Opening This Week
This is one of those weekends where there are way too many films opening. Usually there are a bunch of guy flicks and maybe one or two choices on the femme side, but this weekend the choices for people interested in female centric movies are abundant. Add to that the success of The Proposal and a couple of women directed flicks and you have a seriously competitive weekend. Here are some of your options:
Cheri returns Michelle Pfeiffer to the big screen for the first time in five years (disclosure: I am working as a outreach consultant on the film.) She re-teams with her Dangerous Liasions director and writer, Stephen Frears and Christopher Hampton in the adaptation of Colette’s novels as a courtsean who falls in love with a much younger man in France in the early the 20th century. Pfeiffer is amazing to watch and makes you remember why she is such a star. The costumes are fantastic and the whole older woman dating a younger man storyline has led to many a good conversation about the double standard between men who love younger women and women who love younger men. Kathy Bates plays her former rival and another interesting bit to note about the film is that these women (while they were courtseans) had power, property and independence at a time when so few women did. Opens nationwide today. More info here.
Iran, especially Iranian women, are all over the news with the recent election. While many Iranians are struggling for liberty, the new movie The Stoning of Soraya M. — which is based on a true story — reminds us how far we still have to go to liberate women in many countries throughout the world. The story, sadly, is all too common. A woman Soraya is accused by her husband of adultery because refuses to divorce him for fear that she and her children would starve. Her husband conspires with town mullah to destroy Soraya. Soraya having no rights and way to defend herself is convicted and sentenced to death. This woman did nothing wrong except help a widower with a disabled child and in return she is sentenced to death! Here in America it is very difficult to process and comprehend but we must because this still happens to women.
This is not an easy movie to watch. It’s not supposed to be. It’s supposed to make you uncomfortable because what happens to Soraya is unacceptable. The biggest issue that people can’t get over regarding the film (I still can’t) is that she is actually stoned to death in the film. It is very difficult to watch and I sat there with my hand over my face not able to completely watch it. Shohreh Aghdashloo plays the aunt of Soraya a woman who is brave enough to try and get Soraya’s story out through a reporter. Though the movie sees things as black and white and at times seems heavy handed, I find it amazing that it was made at all. Screenplay is by Betsy Giffen. Opens in NY, LA and other selected cities before a national roll out. Here are some stories about the film: Iran’s Brave Leading Lady (The Daily Beast) Find out where the movie is playing here.
My Sister’s Keeper is the wide release Hollywood film of this weekend. Cameron Diaz takes on her first mom role in the adaptation of Jodi Picoult’s best seller about a couple who genetically engineers a child in order to save their older daughter from cancer. The young daughter (Abigail Breslin) endures constant medical invasions on behalf of her sister until at 11 she sues for medical emancipation before being forced to give her sister a kidney. Haven’t seen the film so I can’t give a better assessment except to say that it’s directed by Nick Cassavettes who directed The Notebook, so if you are looking to cry this is probably a good choice.
Films Currently in Theatres
The Proposal
My Life in Ruins
Seraphine
Away We Go
Easy Virtue
Julia
American Violet
Coraline
Sunshine Cleaning
Women Directed Films
Opening This Week:
One of the most highly anticipated releases this summer is Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker about a team of bomb removal specialists working in Iraq in 2004. While many of the pre-release stories have focused on the fact that oh my god a woman is directing a war film!, once you sit down inside the theatre there is no way to tell (nor do you care) whether the film is directed by a man or woman. Bigelow’s film is a character study about the addiction of war. Jeremy Renner plays a bomb removal specialist who is so addicted to the adrenaline of war and what he does that while his fellow team members played by Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty count down the days until they rotate out of Iraq, he can’t stand being home and returns to Iraq. Bigelow is known for her action flicks but this film takes her to a whole new level as a filmmaker. The film doesn’t romanticize war and unlike previous Iraq war films is not a jingoistic portrait of America as the world’s savior. It’s about the people who are a part of the war and what war does to them. (film opens in limited release today) More on Bigelow: Action! (NY Times), Kathryn Bigelow: Road Warrior (Newsweek) Opens in limited release today.
Afghan Star directed by Havana Marking (documentary)
After 30 years of war and the Taliban’s repression, Afghan Pop Idol is taking the nation by storm. But this is more than just a TV show. In Afghanistan you risk your life to sing.
Pop culture has returned to Afghanistan. Over 2,000 people are auditioning for Afghan Pop Idol and even three women have come forward to try their luck. But in this troubled country, even music is dangerously controversial. Many of those taking part are literally risking their lives. Yet millions of people watch the show and vote by text from their cell phone for their favorite singers. We meet Rafi, a boy from Mazar-e-Sharif with a strong voice and a pretty face, Lima, a young woman from Kandahar who fears for her life every time she goes home, Hammeed, a young musician and classically trained singer from the Hazara ethnic group, and Setara, a controversial figure from Herat who wears the latest fashions and Bollywood make up. Opens in NY today and in LA next month.
Surveillance directed by Jennifer Lynch
Story about Jennifer Lynch: Phoenix Rising (Backstage)
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