Films About Women Opening This Week

Ricki and the Flash — Written by Diablo Cody

Meryl Streep takes on another musical role as aging rocker Ricki Randazzo, who left her family years ago to follow her dream to be a musician. In her sixties now, she is barely hanging on, fronting a rock band and bagging groceries in the LA suburbs. She gets an unexpected call from her ex (Kevin Kline) asking her to return home to help their daughter (Mamie Gummer) deal with the breakup of her marriage. Ricki is forced to return to the scene of the crime, so to speak, and confront her ghosts, AKA the broken children she left behind to follow her dream. (Melissa Silverstein)

The Diary of a Teenage Girl — Directed and Written by Marielle Heller

“The Diary of a Teenage Girl” is an important movie for a couple of reasons. First, here is a girl played by Bel Powley (in a star-making performance) who spends the entire movie talking about sex. It’s ’70s San Francisco, and 15-year-old Minnie is horny. And she is exploring and making shitty decisions, like sleeping with her mother’s boyfriend. But she is not guilty and she is not shamed for them. Her decisions help her grow. And oh yeah, she has sex. Lots of sex. Marielle Heller takes Phoebe Gloeckner’s graphic novel and introduces us to a young woman whom we have not seen on screen before. Powley just owns this part. Minnie expresses so many of the things that girls think about (yes, just as much as boys), and first time writer-director Heller does a fantastic job of telling this all-too-rare coming-of-age story in a colorful, innocent, yet not entirely safe San Francisco. (Melissa Silverstein)

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Marielle Heller.

The Falling — Directed and Written by Carol Morley

One of the most talked-about women-directed films of the 2014 London Film Festival, Carol Morley’s latest is a bold, compelling and utterly inspiring piece of work. The year is 1969, and Lydia (Maisie Williams, “Game of Thrones”) and Abbie (newcomer Florence Pugh) are fellow pupils and best friends. The film centers on an episode of mass hysterical fainting at their all-girl school in England. (Alice Thorpe)

Read Women and Hollywood’s full review of “The Falling.”

Dark Places

Libby Day (Charlize Theron) was only seven years old when her mother and two sisters were brutally murdered in their rural Kansas farmhouse. In court, the traumatized child pointed the finger at her brother, Ben (Tye Sheridan), and her testimony put the troubled 16-year-old in prison for life. Twenty-five years later, a broke and desperate Libby has run through donations from a sympathetic public and royalties from her sensational autobiography, without ever moving past the events of that night.

When Libby accepts a fee to appear at a gathering of true-crime aficionados led by Lyle Wirth (Nicholas Hoult), she is shocked to learn most of them believe Ben is innocent and the real killer is still at large. In need of money, she reluctantly agrees to help them reexamine the crime by revisiting the worst moments of her life. But as Libby and Lyle dig deeper into the circumstances surrounding the murders, her recollections start to unravel and she is forced to question exactly what she saw — or didn’t see. As long-buried memories resurface, Libby begins to confront the wrenching truths that led up to that horrific night. Also starring Christina Hendricks, Corey Stoll and Chloë Grace Moretz, “Dark Places” is an ingeniously twisted thriller based on the best-selling novel by Gillian Flynn (“Gone Girl”). (Press materials)

Films About Women Currently Playing

Jenny’s Wedding — Written and Directed by Mary Agnes Donoghue
The Kindergarten Teacher
Phoenix
Trainwreck — Written by Amy Schumer
Lila & Eve (Also available on VOD)
Tangerine
Amy (Documentary)
Runoff — Written and Directed by Kimberly Levin
Inside Out
Spy
Testament of Youth
Tomorrowland
Mad Max: Fury Road
I’ll See You In My Dreams
Aloft — Written and Directed by Claudia Llosa
Far From the Madding Crowd
Woman in Gold
Iris (Documentary)
Gemma Bovary — Directed by Anne Fontaine

Films Directed by Women Opening This Week

Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet — Co-Directed by Joan C. Gratz and Nina Paley

A dissident being kept under house arrest recounts valuable lessons in a series of vignettes while a mischievous young woman (Quvenzhane Wallis) causes trouble in her town. (Press materials)

How to Smell a Rose: A Visit with Ricky Leacock at his Farm in Normandy (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Gina Leibrecht

In the year 2000, Les Blank, along with co-filmmaker Gina Leibrecht, visited Richard Leacock (1921–2011) at his farm in Normandy, France and recorded conversations with him about his life, his work, and his other passion: cooking! (Press materials)

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Gina Leibrecht.

Films Directed by Women Currently Playing

Batkid Begins (Documentary) — Directed and Co-Written by Dana Nachman
Infinitely Polar Bear — Directed and Written by Maya Forbes
The Wolfpack (Documentary) — Directed by Crystal Mosell

Films Written by Women Opening This Week

None

Films Written by Women Currently Playing

Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation — Co-Written by Laeta Kalogridis
Paulo Coelho’s Best Story — Written by Carolina Kotscho
Terminator: Genisys — Co-Written by Laeta Kalogridis
Jurassic World — Co-Written by Amanda Silver

TV Premiering This Week

Ties That Bind (UP) August 12 — Created by Sheryl J. Anderson

“Ties that Bind” revolves around Allison McLean (Kelli Williams), a tough and experienced police detective, mother and wife in suburban Seattle. When she and her police partner (Dion Johnstone) must arrest her brother (Luke Perry) for aggravated assault, her world drastically changes as he’s convicted and sent to prison, leaving his two teenagers teetering on the brink of foster care. Ultimately, she takes them into her home, ending up with four teenagers to raise as well as her demanding job solving local crimes. (Press materials)