May 19, 2011
The Owls
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 2 MIN.
The Owls is a fascinating "collective project" that blends not only genres, but also approaches and even formats. The result is an energetic, and energizing, film that challenges form and asks stimulating questions.
The story, though it's almost secondary, involves a group of women, some of whom used to be in a girl band called The Screech. Lead singer Iris (Guinevere Turner) has sunk to drinking and ruminating bitterly over how the world is being denied her "talent and charisma." Iris is in the midst of breaking up with MJ (V.S. Brodie), the woman with whom she used to share a life and a big house overlooking Los Angeles.
Former bandmate Carol (Cheryl Dunye) and her girlfriend, Lily (Lisa Gornick) are also having relationship issues. Carol wants a baby; Lily isn't so sure, especially in the wake of a tragic turn of events in which MJ accidentally kills a guest, Cricket (Deak Evgenikos), at a party. The women hide the body away, opening the way for Cricket's meditations from beyond ("I was hidden," she says of her corpse, adding this about her life: "but I didn't hide") as well as for revenge when Cricket's bereaved partner Skye (Skyler Cooper) shows up, posing as a former tenant of the house.
Skye's arrival introduces a sexual spark into an already volatile situation. But the movie doesn't simply slip into the linear outlines of a conventional thriller; instead, the actresses sit of interviews, both in character and out, and talk about the fictional relationships depicted in the movie as well as their own responses to mainstream culture and the way that they may be viewed in the culture. In a way, the documentary segments are like a build-in DVD commentary that didn't wait for the DVD release, which gives the film a meta-fiction element, allowing it to operate at different levels of discourse simultaneously.
One thing we learn as the movie progresses: OWL is also an acronym for Older, Wiser Lesbian. The gaggle of gay girls in this movie don't illustrate that in practice so much as by contrast: here's how not to do it.
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Screening at the 2011 Seattle International Film Festival
http://www.siff.net/
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
