Over a decade ago, Hayley Kiyoko released the music video for her hit single “Girls Like Girls.” For many reasons, the unashamed confidence of the chorus, ‘girls like girls, like boys do, nothing new’, shook the 2015 queer community. Not only was the music Kiyoko’s way of coming out publicly as a lesbian, but the message was enough to provide an anthem for so many young women who weren’t being heard and understood. Kiyoko connected with her fans so much that they went on to dub her ‘Lesbian Jesus’ . The next chapter in the ‘girls like girls’ saga came through Kiyoko publishing a book of the same name in 2023, which went on to top the New York Times Best-Seller List. Now comes a brand-new film, which shares the same narrative (and name) as the book.
It is no surprise that Girls Like Girls seems like such an instinctual artistic reflex for Kiyoko in her directorial debut, because she has been fiercely expressive for so long. The film’s narrative follows Coley (Maya da Costa) as she moves to a small rural town in Oregon after her mother’s passing. At the local diner, she meets a group of friends that includes Sonya (Myra Molloy). The two young girls slowly pursue a sapphic relationship over the summer before their senior year of high school.
The time in which Girls Like Girls is set is immediately apparent. All of the kids are riding bikes everywhere, swimming at the lake, and listening to music on Sony Walkmans. It’s clear the film is dedicated to capturing a very specific environment of a mid-2000s childhood. The lighting is intentionally warm and nostalgic. Sonya, as the love interest, has chaotically orange hair, which seems to sensationalize a warmth that begs to be held and reflected upon. While Kiyoko is intentionally reckoning with her childhood as a closeted teenager, the mid-2000s also offer the audience a space for relatability, as many will have grown alongside the director’s stardom.
While the film is being marketed as a queer love story, Girls Like Girls does not try to reinvent the formula of meet-cutes and steamy make-out sessions. There is more of an emphasis on the trust and integrity of Coley’s relationships, which allows her to let love into her life instead of coasting on occasional lustful flings. Trust has been a core part of Kiyoko’s art; even in her initial music video, there is a girl jealous of her crush’s abusive boyfriend and proceeds to beat him up. So it’s not surprising that an important aspect of Coley’s life is her once-absent father (Zach Braff), who becomes her guardian. They both have to find a way to communicate with each other to overcome their grief regarding the mother’s passing and build a new bond of trust.
In a very 2000s fashion, AOL Instant Messenger becomes a metaphor for the lack of communication between the characters and the closeting of one’s sexuality. Impulsive messages exchanged between Coley and Sonya, like ‘I think about you all the time,’ are shown on screen, queuing in the message box as the character ponders sending it, only for the whole thing to be eventually discarded. Kiyoko has had more than a decade to think about the material and reflect on her experience, which makes a lot of the themes, such as relying on safety nets and taking ownership of one’s desire, feel like they’re coming from a mature and healthy place. The recurring line ‘stop running’ reaffirms that Kiyoko has stayed true to herself, even after so much time spent believing she wouldn’t be accepted.
By the film’s conclusion, though, the experiment of extending the themes embodied in the music video leaves a few narrative threads dangling. At its very core, Girls Like Girls picks up those initial events, like a love interest being indecisive about their sexuality from the music video, and then tries to fill in the gaps. It’s in those gaps that the film is less successful. Small character traits like Sonya’s reliance on alcohol and the distanced relationship she has with her parents are things that are hinted at but are never given enough weight. Also, the audience does not see much of the central relationship between these two girls develop romantically, which may be contrary to many expectations.
So even though Kiyoko’s debut stumbles in developing multi-faceted characters, the film marks another worthy milestone in her artistic trajectory, her fans’ dedicated affection, and ultimately the power of the ‘girls like girls’ mantra. In the comment section of the original music video, fans prophetically called for the film adaptation ten years ago. The desire to see a well-drawn lesbian romance onscreen has always been there and remains today. Girls Like Girls delivers on this initial idea and adds that through communication and understanding within a support system, love truly conquers all.
Girls Like Girls opens in theatres June 19.
