Societies, politics and even systems of education have to figure out a way to deal with this development which may have severe consequences for our lives, with people unable to act compassionately or social with one another as we can see with conversations on social media and also in real life, for example. In the last couple of years we have seen people creating their own safe spaces and bubbles. Its no wonder considering that this is the era of streaming, social media and influencers; you can actually argue that the pandemic has propelled this process. Japanese director Kenichi Ugana may be suitable for tackling the issue, especially given his penchant for characters building up their own safety areas only to watch them get razed. This he has done in his recent feature “The Girls” which premiered just recently at Festival du Nouveau Cinema Montreal.
Momoko Tanabe, Kaoru Koide, and Kokoro Morita are the three women at the center of this story who appear to dwell in a forest where they devised a small hut for living. They have arranged a meal together and Girl 1 is cooking meat as well as other ingredients while Girl 2 comes late and starts talking about “The Walking Dead” along with her reflections on self-slaughter and death. When Girl 3 joins them after sometimes carrying a bag full of fast food she was craving for despite the fact that there was food ready, then we begin to understand that something is not right. However, they try so hard to remain jovial but it becomes apparent that dark days are about to fall on them thereby creating problems in their own safety place.
Many stories fail to make even the wildest plots interesting and amusing but Ugana proves yet again that he can create something out of nothing. That is partly because of his pacing, which however is slowed enough to give a chance for introducing the setting as well as the characters before we face the first dialogue. These three characters feel safe because they have made a place for themselves where they can do whatever they want without worrying about what other people think of them. However, their performances were not perfect and I could see them struggling with this idea in their dialogues on love and death from their own experiences; this was later confirmed in some of the spoken words between them.
I find it very engaging that “The Girls” is much more contemplative and philosophical than any other stories Ugana has written in the past. Like “Extraneous Matter”, “The Girls” can be seen as a story about two basic issues namely loneliness and love, which are clearly shown through the three main characters’ interactions or relationships with one another. The friends long to go out of their comfort zones yet at the same time they feel good when they are together (this could be indicative of how much time they have spent in their safe space/ bubble). Consequently, it would seem that Ugana wants his movie to act as a parable for what has occurred within our society; increasingly, we hear loud noises of conflicts. Safely ensconced within these bubbles have not been caused so much by external world conflicts but rather by our own nature and other developments. From its title alone, one can see how bleakly Ugana perceives “The Girls.” This is something new in his works, but he seems to indicate what will happen if we continue staying comfortable in our own havens unlike seeking changes with outside world.
In recent times, “The Girls” is a well-crafted and minimalist feature film about our sense of security and what it could do to us. This is a very relevant movie that has been directed by Kenichi Ugana on the importance of relating with our world if we really want to make an impact.
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