Rose McGowan’s directorial debut, Dawn, which premiered at Sundance earlier this year, is a slow-burning gem: critically lauded and technically accomplished, it is a visually striking, affecting coming-of-age story that tugs at the heartstrings the more it reveals its menacing underbelly—a mature, accomplished movie from a new director with a startling clarity of vision.
Dawn tells the story of a teenage girl in 1961, who falls for a boy who works at the local gas station and invites him into her strange, cloistered world.
Speaking about the film for our magazine, McGowan told us, “The world for a 13-year-old girl with breasts is a very loud and disgusting place. To go from being mostly in your head to suddenly having the world come at you in such a shocking way really is startling. It’s a lot of what fame feels like.”
Praised for its set design and cinematography, Dawn‘s success lies in its cohesion: thematically complex and visually rich, McGowan has crafted a dark and touching piece that tackles themes of teenage sexuality, self-discovery and growing up in a way that’s restrained yet empathetic.
And now, everyone can see it.
After a short theater run, McGowan is releasing the movie online in full. The trailer made its debut today, and the movie will debut, for free, on Rose McGowan’s YouTube channel on June 21st.
