“Promising Young Woman” is an allegory that reflects back to us a deeply disturbing culture that talks up female empowerment while complicit men—and women—exploit, demean, and silence women.
Film and TV Reviews
The Inhibition Myth: What ‘Losing Alice’ Gets Wrong About Older Women
“Losing Alice”‘s implicit message is that younger women are intrinsically freer, more uninhibited, than older ones. But today, as a middle-aged wife and mother, I feel much freer in every way that matters.
Among other things, I no longer feel I have to perform for a male gaze: Only now do I understand how exhausting such performance was.
“CODA” and “Marvelous and the Black Hole” Are Stand-Out Coming-of-Age Features
“CODA” marks an important step in the right direction for diversity and inclusion in film: a crowd-pleaser that faithfully and respectfully represents a marginalized community often lacking in representation.
“Marvelous and the Black Hole” manages to be both playful and meditative by turns, navigating Sammy’s deep and real grief while recognizing that sometimes the ways teenagers express themselves is simultaneously unproductive and wholly outside their control.
“Passing”: Rebecca Hall’s Adaptation of Nella Larsen Novel Questions How We Understand and Embody Race
As with the book her film adapts, Rebecca Hall’s “Passing” chronicles a series of encounters between childhood friends Irene (Tessa Thompson) and Clare (Ruth Negga) who reunite after a chance encounter. Both women are light-skinned Black women. Clare has elected to pass as white, having married a white man who openly states how much he “hates Negros.” Irene can pass, but only does so occasionally, “for convenience,” she explains.
Documentary ‘My Name is Pauli Murray’ Illuminates the Life of Visionary Feminist Lawyer
The documentary “My Name is Pauli Murray” does admirable work not only recounting the facts of Murray’s life, but also of reminding viewers how many of Murray’s resistances to the discriminatory status quo occurred years or even decades before the landmark civil rights cases we know from history books.
“Land,” “Mayday” and “The World to Come” All Feature Women at Odds with the World Around Them
“Land,” “Mayday” and “The World to Come”:
On the surface, a film about leaving civilization, a feminist dystopia, and a lesbian period drama couldn’t be more different. But, familiar characters emerge from each: strong women who persevere in environments indifferent or even hostile to their desires and needs.
“Cusp” and “At the Ready” Highlight the Strength and Complexity of American Teenagers
In both Cusp and At the Ready, the rapport filmmakers developed with their teenage subjects comes through starkly in the raw emotion and often difficult questions these youth confront.
Three Documentaries—featuring Cultural Icons Rita Moreno, Alvin Ailey and Valerie Taylor—to Inspire You
The first in a series of reviews from the 2021 Sundance Film Festival focused on films directed by women.
This year, I was lucky to watch three biographical documentaries directed by women—Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It; Ailey; and Playing with Sharks that focus on the lives of cultural icons Rita Moreno, Alvin Ailey and Valerie Taylor, respectively.
Despite A Promising Beginning, “Wonder Woman 1984” Falls into the Same Old Traps
My problem with “Wonder Woman 1984” isn’t so much the plot itself—although it’s pretty muddled—but the way the machinations of the plot rest on gendered characterizations we really shouldn’t have to put up with anymore in 2020.
The Queen’s Gambit Does a Lot Well. Portraying Being a Woman in Chess Isn’t One of Them.
The chess world is not quite the women-friendly utopia depicted in “The Queen’s Gambit”—it’s full of sexual harassment and hostility.