Fans of films and trendy hashtags will be aware of Women in Film’s #52FilmsByWomen, an online pledge you can take right now that is open to anyone looking to raise the profile of women in the director’s chair. All you have to do is sit in your own chair and watch 52 films made by women – all before 2016 ends.
That’s exactly what I’m doing.
I’ve collected five titles this month, including a recommendation from Kiwi film producer Morgan Leigh Stewart (Deathgasm, K Rd Stories). This February lands on a leap year too, which means you get one whole extra day to smoosh these films into your movie-loving pie-hole. (To find out how to get these films into said pie-hole, click on the link below each entry.)
Scroll to the very bottom to see what films by women are heading to NZ cinemas this month.
Producer Morgan Leigh Stewart Recommends…
#4 Jennifer’s Body | directed by Karyn Kusama
“I dig horror and dark comedy and I’d love to see more horror work from women. I love Karyn Kusama’s work (Girlfight and Aeon Flux) – she gives these great female characters physical power, but with emotional strength too – and all the complications that can go along with that.” – Morgan Leigh Stewart
Teen angst is its own kind of terror, but throwing it in with an original spin on demonic possession horror proves to be a fang-sharpener thanks largely to the bite that Diablo Cody brings to the dialogue. I was a little bummed that writing prowess wasn’t entirely evident in Jennifer’s undercooked character (though Megan Fox’s casting was absolutely perfect for this), but Jennifer’s Body is so pumped full of good ideas and execution – including a kick-ass ending – that it never stops being entertaining.
‘Jennifer’s Body’ DVD, Blu-ray and On-Demand options
#5 Girlhood | directed by Céline Sciamma
Coming-of-age films often put romance above everything else, which is why I adore films like Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and Girlhood for putting friendship in the forefront. It’s a theme that feels more authentic to me as a virtue of growing up, and Céline Sciamma perfectly captures it with this gorgeously shot film.
Sciamma instantly has you rooting for lead character Marieme, a shy and secluded teen who finds solace in a girl gang that draws her in. She also lives in rough conditions that threaten to swallow her future, and you want nothing more than for her to gain the self-confidence and independence she needs to break out. She might do it. She might not. Girlhood walks that tightrope finely, and it totally earns its ending.
It also holds the trophy for Most Joyous Use of a Rhianna Track in Cinema History. (No, this isn’t an official trophy, but dammit I’ll make it one myself.)
‘Girlhood’ DVD, Blu-ray and On-Demand options
#6 The Kids Are All Right | directed by Lisa Choloodenko
This Academy Award-nominated dramedy is very, extremely, all right. But if you go in aware of its title as a 2011 Best Picture nominee, you might feel as underwhelmed as I did.
So here’s my advice: just pretend The Kids Are All Right is a middle-road straight-for-TV weepie before you watch it. Then you’ll be mightily impressed by the five lead performances (Julianne Moore, Annette Bening, Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska, Josh Hutcherson), the pleasant breeziness of the humour, and the intriguing entanglement that entails when a sperm donor enters the lives of a lesbian couple who used his seed.
‘The Kids Are All Right’ DVD, Blu-ray and On-Demand options
#7 Kung Fu Panda 2 | directed by Jennifer Yuh
I don’t care what anyone else says: Kung Fu Panda 2 is a masterpiece. While I loved the first, with its damn-near perfect balance of family-friendly comedy and eye-caressing art design, Jennifer Yuh elevated the series’ strengths for this sequel.
Now that Po is a fighting badass, we get to see him battle alongside his heroes – the Furious Five – in an amazingly clear-handled opening action sequence that is right up there with anything from The Raid. The visual artistry also holds more distinction, applying a heavy use of singular colours and some of the best use of 3D you’ll ever see. And unlike the majority of Marvel superhero films, the Gary Oldman-voiced Shen is a superb villain – threatening yet graceful, single-minded yet complex, evil yet sympathetic.
Wrap this all together with a story about the destructive force of firearms and you have a follow-up that every family-friendly sequel should strive to be.
‘Kung Fu Panda 2’ DVD, Blu-ray and On-Demand options
#8 Wayne’s World | directed by Penelope Spheeris
I can totally see how teens of the ’90s would have belly flopped into cinemas for an SNL-sketch-turned-film like Wayne’s World, but even though I’ve loved lots of silly shit done to the supreme, I wasn’t a ’90s teenager, so I was afraid I wouldn’t be in tune with Wayne’s comedy chords. And, in some parts, I wasn’t.
But the film plays its gags so fast, so righteous, and so carefree that it doesn’t take long for jokes to stick. I’m talking specifically about Phil (the party guy who’s always a stiff breeze away from a violent vom), Lara Flynn Boyle’s pratfall (which deserves an entry into the hall of fame), every word from the Mikita’s Manager (played by a camera-hijacking Ed O’Neill), the purposely-blatant product placement (still hilariously relevant today), and the three endings that solidify how content Wayne’s World was with doing things its own way. And that’s inescapably charming.
‘Wayne’s World’ DVD, Blu-ray and On-Demand options
The list of #52FilmsByWomen continues with…
March (including one pick from NewsHub’s Kate Rodger)
April (including one pick from Sunday director Michelle Joy Lloyd)
Movies By Women Coming to NZ Cinemas in February:
Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict by Lisa Immordino Vreeland
Crossing Rachmaninoff by Rebecca Tansley
