Girls Will Be Girls

The movie is well crafted and acted. All actors were nice and were able to evoke the right emotions in the viewers.

It took us back to our school days when we first time experience bully, sexual development and how to control it. We didnt knew.

I was into the movie, found almost all the technicalities to be near perfect. How the boy and girl meet and come together. Of course it was the pre smartphone era, how to they exchanged numbers and the intricate plan to call, I am sure it brought a nostalgic memory to so many 90s kinds. It really hit the right cord. Totally loved it.

In simple, its a story about how a girl in her school days discovers about her sexuality. I must appreciate the director and the writer for this movie.

Coming-of-age films often face the challenge of portraying the teenage perspective authentically while balancing the unfiltered wisdom of older generations. This film walks that tightrope with near-perfection, capturing the complexities of generational divides and emotional truths.

As a love letter to womanhood and its subtle nuances, unfortunately I can only sympatise with its message. But its emotional depth still resonated. Moments of quiet power gave me chills, and I found myself tearing up toward the end-a testament to its maturity and impact.

Unlike most coming-of-age films that lean on soaring scores to heighten emotions, this one finds beauty in silence. The lack of music, coupled with sharp, subtext-rich dialogue, potrayed with long wide static camera shots speaks volumes without saying much at all. Watching it on the big screen was a delight, made even more memorable by meeting the lead actress who is a true force of nature in this.

Highly recommended.

Watched this at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.

Filmmaker Shuchi Talati creates a beautiful, tender and complex story on exploring female sexuality, culture, and mother & daughter relationship with strong performances, great camerawork, and ambitious writing. Talati's writing and direction felt genuine, sweet and nature on capturing the characters interactions and personalities that were well-developed and interesting and approaching the themes and cultures of India with sweet tenderness and complexity.

The camerawork shooting in 4:3 aspect ratio felt purposeful and helped create the atmosphere of the setting. Many of the performances are really good and the characters are interesting as I felt genuine connection and investment to the characters. You are able to get engagement, connection and understanding of many of the characters and the mother and daughter aspects were strong. Good costumes and production designs throughout as well.

The only gripe I have is that I felt certain aspects were a little too long and could have been shorten.

Art-house India cinema is interesting as they are not something I have often seen but Girls Will Be Girls is likely going to be my newest favorite art-house India movie.

The movie has your attention from the first scene, they get everything right the casting, the location, the costumes, everything!!, But this movie takes its time to build up to what it's trying to tell you. How a young girl Mira is exploring her sexuality and love in this patriarchal world. Yet, it is one of the best school romances made in India.

Plot of th movie revolves around Mira, the head prefect of her school, she dealing to meet with her, her parents and her teacher's expectations of her school results, maintaining a decipline in her school irrespective of them being her friends but at the same time she is exploring herself. This coming of age movie is similar to most coming of age movies but has got almost everything right!!

I am stealing: every one has their key, you just need to find them, and ofcourse the school romance, the tention of the first kiss.

Well, I haven't watched any of Shuchi Talati's short films yet, so this is my first exposure to her work. And I must say, she exhibits the finesse of a seasoned filmmaker in the coming-of-age drama genre. She's able to extract exceptional performances from her lead trio (Preeti Panigrahi, Kani Kusruti, Kesav Binoy Kiron) and offer very nuanced takes on a conflicting mother-daughter relationship, a teenage romance that gradually leads to sexual awakening, and a mother who's yet to truly come of age herself. I'm not one to complain of its unhurried pacing, minimalist score (the lack of which actually contributes more to certain scenes), and English-speaking characters in mostly non-English-speaking environments.

The boarding school setting does feel like it's part of a distinct universe, but the emotions portrayed in the film are very candid and honest. I particularly loved the plot progression-Mira's urge to understand (and quench) her sexual needs, being heckled by some of her peers at school, trying to avert her boyfriend from giving too much attention to her mother, and figuring out whether her love is just "puppy love" or "big-dog love." When a film doesn't offer answers to every question, it leaves room for further thought. Girls Will Be Girls deserves a lot more attention in my eyes.