SPOILER-FREE PLOT SUMMARY
Set in the AOL era of 2006, a 17-year old who recently lost her mother, Coley (played by Maya da Costa, in her feature film debut), is forced to move to a rural Oregon town with her estranged dad (Zach Braff). While sitting at a diner one day, a group of high school seniors invite her to come hang out at their table. There, she meets Sonya (Myra Molloy) who tries to calm Coley’s social anxiety by inviting her to go to the lake with them. The two hit it off, becoming fast friends, but there seems to be something more. Having never experienced those feelings before, both resist acknowledging any romantic attraction until Coley opens up about her mom’s suicide. The unburdening of that secret breaks down Coley’s walls and the weight of vulnerability breaks down Sonya’s and the two begin to curiously explore their new feelings. But, when Sonya shuts down, Coley doesn’t know why and is left with her default mindset of “I must’ve done something wrong.” Trapped in the small town environment, Coley and Sonya must now try to operate their lives around each other but without ever having had a discussion about the pain the other is going through.
SPOILER-FREE REVIEW
First things first: da Costa is a star. Her emotional depth, steeped in subtlety here, is apparent in every scene. From social awkwardness to grief to vulnerability to abandonment to falling in love to heartbreak, da Costa nails it every time. Regardless of what emotion the character calls for, it’s maximized by da Costa and is truly one of the best performances of the year.
Director and co-writer Hayley Kiyoko (in her feature-film directorial debut) serves up an outstanding example of the coming-of-age genre. Sure, there’s not a whole lot of visual flare but there are master strokes along the way that display her potential as a filmmaker. The symbolism of Coley wearing Sonya’s choker and Coley being immersed in water at specific parts of the story, for example, puts the audience on notice for whatever project Kiyoko does next.
The drawbacks? There’s no acknowledgement of one of the film’s main themes. The character of Sonya is 100% toxic yet — due to an abrupt final scene (which doesn’t sit well either, by the way) — the audience gets zero payoff from Coley living through red flag after red flag along the way. Much like an abusive relationship, the victim continues to seek out that behavior in a partner rather than learning the signs and having the emotional discipline to avoid them.
GIRLS LIKE GIRLS is a tremendous story about coming-of-age, falling in love for the first time, self-discovery and dealing with grief. But it misses just enough to keep it out of any “Best of 2026” lists.
(Except for da Costa, of course.)
JKG SCORE: 7.0 out of 10
Untitled Film Project 