Films About Women Currently Playing
Lovelace
The only thing I knew about Linda Lovelace was that she was a porn star from the infamous porn movie Deep Throat. Sadly, I think that's the only thing most people know about her. But that misses the true story of this woman, and the new film Lovelace gives voice to her story.
It's not pretty. She had a kid that her mom gave away against her wishes, and lived under the yoke of disappointed and narrow-minded parents. She escaped her parent's house for her husband's house and then was subjected to horrific abuses including being made to star in the now infamous film. It is a story of power and abuse and how women without any means get stuck and are held hostage in these relationships. It is an all too familiar story. But this is a story of a woman who took back her life. She not only escaped her captor/husband, she told her story and was able to have some happiness. She wrote a book about her ordeal and had to prove to the publisher that she was telling the truth because it was still a time where people didn't believe that women were victimized by their husbands. She told the truth and exposed that world for what it was. She is a true hero and it was wonderful to get this perspective on her. (Melissa Silverstein)
In a World... - Written and Directed by Lake Bell
Lake Bell's directorial debut, In A World..., is a hilarious and uncomfortable look into how deeply sexism can plague an industry. She stars as Carol Solomon, a struggling voice-over artist, who does vocal coaching to make ends meet. Her lack of success is particularly stinging considering her father, Sam Sotto (a gross but charming Fred Melamed) is the most high profile person in this highly male dominated business.
Bell effortlessly constructs the voice over world into an exclusive boys club--filled with white dudes sweating away their problems in saunas, chatting about projects over voice-soothing whiskey cocktails and the establishes the mentor/mentee relationship her father has with up and comer Gustav Warner (Ken Marino). (Kerensa Cadenas)
Films About Women Currently Playing
The To Do List - Written and Directed by Maggie Carey
Blue Jasmine
Girl Most Likely - Directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, written by Michelle Morgan
The Heat - Written by Katie Dippold
20 Feet From Stardom
Byzantium
The Bling Ring - written and directed by Sofia Coppola
Hannah Arendt - Directed by Margarethe von Trotta
The East - Co-Written by Brit Marling
Fill The Void - Written and Directed by Rama Burshstein
Frances Ha - Co-Written by Greta Gerwig
Augustine - Directed by Alice Winocour
Stories We Tell - Directed by Sarah Polley (doc)
Films Directed by Women Currently Playing
Blackfish - Directed by Gabriela Coperthwaite (doc)
Love Is All You Need - Directed by Susanne Bier
No Place on Earth - Directed by Janet Tobias (doc)
Films Written by Women Currently Playing
Before Midnight - Co-Written by Julie Delpy
Films By and About Women on DVD/And Or On Demand
The Sapphires
The ads for The Sapphires might feature Chris O'Dowd but the second you sit down for the Sapphires, you will know that reality the movie is not about him. The movie is the true story about how four aboriginal young women from Australia wound up playing for US troops in Vietnam. While this might not seem like a feel good or beat sounding film, I assure you it is. It's got a great soundtrack and is one of the most feel good movies I've seen in a long time. It touches on issues of race in Australia about how aborigines were treated wrapped up in the Vietnam war and all the politics surrounding it. At the heart are these four women who love to sing and who just want to make something out of their lives. O'Dowd plays the drunk who becomes their manager and helps them negotiate Vietnam. (Melissa Silverstein)
Political Animals
Watching Political Animals with the amazing Sigourney Weaver in her TV series debut you can't help but think back to the brutal and historic 2008 presidential election. No matter what the creators say (and lately they've been owning up to it more) Sigourney Weaver's character Elaine Barrish is based on Hillary Clinton. It's hard not to see the correlation and is disingenuous to deny it since the character is a former First Lady who ran for President and is now the hugely popular Secretary of State. The only differences between the two women -- besides their hair color -- is that the fictional version dumped her philandering husband (Ciaran Hinds) the day she conceded her race for the Presidency, and the character has two sons instead of one daughter. (Melissa Silverstein)
West of Memphis - Directed by Amy Berg
West of Memphis is a film that makes you realize that our justice system is not blind. That if you look different or are poor that you can be caught up in a witch hunt of epic proportions and lose years of your life in jail. This film is also the story of one woman- Lorri Davis - who read about the case and then miraculously began writing to and then fell in love and married with Damien Echols while he was on death row. She worked tirelessly for over a decade to gain his freedom. Watching this miscarriage of justice just takes your breath away and should make every citizen livid. (Melissa Silverstein)
Living Downstream - Directed by Chanda Chevannes
Paradise - Written and Directed by Diablo Cody
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