The summer movie season has officially descended with big June releases like Toy Story 5 and Disclosure Day, Steven Spielberg’s much-anticipated alien contact story. In the spirit of 21st-century contrariness, let’s look at some of the smaller films playing in Triangle theaters this month.
The coming-of-age drama Girls Like Girls has quite the multimedia pedigree. Directed and co-written by Hayley Kiyoko—musician, actress, and author—the movie is based on Kiyoko’s 2023 debut novel, which was in turn titled after her own 2015 song and viral music video.
Girls Like Girls has a wide pop culture footprint, but the story is small and intimate. Maya da Costa stars as 17-year-old Coley, reluctantly relocated to a small Oregon town after her mom dies. When she meets popular girl Sonya (Myra Molloy), both must navigate the treacherous terrain of first-time love, queer desire, and other matters of the heart. The official trailer for the film hits all the right notes. It made my heart physically hurt for a minute, but I’m a notorious softie when it comes to stories about the eternal ache of adolescence. In any case, it’s a good counterprogramming option if you’re trying to dodge the summer popcorn movies.
Those looking for a scary-movie excursion should consider the indie horror film Hokum, released in May but only recently booked locally. A joint U.S. and Irish production, Hokum is a classic haunted hotel story steeped in Gaelic folklore and atmospheric dread.
Adam Scott plays a troubled American writer who visits the rural Irish inn where his parents honeymooned. He soon runs afoul of creepy locals and what appears to be a manifestation of the Cailleach, the mystical hag of British Isles mythology. Zoinks, Scoob!
Actually, reviews of Hokum have been uncommonly effusive, with several critics calling it one of the best horror films in recent years. Irish writer-director Damian McCarthy made his bones in the business with the respected indies Caveat and Oddity, and here he combines elements of supernatural suspense, murder mystery, and folk horror. The man is clearly a professional. It’s always a dilemma when taking a chance on a new scary movie: Bad horror films are upsetting and exhausting, but good ones can be so much fun. This looks like a good one.
For a more serious-minded evening out, the Icelandic documentary Time and Water has an intriguing backstory. Oscar-nominated filmmaker Sara Dosa (Fire of Love) works with the Icelandic writer and activist Andri Snær Magnason, whose 2019 book On Time and Water ponders Iceland’s diminishing glaciers from a personal, ground-level perspective.
Magnason’s family has a deep connection to the land. His grandparents were pioneering scientists who lived and worked on the ice. His book serves as a kind of time capsule of geologic time and family memory, and Dosa’s film expands his vision with carefully sequenced imagery. We get family photos and archival footage of the magnificent glaciers, plus present-day panoramas of the bare rocks where the ice used to be.
Quick Picks
The unstoppable RuPaul headlines the disaster comedy spoof Stop! That! Train! Think Airplane! with updated jokes and improved 21st-century inclusivity. The cast includes drag superstars like Ginger Minj and Jujubee along with guest spots from Raven-Symoné, Chris Parnell, Charo, Natasha Leggero, and Sarah Michelle Gellar as herself, kind of.
Celebrated Canadian filmmaker Sophy Romvari makes her feature-length debut with the semiautobiographical family drama Blue Heron, concerning a Hungarian immigrant family on Vancouver Island. The film is an expansion on Romvari’s Still Processing, the short-form documentary that broke through to be a small viral sensation a few years back.
The Death of Robin Hood is a dark reimagining of the European folk legend starring Hugh Jackman as a less-than-merry outlaw looking back on his life and crimes. The movie is actually based on a 17th-century ballad—Robin Hoode his Death—that has a pretty fascinating history, if you’re partial to these kinds of internet rabbit holes.
The musical comedy-drama Power Ballad tells the story of a former boy band star (Nick Jonas) who steals a hit song from a sweet-natured wedding singer (Paul Rudd). The director is Irish musical film specialist John Carney (Once, Begin Again), and early reviews from various festival screenings are encouraging.
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