Weekly Update for March 1: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You

FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING

Greta

No good deed goes unpunished in “Greta.” The campy thriller sees Chloë Grace Moretz playing Frances, a kind young woman new to New York City. One fateful day she finds a purse left behind by someone on the subway. The Good Samaritan uses an ID card in the bag to contact its owner, who welcomes Frances into her home. A lonely widow living in a foreign land, Greta (Isabelle Huppert) is grateful to have her purse back but more grateful for Frances’ company. Huppert and Moretz have good chemistry as they bond over cinema, tea, and cooking, and also when things go sour, and the former begins to stalk the latter, terrorizing her at every turn. “Greta” is best viewed in a packed theater. Half the fun of watching the pic is seeing — and hearing — the audience’s reaction as the film becomes increasingly wild and weird. The delightfully absurd roller coaster ride is especially enjoyable alongside other passengers, whether they’re laughing, gasping, or sneering at “Greta’s” twists and turns. (Laura Berger)

Find screening info here.

Woman at War (Opens in NY and LA)

“Woman at War”

Halla (Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir) is a seemingly average Icelandic woman. She’s a choir director trying to adopt an orphan from Ukraine. But behind her apparently normal life, Halla has become a stealth eco-terrorist using a bow and arrow to knock down power lines and sabotage development in the countryside. At first the terrorism is dismissed. But as she becomes bolder and causes more damage, the authorities double down on trying to capture the anonymous eco-warrior who is fighting for a greener future. (Melissa Silverstein)

Watch Women and Hollywood’s exclusive “Woman at War” clip.

Find screening info here.

Saint Judy (Opens in Select Cities; Expands March 8)

Immigration issues are front and center in the news and “Saint Judy” reminds you about the people, not the politics, that are affected by the laws. Judy Wood (Michelle Monaghan) is a woman trying to make a living as an immigration attorney. She has more cases than she can handle and barely gets paid. She represents a woman seeking asylum (Leem Lubany) — who has been persecuted due to her gender — and winds up changing U.S. immigration law along the way. (MS)

Find screening info here.

The Sower – Directed by Marine Francen; Written by Marine Francen, Jacqueline Surchat, and Jacques Fieschi

“The Sower”

In 1851, France’s autocratic President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte has ordered the arrest of all the men of a remote mountain farming village following a Republican uprising. The women spend years in total isolation, forced to tend the crops themselves. Some women have lost their husbands; others, like the shy but inwardly strong Violette (Pauline Burlet), suddenly have no chance of experiencing physical love or motherhood. The women take an oath: if a man comes, they will share him as a lover. When a mysterious and handsome stranger arrives, he ignites passions and jealousies that threaten to destroy the tight-knit community.

Find screening info here.

Level 16 – Written and Directed by Danishka Esterhazy (Also Available on VOD)

Sixteen-year-old Vivien (Katie Douglas) is trapped in The Vestalis Academy, a prison-like boarding school, keeping to herself and sticking her neck out for no one. Until she is reunited with Sophia (Celina Martin), the former friend who betrayed her. Together the girls embark on a dangerous search to uncover the horrifying truth behind their imprisonment. Soon running for their lives, the girls must save themselves or die trying.

Pretty Broken – Written by Jill Remensnyder (Also Available on VOD)

“Pretty Broken” tells the story of Lindsey Lou (Jillian Clare), an unemployed, college drop-out on the verge of divorce who finds herself couch surfing at her childhood home while her family grieves the death of her father. As the family tries to put the past behind them, Lindsey fights to keep his memory alive before her mother, Caroline Lou (Stacy Edwards), replaces him with a younger man, Jerry Carlyle (Tyler Christopher).

Furie

“Furie”

“Furie” follows Hai Phuong (Veronica Ngo) a gangster who retired from the life of crime after the birth of her daughter. Despite lying low in the countryside, she can’t seem to escape her violent past when her daughter is kidnapped right before her eyes. Hai Phuong is forced back into the life she swore she would leave behind and will stop at nothing to get her daughter back from the infamous organ-trafficking ring.

What Lies Ahead

When two young women (Rumer Willis, Emma Dumont) embark on a road trip from Georgia to New York, an unseen peril emerges that grows stronger with each passing mile.

Virginia Minnesota (Opens in LA)

Two young women, torn apart by a childhood tragedy, unexpectedly reunite and embark on an illuminating 24-hour journey, where they unlock memories of long-forgotten innocence and what it means to truly believe.

Find screening info here.

The Hole in the Ground (Also Available on VOD)

Trying to escape her broken past, Sarah O’Neill (Seána Kerslake) is building a new life on the fringes of a backwood rural town with her young son, Chris (James Quinn Markey). A terrifying encounter with a mysterious neighbour shatters her fragile security, throwing Sarah into a spiralling nightmare of paranoia and mistrust, as she tries to uncover if the disturbing changes in her little boy are connected to an ominous sinkhole buried deep in the forest that borders their home.

FILMS MADE BY WOMEN OPENING

“Mapplethorpe”

Mapplethorpe – Directed by Ondi Timoner; Written by Ondi Timoner and Mikko Alanne

Robert Mapplethorpe’s portraits, images of calla lilies, and chronicles of New York City’s underground BDSM scene remain touchstones of 20th-century photography even now, nearly three decades after his death from complications of HIV/AIDS in 1989. “Mapplethorpe” revisits the titular photographer’s legacy, beginning at the moment just before he takes up residence in the Chelsea Hotel. There, Mapplethorpe (Matt Smith, “The Crown”) begins to amass a portfolio of images and, at the same time, to explore his formerly suppressed attraction to men. But Mapplethorpe’s relentless ambition threatens to tear apart the relationships he cherishes the most. From the early ’70s until his untimely death at age 42, the film explores the intersection of his art and his sexuality, his struggle for mainstream recognition, and, looming above it all, the specter of the emerging AIDS crisis.

This Magnificent Cake! – Written and Directed by Emma De Swaef and Marc James Roels (Opens in LA)

“This Magnificent Cake!”

“This Magnificent Cake!” is an unforgettable work of stop-motion animation exploring the bitter milieu of Belgium-occupied Congo. In the late 19th century, keen to compete with other European imperial powers on the continent, King Leopold II of Belgium proclaimed, “I do not want to miss a good chance of getting us a slice of this magnificent African cake.” The subsequent occupation of the Congo would come to attract a contingent of servants, merchants and miscellaneous bourgeois driven by everything from insatiable greed to existential fear. From the intimate stories of these characters — many of whom pass through a luxury hotel in the middle of the jungle — emerges a greater narrative concerning the imperialist mentality.

Find screening info here.

River’s Edge – Written by Misaki Setoyama (Available on Netflix)

A group of high school students experience the brutal front of urban isolation after a corpse washes up from the river.

Cliffs of Freedom – Written by Marianne Metropoulos, Van Ling, and Kevin Bernhardt

Inspired by historical events, “Cliffs of Freedom” is a timeless and romantic story of bravery and faith between a Greek village girl (Tania Raymonde) and a Turkish Ottoman Colonel (Jan Uddin) during the dawn of the Greek War for Independence in the 1820s.

Find screening info here.

TV PREMIERES

“The Widow”

The Widow (Premieres March 1 on Amazon Prime)

A woman’s (Kate Beckinsale) search to uncover the mysterious disappearance of her husband leads her to the Congo, where she’s forced to seek the truth about what happened to the man she loved.

American Masters – Holly Near: Singing for Our Lives (Documentary Special) (Premieres March 1 on PBS)

“Holly Near: Singing for Our Lives”

An outspoken political activist and singer-songwriter, Holly Near’s music and life story illustrate how song can have the power to send a clarion call and influence the course of social justice — from the lesbian and women’s movements to anti-war efforts and the fight to give South American women a voice. “American Masters – Holly Near: Singing for Our Lives” explores how the activist-artist provided an inspiring soundtrack to nearly a half-century of global and local struggles for equality and change.

Warrior Women (Documentary) – Directed by Christina D. King and Elizabeth A. Castle (Premieres March 4 on WORLD Channel) (Also Available on worldchannel.org)

“Warrior Women”

“Warrior Women” is the untold story of American Indian Movement activists who fought for civil rights in the 1970s. Together they weathered some of the most turbulent battles for Native sovereignty in the modern era: Madonna Thunder Hawk as an activist and her daughter, Marcy, as a teenager growing up and sharing her mother with a movement that was bigger than either of them. Now, forty years later, Madonna is moving into the twilight of her life, fighting the inevitable slowing down. She constantly wonders to whom she will “pass the torch.” “Warrior Women” unveils not only their perspective on history, but also their real-life activism far beyond news coverage that will influence generations to come.

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Christina D. King and Elizabeth A. Castle.

The Order – Created by Shelley Eriksen and Dennis Heaton (Premieres March 7 on Netflix)

Out to avenge his mother’s death, a college student (Jake Manley) pledges a secret order and lands in a war between werewolves and practitioners of dark magic.

VOD/STREAMING RELEASES

“Vox Lux”

30 Miles From Nowhere – Directed by Caitlin Koller; Written by Seana Kofoed (VOD, March 5)
Among the Shadows (VOD, March 5)
Discarnate – Written by Marcella Ochoa and Mario Miscione (VOD, March 5)
The Favourite – Written by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara (VOD, March 5)
Vox Lux (VOD, March 5)