyoko about this intersectionality, “Alienation is a major theme in this film…being queer, being Asian, being mixed race—especially in a place as white as Oregon…and I was wondering how this story has helped you and also your fans to process these feelings of isolation, and the catharsis that comes with a story like this.” Kiyoko replied, “I think if I was any age being able to buy a ticket to see a movie like this…it would’ve absolutely changed my life…my experience knowing that I was queer at such a young age was so silent. I didn’t get to share it with people. It was through a glance, it was through a look, it was me overthinking a DM or AIM message, so it was really important for me to try to capture that internal process visually.”
Girls Like Girls is not just a film, it’s an intellectual property that Haley Kiyoko has been carefully crafting since the release of her hit song and viral music video of the same name back in 2015. It was absolutely inescapable at the time, especially in LGBTQIA+ spaces, cementing her as a pop icon in the community. Then, it was materialized into a young adult novel published in 2023 becoming a New York Times bestseller. Fast forward to now, the film adaptation, but it certainly wasn’t an easy journey. “I’m so proud to have not given up…they make it so hard for us to tell stories from different perspectives from different people—and yet we’re not niche! There were so many moments of pitching this film where people were like ‘You’re queer, you’re Asian, you’re a woman; who’s gonna watch this?’ I’m like—millionsof people.” Here’s hoping exactly that, because when all is said and done, it’s a romance drama for queer people just as much as it can be for allies.
Girls Like Girls is now in theaters nationwide! A special thanks to The Golden Globe Foundation, KCRW, and Focus Features for making this event possible. A shoutout to Focus Features for providing custom-made Girls Like Girls Pride flags for our members to wave this Pride Month, and each one after.
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