The Owls

“The Owls” brings the phrase “les­bian drama” to hyper­bolic heights. Cheryl Dunne directs les­bian super­stars, VS Brodie and Guin­e­vere Turner, among oth­ers, in a poignant film that explores les­bian stereo­types through Sarah Schulman’s self-deprecating script.

The film fol­lows a group of four 40-something les­bians strug­gling in their unhealthy rela­tion­ships amidst the boonies of the Cal­i­for­nia desert. The group hides a hor­ri­fy­ing secret, of which the audi­ence is aware from the begin­ning, and which another les­bian attempts to uncover.

The actors fill their roles beau­ti­fully, espe­cially Guin­e­vere Turner, who flits effort­lessly from her character’s hilar­i­ously ego­tis­ti­cal self descrip­tions to her dra­matic inter­ac­tions with the other characters. The film is effec­tively shot doc­u­men­tary style — the char­ac­ters give indi­vid­ual inter­views with the cam­era and flash­backs are shown.

The indi­vid­ual inter­views show­case the film’s strongest moments but it takes a strange turn when sud­denly, in the mid­dle of the film, the actors begin dis­cussing their respec­tive char­ac­ters and con­cepts like “butch” and “femme.” It feels painfully self-conscious and con­trived and would have been best reserved strictly for the end of the film, if nec­es­sary at all.

Over­all, the film reveals impor­tant and funny points about the por­trayal of les­bians in media. If only it would lighten up a little.

Rebecca Slaven is a con­trib­u­tor to Sad Mag.