Cinema Femme
1. “Waiting for the Light to Change,” directed by Linh Tran (coming to select theaters September 15 )
Winner of the 2023 Slamdance Film Festival’s ‘Grand Jury Prize’ for ‘Best Narrative Feature,’ “Waiting for the Light to Change” gets to the heart of what it’s like to be in your twenties again and at the crossroads perched between your childhood and adulthood. The film is beautifully shot with its creamy tones and soft-color lenses that are reminscent of a Romer or Ackerman film. The film is about two childhood friends, Kim and Amy, who’ve found themselves at a fork in the road in their friendship while on a getaway together with friends at a Michigan lake house. I love that this film is stripped down to one location, and it really brings you in close to these characters, along with their conflicting feelings regarding the friends they had grown up with. Needless to say, I got mega-“Big Chill” vibes with this film (you’ll see), but definitely in the Linh Tran style. Follow this film and seek it out in theaters. I will be moderating a Q&A at the Gene Siskel Film Center on Saturday, September 23 at 6 PM, get your tickets here: https://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/waiting-light-changeRead my interview with Linh from January 2023.
2. “Joyce Carol Oates: A Body in the Service of Mind,” directed by Stig Björkman (in theaters September 8)
This film made me want more: more of Joyce, more of her literature. I do feel Joyce Carol Oates is like the Jane Campion of writers. She finds the prickly places that feel uncomfortable, and has you exist in them. And it makes you a better and more em...
3. “Piaffe,” directed by Ann Oren (now in select theaters)
Let your freak flag fly, that’s what I say, but in this case, let your freak flag wag. This film was very sensual by exploring the unnatural aspects of nature and sexuality. Sound plays an intimate role throughout and I feel like this film is a foley artist’s wet dream. The film is about a woman named Eva who fills in as a foley artist for a pharmaceutical commercial that features a lot of scenes with a horse. Eva has a connection to horses that is revealed in the film. She starts a steamy hook-up with a botanist who knows how to pleasure her animal side. This film is a delight for the ears and eyes. I found myself at certain parts of the film closing my eyes, and listening. It is rare that I do that during a film.
4. “Scrapper,” directed by Charlotte Regan (now in select theaters)
Charlotte Regan emerges as a director with her feature debut “Scrapper.” When I was screening films for Sundance, I’d seen a lot of darker emotional films. But like a breath of fresh air, this film came into my queue. It has shades of Arnold and Loach in...
5. “Amanda,” directed by Carolina Cavalli (now on VOD)
Like “Napoleon Dynamite” and “Ghost World,” the Italian gem “Amanda” is unconventionally funny and dark. As in these films, there is a longing from the protagonist for a friendship that can fill the lonely void in their life, and together, these companions add to each of their own fantastical realities. These are the onscreen worlds into which I like to immerse myself.“Amanda,” directed by first-time filmmaker Carolina Cavalli, is about a 24-year-old girl who intensely wants a best friend, and when she finds it in Rebecca, she holds on tightly. Amanda is quirky, with her inner darkness and sadness, but she also has a sense of wonder. When she meets Rebecca, her new best friend, she is similar to Amanda, who lives life to her own beat, but in a more destructive way. Amanda also finds kinship with an old horse that shares a loner quality to herself. This film has surrealist touches, while its production design creates the mundane and boring world that Amanda exists in. Benedetta Porcaroli, who plays Amanda, was the perfect person to execute all of the witty deadpan dialogue that Cavalli wrote for this film.
6.”Fremont,” directed by Babak Jalali (opens in select theaters on September 8)
This gorgeous film stars an emerging actress named Anaita Wali Zada who plays an Afghan refugee named Donya. She comes to America for a new life after working as a translator for the US Army. She now works at a fortune cookie factory in San Francisco, but lives in the Afghan community in Fremont, California. Like a fortune cookie, there are some magical elements to the film, but it is grounded in Donya’s day-to-day life. It starts with her not being able to sleep, and she starts seeing a psychiatrist, who is a bit of a dope. Then when the writer of the fortune cookies dies unexpectedly, Donya starts to express herself through fortunes, which breaks something open in her. Carolina Cavalli, director of “Amanda,” co-wrote the script with Babak Jalali, and you can tell with the depth you feel through Donya’s voice. What entranced me the most about this film was the gorgeous black and white cinematography that brings a mysticalness to the world Donya finds herself in. Stay tuned for my interview with Anaita next week!
7. “Diary of a Lost Girl” (1929) directed by G.W. Pabst
This was a film that had to be restored-a lot of it was edited out during the time of the code. You must watch the fully-restored film, which is about a woman named Thymian, played by the gorgeous Louise Brooks, who is coming into adulthood. Her father’s business partner sleeps with her and she becomes pregnant. When the father and his family find out who the father is, they send her to a reform school. On the surface, the film can seem old-fashioned, but sadly, it’s really not. The business partner goes on living his life, and Thymian must find a world where she fights for herself. And in the end, she fights for those who are not fought for. The film is almost a hundred years old and is more timely than ever.Stream on Amazon or buy the DVD. Seek out video stores that may have a copy!
8. “Songs My Brothers Taught Me” (2015) directed by Chloé Zhao
Chloé Zhao is the master of bringing you to a community and a place not represented enough on the screen and connecting you with the beauty of it all. You see the familial relationships in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, and the film is anchored by a brilliant performance from Jashaun St. John.Stream on most platforms.
9. “Salaam Bombay!” (1989) directed by Mira Nair (DVD)
India is a place that I know little about, and I’ve never been attracted to Bollywood films. It is a misconception that all films from India are from Bollywood, and Mira Nair’s film “Salaam Bombay!” highlights a story that goes deeper, elevating the lost children in Bombay. Seek out video rental stores that may have a DVD or buy the DVD.
10. “Losing Ground,” (1982) directed by Kathleen Collins (Streaming now on the Criterion Channel)
I wish Kathleen Collins did not die so young and had the opportunity to make more films, but I’m grateful to the Criterion Channel for showing me this almost-forgotten gem. Collins wets our intellect with Sara, a curious and introspective woman. She is a college English professor and her world is books, while her husband’s world is art. They have a different lens on life, though the passions in their lives are what brought the spark between them even as it widened the divide. Summaries provided by Letterboxd
“Origin” directed by Ava DuVernay
The film examines the unspoken system that has shaped America and chronicles how our lives today are defined by a hierarchy of human divisions dating back generations.Theater release TBA
“The Royal Hotel” directed by Kitty Green
After running out of money while backpacking in a tiny, male-dominated town in the Australian outback, two friends resort to a working holiday at the Royal Hotel. When the locals behavior starts crossing the line, the girls find themselves trapped in an unnerving situation that grows rapidly out of their control.Coming to theaters October 6
“Priscilla” directed by Sofia Coppola
When teenage Priscilla Beaulieu meets Elvis Presley at a party, the man who is already a meteoric rock-and-roll superstar becomes someone entirely unexpected in private moments: a thrilling crush, an ally in loneliness, a vulnerable best friend.Coming to theaters October 27
“Anatomy of a Fall,” directed by Justine Triet
Sandra, Samuel and their visually impaired son Daniel have been living in a remote mountain location for the past year. When Samuel is found dead outside the house, an investigation for death in suspicious circumstances is launched. Amidst the uncertainty, Sandra is indicted: was it suicide or homicide? A year later, Daniel attends his mother’s trial, a veritable dissection of his parents’ relationship.Coming to select theaters October 13Trailer
“Saltburn,” directed by Emerald Fennell
Struggling to find his place at Oxford University, student Oliver Quick finds himself drawn into the world of the charming and aristocratic Felix Catton, who invites him to Saltburn, his eccentric family’s sprawling estate, for a summer never to be forgotten.Coming to theaters November 24
“Fair Play,” directed by Chloe Domont
An unexpected promotion at a cutthroat hedge fund pushes a young couple’s relationship to the brink, threatening to unravel not only their recent engagement but their lives.Coming to Netflix on October 13
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