Long Island Girls

Korn (The Shutouts) channels the angst of the early 2000s indie music scene in this effective appeal to millennial nostalgia. Susan is 17, cool but not popular at her Long Island high school in 2005, and unsure if she likes boys. She breaks up with her boyfriend, Kyle, and is soon drawn to his new girlfriend, Eliza, whom she meets in a packed car on the way to a rock show. Their night is cut short when Susan reveals that she recognizes Eliza from a nude photo the boys in their school have been sharing with each other online (“You saw my tits and now you think you know me,” Eliza says, causing Susan to feel a mix of shame and desire). Five years later, after graduating from college, she’s living at home and working for an indie record label in Brooklyn. She’s also come out of the closet, but her attachment to Eliza keeps her from pursuing a meaningful relationship. By 2015, having moved to the city, she’s become “addicted to dating apps” and matches with Eliza. When they reunite, their spark is electric, but Eliza shies away, and the rejection makes Susan feel like a teenager again. The story is tender without being sentimental, and mordant without trivializing Eliza’s teen trauma. It’s a clear-eyed gaze into the messiness of youth. Agent: Nicki Richesin, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner. (June)