Movie Review: “Girls Like Girls”

Image from Rotten Tomatoes | After lots of anticipation, the movie "Girls Like Girls" will soon be released.

Hayley Kiyoko, actress, singer and director, is releasing her new romance movie “Girls Like Girls” in theatres on June 19. “Girls Like Girls” was originally a song that became a book which is now turning into a movie. Unsure of how she was going to turn it into a film, Kiyoko still believed that queer people deserve representation.

In the movie, the main character Coley moves to Oregon after her mother’s passing. She finds herself falling in love with Sonya, leading her into discovering her queerness and accepting herself.

“I think about a year or so after the music video had come out, I had dreamed of making it into a feature and started the very, very long journey of, ‘How do you make a movie happen? ‘How does this even happen in Hollywood?’” Kiyoko said. “I’ve very much learned why it takes so long to get representation out there.”

The song “Girls Like Girls” was released in 2015, discussing that “girls like girls like boys do.” The song also narrates Kiyoko’s first time falling in love with a girl in high school. The music video depicts two childhood friends who realize their feelings for each other and begin to uncover their queerness. One of the girl's boyfriends is jealous of their intimacy and eventually assaults her as she and her friend start to kiss.

Kiyoko made this song to remind queer girls, especially lesbians, that their sexuality is valid. Her lyrics, “girls like girls like boys do” reminds us of how often lesbian feelings are invalidated, whether it’s described as “confusion” or just sexualized.

“[I felt] like it’s my destiny to direct this song and to get this story out there. I was like, ‘If I give up, then who is going to do this?’” Kiyoko stated. “And so that was what kept me going. This feels like a huge win for our community.”