Jul 11
Review: 'Cora Bora' Queers the Rom-Com Genre
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 2 MIN.
The Hannah Pearl Utt-directed "Cora Bora" – a vehicle for "Hacks" star Megan Stalter – takes the rom-com genre, spins it around, gives it a good queering, and leaves it inside-out.
The film, a favorite as LGBTQ+ festivals last year, arrives on VOD July 12, and it begs to be seen. A character study of social awkwardness, self-involvement, and trauma, the film surrounds a tragic core with layers of slightly strange humor and somewhat mysterious romantic tension.
Stalter stars as the title character, a struggling bisexual musician whose tenure in LA isn't working out so well. Playing spiritless songs to sparse, listless audiences, she only gets by thanks to her parents' financial support.
If her career is going nowhere, that's where her relationship has already arrived; Cora and her girlfriend, Justine (Jojo T. Gibbs), are in the middle of an open, long-distance arrangement that, Cora abruptly realizes, has been infiltrated by another woman. Belatedly taking an interest in reigniting her love with Justine, Cora hops a quick flight to Portland, only to find her path repeatedly crossing with Tom (Manny Jacinto), a man whose first-class seat she attempts to cadge.
Blowing into town like a hurricane, Cora soon has everyone orbiting her in a frenzy of confusion. The new woman turns out to be named Riley (Ayden Mayeri), and she's not only beautiful, she's calm and organized – everything Cora isn't. Even Justine, long practiced at sorting our Cora's disasters, soon has her patience tested.
But not before Cora (who has been on dating apps all this time) finds herself in a scrap with an angry friend over a man, stumbles into an nascent orgy at a polyamorous household (Margaret Cho among them), and leaves Tom piqued and puzzled with every chance meeting.
The screenplay, by Rhianon Jones, trades in a peculiar sort of deadpan (and deadbeat) humor, and Statler is masterful in her mix of cluelessness, evasion, and naive grift. As her trip back home to save her relationship turns into a road trip into her own psychological disruption, though, Statler excavates a very different character: Someone wounded and grieving.
"Cora Bora" streams on demand starting July 12.
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
