Films About Women Opening This Week
Miss You Already — Directed by Catherine Hardwicke; Written by Morwenna Banks — Women and Hollywood’s Pick of the Week
In a year filled with great female dramatic performances, Toni Collette gives one of the best in “Miss You Already.” Collette plays Milly, a wife, mother of two and lifelong rocker chick who needs her best friend, played by Drew Barrymore, more than ever when she’s diagnosed with terminal breast cancer, but can’t help simultaneously pushing her BFF away when her illness makes her angry and ill-tempered. In my review for TheWrap, I wrote that the film’s depiction of female friendship through the most difficult of times is “powerfully intimate, authentic and lived-in.” “Long known for her adolescent-centric fare like ‘Twilight’ and ‘Thirteen,’ [director Catherine] Hardwicke achieves an emotional breakthrough here by working with her most experienced cast ever.” (Inkoo Kang)
Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Catherine Hardwicke
Brooklyn
Films dealing with immigrant experiences are fairly uncommon, but those told from the perspectives of female characters are exceedingly rare. Saoirse Ronan’s portrayal of Eilis, a young woman who leaves Ireland in search of opportunities in New York, has earned her a lot of awards buzz since “Brooklyn” premiered at Sundance. The attention is well-deserved. After a stunning career as a child actor — including an Oscar nod for her role in “Atonement” — “Brooklyn” shows that Ronan is more than capable of carrying a film as an adult. She appears in almost every scene of the movie, and remains captivating throughout. John Crowley, the director of the film, told Indiewire that the film is really about “[h]ow a girl turns into a young woman who gradually takes control over her own life.” What made this journey especially exciting is the fact that, while the story is centered around a love triangle between Eilis and two suitors, women play an instrumental role in Eilis’s journey of self-discovery, including her sister, mom and female boss. (Laura Berger)
Sand Dollars — Co-Written and Co-Directed by Laura Amelia Guzmán
An older European woman (Geraldine Chaplin) becomes enchanted with a young Dominican woman (Yanet Mojica) who must struggle to make ends meet. Love brings a flow of entanglements in a drama which unfolds like palm trees in an irresistible storm. (Press materials)
Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict (Documentary) — Directed by Lisa Immordino Vreeland
Art collector and museum founder Peggy Guggenheim gets her due in a new doc that recalls her life and achievements. Based on previously unheard audio interviews, the film evidently shares Guggenheim’s passion for art while framing the heiress as a feminist pioneer ahead of her time. In my review for TheWrap, I wrote, “The path to a modern self that Guggenheim carved out for herself is a narrow one — much like the appeal of this portrait of her. Fellow art addicts who match Guggenheim’s enthusiasm for the pre-war avant-garde, however, might find more to gorge on.” (Inkoo Kang)
Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Lisa Immordino Vreeland
The Outskirts — Written by Dominique Ferrari and Suzanne Wrubel
After falling victim to a humiliating prank by the high school Queen Bee, best friends and world-class geeks, Mindy (Eden Sher) and Jodi (Victoria Justice), decide to get their revenge by uniting the outcasts of the school against her and her circle of friends. (IMDb)
Wrecker
Best friends Emily (Anna Hutchison) and Lesley (Andrea Whitburn) go on a road trip to the desert. When Emily decides to get off the highway and take a “short cut,” they become the target of a relentless and psychotic trucker who forces them to play a deadly game of cat and mouse. (Press materials)
10 Days in A Madhouse (Opens November 11)
In 1887, at age 23, reporter Nellie Bly (Caroline Barry), working for Joseph Pulitzer (Sam Davidow), feigns mental illness to go undercover in a woman’s insane asylum to expose corruption, abuse and murder. (IMDb)
Films About Women Currently Playing
Our Brand is Crisis
Bare — Written and Directed by Natalia Leite
CodeGirl (Documentary) — Directed by Lesley Chilcott
The Wonders/Le Meraviglie — Written and Directed by Alice Rohrwacher
Hard Labor/Trabalhar Cansa — Co-Written and Co-Directed by Juliana Rojas
Flowers/Loreak
Suffragette — Directed by Sarah Gavron; Written by Abi Morgan
I Smile Back — Written by Amy Koppelman and Paige Dylan
India’s Daughter (Documentary) — Directed by Leslee Udwin
Difret
Jem and the Holograms
Clinger
Truth
Crimson Peak
The Assassin
A Ballerina’s Tale (Documentary)
The Scarapist — Co-Directed and Written by Jeanne Marie Spicuzza
Big Stone Gap — Written and Directed by Adriana Trigiani
Freeheld
He Named Me Malala (Documentary)
The Keeping Room — Written by Julia Hart
Sicario
Breathe — Written and Directed by Mélanie Laurent
The Second Mother — Written and Directed by Anna Muylaert
Grandma
Learning to Drive — Directed by Isabel Coixet; Written by Sarah Kernochan
Phoenix
Inside Out
Films Directed by Women Opening This Week
Frame by Frame (Documentary) — Directed by Alexandria Bombach and Mo Scarpelli (Opening in Los Angeles)
When the Taliban ruled Afghanistan, taking a photo was a crime. After the regime fell from power in 2001, a fledgling free press emerged and a photography revolution was born. Now, as foreign troops and media withdraw, Afghanistan is left to stand on its own, and so are its journalists. Set in a modern Afghanistan bursting with color and character, “Frame by Frame” follows four Afghan photojournalists as they navigate an emerging and dangerous media landscape reframing Afghanistan for the world and for themselves. (Press materials)
Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Alexandria Bombach and Mo Scarpelli
Films Directed by Women Currently Playing
Making Rounds (Documentary) — Directed by Muffie Meyer
The Armor of Light (Documentary) — Directed by Abigail Disney
Heart of a Dog (Documentary) — Written and Directed by Laurie Anderson
The Intern — Written and Directed by Nancy Meyers
Mississippi Grind — Co-Directed and Co-Written by Anna Boden
Sleeping With Other People — Written and Directed by Leslye Headland
Meet the Patels (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Geeta Patel
Goodnight Mommy — Co-Directed and Co-Written by Veronika Franz
Meru (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelvi
Prophet’s Prey (Documentary) — Written and Directed by Amy J. Berg
Rosenwald (Documentary) — Directed by Aviva Kempner
Films Written by Women Opening This Week
None
Films Written by Women Currently Playing
Room — Written by Emma Donoghue
Labyrinth of Lies/Im Labyrinth des Schweigens — Co-Written by Elisabeth Bartel
Straight Outta Compton — Co-Written by Andrea Berloff
VOD/DVD Releasing This Week
Trainwreck — Written by Amy Schumer (DVD)
Tangerine (DVD)
We’ll Never Have Paris — Co-Directed by Jocelyn Towne (DVD)
