Support The Girls is a must see film for mumblecore fans who would welcome a little diversity in their protagonists. Regina Hall stars in Andrew Bujalski’s latest film as Lisa, the manager of a local sports bar tended by twenty something year old women in blue jean cut offs and red crop tops. For fans of Columbus, Haley Lu Richardson also plays a bubbly supporting character as Maci, the indefatigable senior waitress on staff, but Shayna McHayle makes a memorable debut performance as Danyelle, Maci’s polar opposite who is being groomed to be the next Lisa. It is a dramedy, and I frequently laughed out loud, but I also deeply savored how such a seemingly simple film actually was extremely complex and nuanced in its depiction of America during the twenty-first century.
If you have no idea what mumblecore is, think of Support the Girls as the film equivalent of what Edouard Manet did for barmaids in A Bar at the Folies-Bergere. Mumblecore takes everyday, humble environments and ordinary people then gives them the cinematic treatment usually reserved for people and places of higher stature. It treats the contemporary world with a sense of reverence and respect that we rarely give it in our prosaic, rapid paced lives. I adore this genre, but I can understand how most viewers would watch a mumblecore film and think, “Nothing happened;” whereas I see this genre as permitting viewers to take a step back and look at their own lives with a historical and meditative perspective by forcing us to slow down and appreciate the Herculean labors of our lives.
Support The Girls is a film divided into three acts: Lisa and the girls at Double Whammies, the girls at Double Whammies when Lisa is not on duty and Lisa and the girls outside of Double Whammies. The structure is so simple and indiscernible, but it helps the viewers to understand why Lisa is so important to bringing life to the girls and the place and to depict what life is usually like for everyone in a world when there is no Lisa. Lisa is completely human and vulnerable, but because of what she brings to her job and subordinates, she literally makes the world a better place. She brings redemption and respect for human dignity into a place without any.
Support The Girls feels like a long overdue love letter to black women specifically for being the mother to the world everyday, for being the scapegoat of someone’s bad day or target of derision as crazy or angry when they stop being perfect and actually show some human emotion. Bujalski really recognizes the toll that empathy and deciding to not ignore and take an active role in making life better takes on a person. If you are unfamiliar with mumblecore, it is possibly one of the whitest genres of film and often male so Bujalski deserves extra kudos for exploring a character completely unlike himself and most protagonists in this genre and nailing the depiction without hitting the third rail of stereotypes or being derogatory in some other fashion. His black women felt like real people, and his casual depiction of racism without feeling like an after school special was refreshing.
Support The Girls appreciates the absurdity of the commodification of women. It isn’t an accident that the movie is set in Texas where churches are next to strip clubs because everyone serves the false universal god/demonic spirit of misogyny that to some degree does not see women as fully human and devalues their work. This moment culminates when Danyelle looks at everyone during game night, especially after a customer accidentally spills his drink on her. She then makes a decision whether or not to act as if it is normal or puncture the absurdity of the moment, which culminates in the arbitrary line of good taste of what is and is not appropriate for women to do when entertaining men using their bodies while pretending it isn’t happening because otherwise how can they rationalize taking their families to this place. What kind of men would they be?
Support The Girls also raises the stakes even further because there is an ever-growing threat in the background that could potentially further deteriorate the situation: a big corporation competing with local businesses. Basically it would infect the meat market with further depersonalization and corporate speak. If these women were not valued before, they may not even have a place in this new market if they don’t fit the brand. Danyelle, the Snowpiercer of the cast, finds freedom in this apocalyptic scenario. Being interchangeable means there are plenty of “shitty jobs” that she can choose from without compromising if she is unwilling to fulfill her employer’s demeaning demands. Employers may have the upper hand, but workers can destroy the business if they want even if only for one night.
There were small, but notable moments throughout Support The Girls that recognized how the natural world has almost completely been eliminated by this landscape of concrete highways. This landscape is post the fall of man, which also explains why the natural relationship between women and men is so distorted. Lisa has moments when she tries to commune with the natural world: by calling to a bird, enjoying the sun and the air. She is the only one who fundamentally remembers what the world could be, but she also appreciates what the world has become instead of seeing it as a bleak, desolate landscape. She is like a Holy Spirit figure that can fill any place with peace and warmth.
Support The Girls deserves kudos for never falling into a sitcom schtick while having a sense of humor. It really does feel like a slice of life. There are no exposition fairies to explain everything to you. For instance, what happened to the foosball table? How did Lisa end up becoming a manager at that kind of an establishment? What was going on with Lisa’s home life? You can guess, but you don’t really know. Supporting characters feel like three-dimensional characters even when they don’t get a lot of screen time. I know Bobo or at least women similar to her or someone like Officer Dominguez. It is always nice when a movie reflects the real world and is recognizable. It also deserves praise for not wrapping everything up in a tidy bow.
When Support The Girls ends, it is like life. We have no idea what will happen to these characters that we have grown to care about. They may or may not be fine. Was this the worst or best moment of their lives or will it be completely forgotten as their lives continue to unfold or life organically separates them? We’ll never know. If it did become a series, I would not mind.
I really enjoyed Support The Girls although the middle act loses some momentum. It is intelligent without being pedantic, funny without being hacky, and heartwarming without being treacly. I don’t think that mumblecore gets better than this unless Greta Gerwig is at the helm. Bujalski is getting better with age, and Hall and the other actors deserve accolades for their performances.