Films About Women Opening This Weekend

Austenland – Written and Directed
by Jerusha Hess, Adapted for the Screen by Jerusha Hess and Shannon Hale

Keri
Russell plays unlucky in love Jane Hayes, a woman who is obsessed with
everything Jane Austen.  She decides to spend her life savings on a trip
to Austenland where, she hopes, she can meet the perfect Mr. Darcy. The trip
does not turn out to be what she expects as the world of Jane Austen turns out
to be a phony at the 21st century.  Jennifer Coolidge lends comic relief
as another guest, and Jane Seymour plays the owner and puppet master of the all
the activities.  This is a fun, very light film and Keri Russell is as
always lovely.  (Melissa Silverstein)

The Patience Stone 

The Patience Stone was the movie in Toronto that
two separate women told me I needed to see.  And boy was it worth
it.  It is basically a monologue performed brilliantly by Iranian actress
Golshifteh Farahani to her husband who is lying in a coma after being injured
in war.  The woman is unnamed, as is the country, and she is a symbol of
all women who are forced to marry young, bear children, and deal with men
fighting and killing each other.  She symbolizes the women whose own hopes
and dreams are sublimated due to circumstances and restrictions placed on them
just because they are women.  They long for love and long for life but
live with duty and in fear.  It is a beautiful lament on the need for
peace. (Melissa Silverstein)

Inch’Allah – Written and Directed by Anais Barbeau-Lavalette

Chloe (Evelyne Brochu) is a young Canadian obstetrician working in a makeshift clinic in a Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank, where she treats pregnant women. Facing daily checkpoints and the separation barrier, Chloe is confronted with the conflict and the people it affects.  Her encounter with the war draws Chloe into an adventure that’s both deeply personal and as large as the land. She loses her bearings, is uprooted, and goes into freefall. (From Press Materials)

Films About Women Currently Playing

Lovelace

In A World… – Written and Directed by Lake Bell

The To Do List – Written and Directed by Maggie Carey

Blue Jasmine

Girl Most Likely – Directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, written by Michelle Morgan

The Heat – Written by Katie Dippold

20 Feet From Stardom

The Bling Ring – written and directed by Sofia Coppola

Hannah Arendt – Directed by Margarethe von Trotta

Fill The Void – Written and Directed by Rama Burshstein

Frances Ha – Co-Written by Greta Gerwig

Augustine – Directed by Alice Winocour

Stories We Tell – Directed by Sarah Polley (doc)

Films Directed by Women Currently Playing

Blackfish – Directed by Gabriela Coperthwaite (doc)

Love Is All You Need – Directed by Susanne Bier

Films Written by Women Currently Playing

Before Midnight – Co-Written by Julie Delpy

Films By and About Women on DVD/And Or On Demand

Olympus Has Fallen – Co-Written by Katrin Benedikt

Emperor – Co-Written by Vera Blassi

As the Japanese surrender at the end of WWII, Gen. Fellers is tasked with deciding if Emperor Hirohito will be hanged as a war criminal. Influencing his ruling is his quest to find Aya, an exchange student he met years earlier in the U.S. (From IMDB)

What Maisie Knew – Co-Written by Nancy Doyne 

In New York City, a young girl is caught in the middle of her parents’ bitter custody battle. (From IMDB)

Girls Season 2

The first episode of season two, plays upon many of the tropes that the show became notorious for-extremely awkward relationship and sexual encounters, being unsure of your next step and complicated friendships. However, it also feels as if the show has hit its stride. It is apparent that Dunham has taken critiques and incorporated them into the fabric of the show-which makes it stronger.  Also the characters (with the exception of Jessa, thus far) are put in new places in their lives, allowing for more complex character growth.  If this first episode is any indication, I think we are in for another excellent season of television-one that will enrage some — but we’re thinking the love will win out. (Kerensa Cadenas)

Enlightened Season 2

Enlightened is hands down the best show that you aren’t watching.  It follows Amy Jellicoe (Laura Dern), a former corporate executive who post-nervous breakdown goes to a holistic rehab and comes back a new, spiritual woman ready to do good in the world. But Amy’s own self-destructive tendencies can tend to bog down her best intentions. It’s a show that’s a hard sell–it’s dramatic, comedic, contemplative and quiet. It’s unlike anything else on television and at its center is Jellicoe–one of the most interesting, complex and sometimes infuriating female characters on television. (Kerensa Cadenas)

The Mindy Project

A young Ob/Gyn doctor balances her personal and professional life, surrounded by quirky co-workers in a small office. (From IMDB)

The Hot Flashes – Directed by Susan Seidelman

The best surprise of this summer is Susan Seidelman’s new film The Hot Flashes, opening in selected theaters on July 12 and starring Brooke Shields, Daryl Hannah, Virginia Madsen, Wanda Sykes and Camryn Manheim. This film is a hilarious comedy with moments of truth that make it more than just a feel-good summer movie. The Hot Flashes is the poignant story of a down-to-earth, small town Texas mom (Shields) who, after 30 years, re-unites her high school basketball team to challenge the current high school girls’ team to raise money to save their town’s bankrupt mobile mammogram bus. Of course, the “older” women want to prove that they still have what it takes, both on and off the court– but the film is actually about a lot more than that. (Maria Giese)