Features
“Never forget, no matter bronchitis or headache, you are the Empress,” Vicky Krieps is told in “Corsage,” Marie Kreutzer’s fictionalized account of Empress Elisabeth of Austria. The film...
“Behind the image of the nondescript young mother, I can’t help but remember a woman secretly tormented by the need to write,” Nobel Laureate Annie Ernaux reflects in “The Super 8 Years”...
“A man dreams to conquer the world / Does a woman dream any less?” a Nüshu poem asks. Centuries ago, in a rural pocket of China called Jiangyong County, at a time when women and girls were held...
“Some of us have to actually live the future that you all are setting on fire,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez warns the fossil fuel execs testifying before Congress in Rachel Lears’ “To...
In 1958, a trans woman who went by “Agnes Torres” outsmarted the system to attain gender-affirming healthcare. Thanks to her resourcefulness, she received hormones and corrective surgery from a...
“Strong people don’t need strong leaders: the emphasis was on the organizing,” civil rights activist Jennifer Lawson tells us in “Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power,” Geeta Gandbhir...
“Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life,” we’re told. But how does this adage apply to the final quarter of our lives, when we are no longer working? Do we surrender what...
It’s been too long since Jennifer Lawrence starred in a movie worthy of her talents. “Causeway” is a welcome return to form for the A-lister. It’s been a dozen years since...
Above all else, Phylliss Nagy’s “Call Jane” is a testament to the bulletproof resilience of women in the face of adversity. Written by Hayley Schore and Roshan Sethi, the Elizabeth...
A moving meditation on memory, nostalgia, and loss, “Aftersun” is positively radiant, and left me reeling in its glow. To say that Charlotte Wells’ feature debut, the story of an...
What does it mean to be a descendant? The concept of ancestry is nebulous, abstract, and often taken for granted by folks who are lucky enough to be able to trace their genealogy. To be a lineal...
“Delta Dawn, what’s that flower you have on / Could it be a faded rose from days gone by?” asks country music legend Tanya Tucker in her 1972 debut hit, “Delta Dawn.” The chart-topping...
Take a few seconds to picture an anti-abortionist in your head. Did you envision a man? Probably old, probably white, probably Republican, right? While it’s true that, historically, it has been...
It’s not an unusual for docs paying tribute to musical artists to begin with a performance, but I’ve never seen anything quite like the opening scene of “Nothing Compares”...
“You have wings. You must learn how to harness them,” the 14-year-old protagonist of “Catherine Called Birdy” is advised midway through the Medieval coming-of-age pic....
Disney branding itself as a wholesome, magical company where dreams come true, where happy endings are within everyone’s grasp, has always been treacly enough to irk me. But now, after watching...
“The Silent Twins” is hardly your everyday biopic. From director Agnieszka Smoczyńska (“The Lure”) and screenwriter Andrea Seigel (“Laggies”), and based on the...
I can’t lie: At this point in time, I’m not above indulging in schadenfreude when I hear about people who have played an active part in rolling back women’s rights — white...
I love stories that give their female characters the space and compassion to be messy, stories that are unconcerned if, on paper, they’re flirting with the misogynist “crazy woman”...
“Loving Highsmith” assumes that you are familiar, to some degree, with the work of author Patricia Highsmith — or at least the numerous screen adaptations of her novels, such as...
“Everything I Know About Love” is a platonic love story as full of longing and heartbreak as any romance. The series adaptation of Dolly Alderton’s best-selling memoir charts the...
I’m pleased to confirm Sharon Horgan has made yet another slam-dunk of a show. She’s following up “Catastrophe,” “This Way Up,” “Motherland,”...
At first blush, “The Legend of Molly Johnson” comes across as a white feminist story. It sets itself up as a Western about a heavily pregnant woman who can shoot as well as any man and...
I wish I had come of age in the world of “Girl Picture.” Alli Haapasalo’s Sundance award winner follows three 17- or 18-year-old young women as they begin to figure out who they are...
“Ingrid Goes West,” “The Little Hours,” “Black Bear,” “Happiest Season,” “Legion” — Aubrey Plaza has delivered some truly smart,...
Family secrets always seem to get spilled during the holidays, don’t they? They definitely do in “Memory Box,” Joana Hadjithomas’ semi-autobiographical drama centering three...
“Resurrection” is an unapologetically gonzo movie that would absolutely not work without Rebecca Hall. But, luckily, Hall does deliver a career-best central performance as Margaret, a...
You know how when you were a teenager, you felt out of control in your changing body, your emotions were a rollercoaster, and you were convinced your parents just didn’t understand what you...
From “Batman: The Animated Series” to the Michelle Pfeiffer-starring “Batman Returns” to the “Dark Knight” trilogy to “Birds of Prey,” I have long...
Issa Rae is back with another nuanced examination of women’s friendships, ambition, and sex lives with “Rap Sh!t.” The HBO Max comedy is set in the music industry and tells the...
Written, directed, and led by “The Chair” scene-stealer Nana Mensah, “Queen of Glory” is a charming film exploring the concept of home, warts and all. For Sarah (Mensah), a...
“So we should pretend not to be here even though we are?” This is what young Winnie (Kamvalethu Jonas Raziya) asks her mother, Tsidi (Chumisa Cosa), when she moves into her grandmother’s...
When we spoke to Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović about her feature directorial debut during its run at Cannes last year, she told us, “It was important for me to portray both the [evolution] and...
A love letter to intrepid scientists and their shared passion, “Fire of Love” burns bright. When Katia and Maurice Krafft died in a volcano eruption, the French couple left behind...
Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller pay tribute to the man born with the gift of a golden voice in “Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song,” a documentary exploring the origin story and...
Are you a fan of “Bridgerton,” but wish it hadn’t clumsily acknowledged its color-blind casting with a nonsensical “one interracial romance solved racism forever”...
An Olympic hopeful finds herself torn between her own dreams and a sense of duty to her country, family, and friends in “Olga,” a drama steered by a revelatory performance from real-life...
If only we all could have a Leo Grande as we’re exploring our sexuality, in whatever form that may take: experiencing a sexual awakening, hoping to spice things up in the bedroom, simply...
Named for the Jewish ritual of preparing a body for burial, and set at a funeral, “Tahara” is an intelligent teen comedy about a close female friendship on the brink. Carrie (Madeline...
If they were capable of experiencing basic human kindness or compassion, I’d say the six conservative Supreme Court Justices — or any staunch anti-abortion lawmaker — should be...
Ahead of “Watcher’s” world premiere at Sundance, writer-director Chloe Okuno told us that she’s “always admired true psychological thrillers that are dedicated to...
An adoring fan letter to trailblazers who have yet to receive their due, “Fanny: The Right to Rock” shines a well-deserved spotlight on a history-making rock band from the ’70s....
“I am not a woman,” says Emmy Rossum in the early moments of “Angelyne.” “I am an icon.” An affectionate, thoughtful tribute to LA’s Billboard Queen, a woman who...
I have not read “The Essex Serpent” by Sarah Perry, so I don’t know if the snake it’s named for is real, a metaphor, regional folklore, or some combination of the three. I do...
The Odd Couple of stand-up comedy are hitting the road. That’s right, “Hacks” is back and everyone’s favorite diva comedienne, Deborah Vance (Jean Smart), is going on tour,...
“Girls5eva’s” second season proves that the Tina Fey comedy is anything but a one-hit wonder. From creator Meredith Scardino and exec produced by Fey, the Peacock series sees its...
The Yorkshire lady of renown is back and as charming, witty, and confident as ever. It’s been three years since “Gentleman Jack” aired its first season and, as protagonist Anne...
“Petite Maman” is a triumph. Much smaller in scope than her last film, 2019’s devastatingly romantic and brutally tragic “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” Céline...
From “I, Tonya” to “Framing Britney Spears,” the past few years have seen no shortage of films, docs, and TV seeking to vindicate — or at least humanize — women...
Cassie Bowden is back, but would we have been better off imagining her next adventures rather than joining her on them? Season 2 of “The Flight Attendant” didn’t exactly seem...
In Season 2, “Russian Doll” has broken out of the time loop but can’t seem to escape the past. On the verge of her 40th birthday, Nadia Vulvokov (Natasha Lyonne) — who,...
Join our weekly newsletter to stay up-to-date on women centric, directed, and written films and news. Newsletters are sent on Fridays at noon EST.