Girls Town

Girls Town is a fun, albeit serious, look at four young high school seniors who, after a classmate’s death, try to navigate life, their future, and the patriarchal forces that stand in their way. After their close friend Nikki’s (Aunjanue Ellis Taylor) suicide, three girls, Emma (Anna Grace), Angela (Bruklin Harris), and Patti (Lili Taylor), discover her diary where she admits her cause for suicide.

Girls Town is a superb 90’s indie movie and feels incredibly similar to Hal Hartley movies in the best way possible, but substitute Brooklyn for Long Island. The film follows a group of 4 friends as they soak up the liminal space at the end of high school, anticipating how their futures will unfold. The film begins with the four young women talking about their school day, which leads to a scene in which they recite school papers about what they want to do with their future. In these scenes, we learn that Patti (Lily Taylor) is a single mother and has trouble in school; Nikki and Angie are heading to college in the fall; and the fourth is undecided about her future. The group is shattered when Nikki commits suicide, and the rest of the group, not understanding why she would do that, takes her journal to try to uncover a reason.

It turns out that she was raped while interning for a magazine. Having never told the group about this, they realize how little they know about each other’s personal lives despite being best friends. This revelation leads them to talk about the assaults that happened in their life. Emma admits that she also had been raped at a party. From there, they start to understand their place in a patriarchal system and realize how horrible it is for women. One of the most interesting aspects of this film is that the four leads are co-writers and worked as equals in creating their characters alongside Writer/Director Jim McKay and Denise Casano.

Once they discover the awful cause of their friend’s death, they begin to take revenge on the men who wronged them in ways that juveniles do. They left graffiti in the bathroom, warning other girls in their class to keep clear of the men, as a form of community safety. The trio also trashed the car of Angie’s rapist. Patti, throughout the film, has troubles with her deadbeat, abusive baby daddy, whom the girls later take revenge on by stealing his electronics in his apartment, framing a break-in, pawning the stolen stuff, and using the money for new clothes for her baby.

The final revenge is taken on the man who raped Nikki; the trio goes to his magazine, berates him in the office, and beats him up after he leaves the building. In between these scenes, we see normal grieving of a lost friend and the tribulations of being a single teen mother, women’s support systems, and prepping for the future. The ending scene of the three girls sitting in a baseball dugout is gorgeous as they continue to talk about the future and how they’re all getting out of here, ETC, in a very touching full-circle moment.

Vital Disc Stats: Blu-ray 
Girls Town stomps its way onto Blu-ray thanks to Film Movement Classics and OCN Distribution. The Blu-ray disc is housed in a clear case featuring a booklet of essays and some really great behind-the-scenes photos. The cover included in this release is artwork from the original film poster, as well as a portrait on the inner portion of the case. If you ordered from Vinegar Syndrome's website you could snag a limited run slipcover. 

The picture in this release is really something in gorgeous 1080p. The 4k restoration by IndieCollect does an incredible job of maintaining the original film grain and look from the original release while also making everything look clear and gorgeous. The scenes where the friend group is hanging out and walking around outdoors through the park, and when they’re hanging out on the dugout, the landscape is somewhat muted, but it makes the scenery feel like late spring in a really interesting way. You feel the heat of summer starting to take hold, especially in the way the characters are dressed. My favorite aspect of this film is the incredibly 90’s fashion, especially Lily Taylor's character Patti, who is completely dripped out at all times. This release is worth buying just for how good it looks; it is highly recommended.

The sound in this release is superb. Presented in DTS-HD MA 5.1, 2.0, you can hear all of the dialogue clearly, and the incredible soundtrack isn’t overpowering when it switches from music to low-volume serious conversations. The soundtrack itself is worth the money alone for this release, including 90s greats like Queen Latifah, PJ Harvey, Roxanne Shante, and Salt-N-Pepa. U.N.I.T.Y by Queen Latifa has been stuck in my head since the first watch of this film, and it’s a welcome earworm for sure. All around, this is a really great release AV-wise.

The supplements in this release are really special and unique.  There is a great making-of featurette which shows the director Jim McKay casting the film and his method of posing that the actors will be co-writing the picture while creating the characters. The Q&A is a great look at the film’s feminist core. The commentary is really interesting because instead of the film having a designated commentary track, the cast and crew speak on individual scenes and how they came about.

• Select Scene Audio Commentary featuring cast and crew members (HD 28:02)
• Making of, Voiced over by director Kim McKay (HD 7:37)
• Q&A with Jim McKay and activist Yasmeen Hassan (HD 39:12)
• Trailer (SD 1:41)
• Booklet

This release of Girls Town from Film Movement Classics is well worth the price. The presentation audio-visual is phenomenal. The 90’s soundtrack will get stuck in your head while also elevating the film's independent feel. The supplements, while not overly long, are presented in a fun, unique way and are informative, full of anecdotes from the making of the film. I would recommend this film for fans of the 90’s American film scene, especially those into the early Hal Hartley films. Girls Town is a film that balances serious subject matter and humor while feeling real and grounded throughout. With a solid A/V presentation and an interesting selection of worthwhile extras - Recommended 

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