Girls on Film (2023), by Robin Bain
I was having a hard time writing a synopsis for this movie, then I found the perfect synopsis on IMDb / Letterboxd, so here it goes: “After being evicted from her home for filming illicit content on an adult website, a sexy cam girl moves into a luxurious desert mansion where she is seduced into an erotic yet toxic relationship with a lonely, disturbed heiress.” The cam girl is Jenna (Dare Taylor) and the heiress is Blake (Willow Grey, in her feature film debut).
Jenna doesn’t hide from Blake what she does for a living, while she’s waiting to go back to college to become a nurse. For fun, Blake decides to join Jenna — who uses the nickname “Rain” in her sexy videos — in a video as a way to both tease the audience and get more likes and subscribers. Both girls have secrets: Jenna has to hide who she really is from her online sequitur, while Blake hides a lot about herself from Jenna. Jenna only wanted to be loved — this is actually the first sentence in the movie — and Blake doesn’t seem to love even herself.
“Girls on Film” can establish an interesting dialog with another movie, “Rule 34”, winner of the Golden Leopard at the 2022 Locarno Film Festival. Also about a cam girl, this movie from Brazil is also directed by a woman, which makes the sex and sexy scenes feel not like the exploitation that would come from the male gaze behind the cameras, but a rather raw portrait of what a cam girl does. “Rule 34” was criticized, however, for being directed by a white woman and featuring only black women naked.
“Girls on Film” was directed, written, produced and edited by Robin Bain. Her most popular film to date has been “Girl Lost” (2020), derivated from her directing debut, “Nowhereland” (2016).
Another person who accumulates functions behind the cameras in this movie and even appears briefly as a character is Donnie Marhefka. Besides playing Sterling, Blake’s guardian, Donnie serves as co-producer, key grip and second-unit cinematographer. He’s also a heavy metal vocalist who used to have a band called Ancient Times — Jenna is seen wearing a T-shirt with their logo in one scene — and he also appeared in Robin Bain’s “Nowhereland”.
The plot was believable and timing — the dangers of the internet should always be the talk of the day — and the romance between the two girls doesn’t seem like queer exploitation. All in all, a solid indie thriller.
