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‘Girls Will Be Girls’ Review: Coming of Age in an Indian Boarding School


Shuchi Talati’s complicated character drama, 'Girls Will Be Girls,' makes for a thrilling, intimate debut.

Its depiction of young love is just as vulnerable and awkward — which it makes it incredibly true-to-life — between Sri and Mira’s suppressed smirks, to their curious physical explorations, to the way they’re forced to rely on the internet for anatomical sex ed (in lieu of much at school or at home). Her silent close-ups hold just a little longer than most narrative dramas — credit surely must go to editor Amrita David as well — allowing her actors to fully immerse themselves in their performances, as the characters’ reaction shots to awkward situations become portraits of introspection, as Mira and Anali learn to see themselves in one another. By capturing hesitancy and the intimacy of touch, these close-up inserts become conversations unto themselves, and they start to function as a unique form of subjectivity, revealing behaviors, intentions and hidden desires when Mira and Sri have no choice but to stop speaking, or to avert their gaze.

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