Sundance 2022: Girl Picture
sundance 2022Growing up is an incredibly daunting experience. With new emotions so powerful that they feel like they could drive one insane popping up every day while the concept of life and purpose become more relevant than ever, things can be chaotic yet beautiful in one strange messy package. Screening as part of the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, Alli Haapasalo's newest feature Girl Picture seeks to capture these emotions in a real and authentic way that doesn't need any over-the-top story or drama. Following three friends over three consecutive Fridays as they all embrace some emotion they are feeling and try to find their place in the world around them, Girl Picture is instantly one of the most tender and emotionally poignant films of the festival.
Brought to the film by both its screenplay and direction, there is a delicate love within Girl Picture that is real and touching. While there is drama and conflict within the feature, it comes from nothing external. The film deals exclusively with the internal. The internal questioning of desire, the internal fight for confidence, the internal confusion of direction. When a film wants to create drama for a queer relationship – like the one featured within Girl Picture – it feels so easy to throw in a conservative enemy or external threat of danger or rejection. Girl Picture never takes this route with any of its plots or characters, it focuses on the real, lived experience of growing up without discrimination or fiction. It is beyond clear that the filmmakers behind the camera are pulling from their experiences and their emotions, which is reflected in just how authentic the content on camera feels. Girl Picture, at times, doesn't even really feel like a work of fiction, it just feels like a slice of the modern human experience delivered just how it exists. It is a testament to the quality of all parties that a film with this little conflict or even really plot is able to be so engaging and so watchable with the feature never feeling boring or dull.
While plenty of the credit has to be given to the work off-camera, it is also important to pay respect to those in front of the camera, as every actor is delivering incredibly solid work. The passion felt between Linnea Leino and Aamu Milonoff is infectious and filled with power. Even when they are not speaking, the stares they exchange and the weight of them together fill every scene they are a part of with meaning and romantic tension. Eleonoora Kauhanen is wildly charming and funny, really capturing the quirkiness of personality in a way that feels real and never overbearing. These characters feel natural – like they wandered onto the screen with full lives both behind and in front of them. They feel alive and breathing, which is ultimately the highest form of character one can have in a work of fiction.
The editing of the film by Samu Heikkilä is also a clear standout. Not just is the film an incredibly watchable 100-minutes, but every editing choice is done with a clear mindset of how to draw the most emotion out of each and every scene. The use of music throughout the film truly creates what is sure to be some of the best scenes of the year with an especially large highlight being a trip to a party that hears Perfume Genius' Slip Away play as the characters on-screen find and embrace themselves in a moment that creates goosebumps even just thinking about it in reflection. The final sequence is also truly stunning and demands to be seen and loved.
Films like Girl Picture are why Sundance is so magical. While on the outside, and even on paper, the film feels somewhat lackluster, the actual viewing experience is anything but. This is a raw form of expression when it comes to a lived experience that carries the magic and beauty of the human experience within it. The film feels authentic and captivating with every piece of its identity working at an incredibly high level. Simply put, Girl Picture is stunning and is absolutely one of the biggest recommendations of the festival so far.
