Lola Kirke is quickly ascending up the Hollywood ladder. In 2013, she was merely known as the sister of Girls co-star Jemima Kirke. Three years later and she’s completed work on David Fincher and Ben Affleck’s Gone Girl, co-starred alongside Greta Gerwig in Noah Baumbach’s Mistress America and landed the leading role on Amazon’s Golden Globe-winning series, Mozart in the Jungle. In AWOL, which commenced production before Kirk’s rise to indie-stardom, the 25-year-old was handed an opportunity to spearhead a feature narrative of her own.
Kirke stars as Joey, an aimless young woman searching for direction in small-town rural Pennsylvania. Joey has dreams of escaping from her sleepy hometown, though that’s mostly due to the encouragement of her mother, who wants her daughter to join the army. Military service would provide Joey a chance to travel the world, utilize her expertise in mechanical repairs and eventually pay for college. But Joey is in no rush, and her hesitance is exacerbated when she is seduced by local party girl Reyna (Breeda Wool).
It’s clear from the start that Reyna is significantly older than college-aged Joey, but the level of Reyna’s adulthood is fully realized once the pair wake up from a drunken escapade. She’s got kids - two - and a redneck trucker husband who spends months at a time on the road, allowing Reyna to frequently engage in infidelity. Nevertheless, Joey is smitten, and the pair begin a tempestuous relationship despite the disapproval of Joey’s family and her upcoming departure to boot camp.
As the lovers grow closer, Joey becomes disillusioned with the idea of the army, dreaming instead of an eloped life with Reyna and her two children. But Reyna doesn’t buy into that impracticality at first - uprooting her daughters’ lives and fleeing her husband while destroying Joey’s chance at a future is simply too risky for the rough and tumble housewife. So, grudgingly, Joey sets off for boot camp in Texas. After an extended period away, she returns to find Reyna living the same as always - flirtatious and reckless without abandon. But Joey’s lengthy absence has changed something inside Reyna, and after months she’s ready to give their relationship the fair shot Joey has desired for so long.
AWOL, despite its monotonous setting, manages to entertain thanks to quality performances from Kirke and Wool. These characters are fully-realized and relevant in the context of modern day rural America. Joey and Reyna represent a substantial populace that never really seems to be explored in mainstream filmmaking. It’s obvious that first-time director Deb Shoval relied extensively on her memories growing up in a Pennsylvania coal town and AWOL truly embodies that experience successfully.
But in Shoval’s haste to accelerate the pace of this slow-burning character study, Joey’s temperament feels a tad off. She races into the relationship full steam ahead, which doesn’t seem to align with the values of the level-headed character. It can be tough to buy into her devotion to Reyna, but one must give pause when considering the influence of love within each of our own personal lives. At that age, Joey’s impulsive decisions are certainly understandable, but they would be more conceivable if Shoval spent more time addressing the character’s motivations.
Nonetheless, AWOL is a solid directorial debut that will resonate particularly from audiences in suburban and countryside communities. The film deserves recognition for unflinchingly depicting the socioeconomic realities Joey, Reyn a and so many around middle class America face on a daily basis.
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