Girlfriends

A coming-of-age befitting of Pride Month, Tracy Choi’s Girlfriends is a reflective feature that explores growth and self-discovery through one individual’s different relationships with women. It retraces the life of Tsui Lok Yan, a filmmaker whose career remains at a standstill, as she contemplates the direction of her situation with her current girlfriend, Bei. While the two remain happy and in love, impulsive decisions and clashes over their future prompt Lok to look back on the choices she has made that led her up to this point. It stars Fish Liew, Elizabeth Tang and Natalie Hsu as Lok at three different stages of her life, each providing nuanced performances that showcase the diverse experiences Lok goes through.

The brilliance of the movie lies in the little details and how they unfold to reveal aspects of Lok’s personality, helping the audience understand the character and her choices. Like the way Lok smoking as an adult and riding a motorcycle in her college years are marks of her first love’s influence. Even her affinity for older partners can be attributed to that same friendship with Faye and their age gap. Her avoidance of talking about the future isn’t something new with Bei – it’s something that she and her college girlfriend Ching also struggled with. Every trip to the past is a revelation of Lok as a person and as a lover. One can also appreciate that, beyond seeing Lok’s personality take shape, viewers will also see the progression of her parents’ acceptance of Lok finding herself and being herself. It’s these minute details compounding over time and unveiling who Lok truly is as she realises exactly what she wants – that’s what makes Girlfriends such a compelling watch.

Girlfriends is also a quiet film with long, lingering moments shot with unsteady cinematography. These scenes of domestic silence highlight the slow unravelling of Lok’s relationships, while the shaky camera movements emphasise her uncertainty with herself and the people surrounding her. Lok’s story encompasses heartbreak, LGBTQ+ struggles – especially in a conservative environment – toxic partners and the weaponisation of love and sex; the cyclical structure lends itself well to diving into the complexities of these topics, with parallels and foreshadowing key to capturing the effects of these things on Lok’s development. Where Girlfriends falters is in the chemistry department; none of Lok’s love interests is particularly endearing. In some ways, it works in favour of the piece, reminding viewers that these connections are temporary and ended for a reason. On the other hand, it does make for awkward sex scenes and dampens the intensity in moments of push and pull between Lok and her partners.

Girlfriends follows one person’s journey in search of love and self-discovery; it’s a showcase of the big and small moments that make up a person. Lok’s story is the sacrifices she has made for the women she loved and the women she left behind, and it’s charming in the way it handles Lok’s growth and bittersweet in its romantic endeavour.