SUPPORT THE GIRLS

It’s easy to have a bit of a cinema hangover post-film festival, when it feels like all the freshest, most vital films have rolled out of town. However, there are some wonderful titles releasing that cinema-goers shouldn’t pass up. Undoubtedly one of the best is the under-the-radar Support the Girls

(dir. Andrew Bujalski, rated M). Hiding a raw and furious spirit within its relatively low-key exterior, Girls explores the trials and tribulations of the women working at a Hooters-style restaurant. Led by their put-upon manager Lisa (Regina Hall, Girls Trip, Shaft), the film follows a day of rising calamities and stress as the women attempt to stay afloat in a leering, harshly capitalistic environment.

Boasting a rich cast of wonderful rising stars including Haley Lu Richardson (Columbus, Five Feet Apart) and Dylan Gelula (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), Support the Girls is a smart, intelligent and ultimately bittersweet slice-of-life celebrating solidarity and empowerment in spaces where women are often discouraged from having either. The beating heart at the centre of the film is undoubtedly Hall, who lends her manager a den-mother presence brimming with warmth, humanity and quiet dignity. What’s fascinating about this film is that it captures the exhausting and dehumanising slog of late-capitalism in a way that is all the more powerful for its understatedness, subtlety, and intense focus on the shared struggle of working class people. It’s this that elevates Support the Girls beyond simple comedy, into something truly remarkable. This is one of the best films of the year.