When I started this blog in 2016, I made a master list of all the films directed by women that I wanted to write about; after many years, I've only made the tiniest dent.
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As I watched "Beauty and the Dogs," I couldn't help but think that if Donald Trump had his way, all women in the United States would receive the same treatment as Mariam (Mariam Al Ferjani). If he saw this movie, his reaction would probably be
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Powerful and a little (or maybe a lot, depending on your baseline) trippy, Ava DuVernay’s adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle’s “A Wrinkle in Time” is overflowing with magic — especially Black Girl Magic. Here’s the thing: I am a white woman, and when I left the theater
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"The Book of Birdie" is a weird, glittery, feminine fever dream. It's creepy, but not scary, bloody, but not disgusting. Most scenes take place in a church or a convent and contain multiple shots of religious iconography, but the visuals never feel rote or boring.
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Smart, funny, and beautifully shot, "Love & Basketball" has a top spot in my romantic comedy hall of fame. It's different from every other romcom out there, but I do think it loosely fits into the genre even though it subverts it in many ways.
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Super 90s and full of attitude. "Just Another Girl on the I.R.T." is a coming-of-age story in the same vein as "Clueless" (Heckerling, 1995), "The Edge of Seventeen" (Fremon Craig, 2016), and "The Diary of a Teenage Girl" (Heller,
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Bleak, but not depressing. Lynne Ramsay is one of those directors that somehow always manages to find beauty where it doesn't seem to exist. Each frame of this film is gorgeously composed with a level of detail that is all too rare.
Ramsay's background in
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"You've Got Mail" embodies the New York City of my fantasies, a place that never quite existed for me in real life but probably does for certain (wealthy) people. Everyone lives in beautiful, spacious apartments, eats at magical, cozy restaurants, and greets their neighbors by
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Emotionally taxing, but not defeatist. Poetic, beautiful, and novelistic, which isn't surprising since it's based on Hillary Jordan's 2008 book by the same name. At the beginning of the film, we see Laura McAllan (Carey Mulligan) slog through the mud with her two
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All the best and worst parts of high school in 90 minutes. If you aren't familiar with Greta Gerwig and only read the synopsis or watched the trailer, you might think this is just another coming-of-age teen movie. Parties, sexual exploration, senior prom, leaving home for the
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Equal parts "The End of the Party" (Greene, 1929), "Fanny and Alexander" (Bergman, 1983), "Picnic at Hanging Rock" (Weir, 1975), and "Suspiria" (Argento, 1977). "Innocence" is surreal, eerie, and beautiful, with a lingering threat of danger creeping in at
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Chilling and uncomfortable. At the beginning of the film, Will (Logan Marshall-Green) and his girlfriend, Kira (Emayatzy Corinealdi), hit a coyote on the way to a dinner party at his ex-wife's house. With this first ominous note, the film unfolds and leaves viewers on edge up until
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As creepily cold and controlled as Patrick Bateman. This film is not one I enjoyed watching and probably will never watch again unless I need to write about it. I definitely recommend watching it, but if your taste in film is similar to mine, once is probably enough for
