Pink Ribbons, Inc. (doc)
Ever since I saw this movie — which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last fall and is directed by Lea Pool — I have been obsessed. Now, since all the Komen crap over the last several months, this film is even more timely. There is no need to mince words. Cancer sucks. Breast cancer sucks. Talk to any woman who has had breast cancer and you will learn very quickly that this is nothing pretty or pink about it. Yet, what the film makes you think is that there seems to be some sort of conspiracy of pink to make breast cancer a lot less horrific than it is. When you see all the money that is put into building awareness about the disease you have to ask yourself, doesn’t everyone really already know about breast cancer? And, why is so much money being spent on raising awareness and not enough on finding out why the hell people get cancer in the first place. Read more.
Wish Me Away — directed by Bobbie Birleffi and Beverly Kopf (doc)
Wish Me Away is the incredibly moving coming out story of country music star Chely Wright. When I read a little over a year ago that Wright (who I did not know at the time) had come out my first reaction was “big deal.” After you watch the film you realize how difficult this process was for Wright mostly because of where she worked — Nashville. Don’t forget how horribly the Dixie Chicks were treated in Nashville not too long ago for public statements they made about the rush to got to war with Iraq. It’s a tough and very conservative town. Chely was the first high profile country performer to come out, something she had to do to save her life, and sadly, not for her, but for country music, she has now been forced to embark on a new life post Nashville. She’s not getting the invites to the Grand Ole Opry House, but she is showing up at gay and lesbian centers across the country standing up for herself and the gay community. Read more.
Snow White and the Huntsman
If you have to deal with another version of Snow White (which I don’t understand why we do) you would think that a kick-ass Snow White might be the answer to your prayers. Not so much. Kristen Stewart plays the princess held in the tower by the evil Queen Ravenna played by Charlize Theron. The queen keeps her power and hold on the kingdom — including her obsession with being the fairest of them all — by living off the blood of young girls. Charlize looks gorgeous and is exquisitely costumed yet has really not much to do aside from screaming “Get Me Snow White” to her creepy albino like brother with a very bad haircut. Read more.
Films About Women Now Playing
Lovely Molly
Virginia
Cowgirls n’ Angels
Girl in Progress — directed by Patricia Riggen
Where Do We Go Now? — written and directed by Nadine Labaki
The Perfect Family — directed by Anne Renton, written by Paula Goldberg and Claire V. Reilly
Elles — directed by Malgoska Szumowska; written by written by Tine Byrckel and Malgoska Szumowska
Deep Blue Sea
Darling Companion — co-written by Meg Kasdan
Damsels in Distress
Turn Me on Dammit — written and directed by Jannicke Systad Jacobsen
Mirror, Mirror
The Hunger Games
Hit So Hard
Films Directed By Women Opening This Week
Found Memories — Julia Murat
Found Memories directed by Julia Murat is a quiet meditation on a lost world. This is a town where the same thing happens every single day. Magdalena makes the bread for Antonio. He makes their coffee. They fight over where to place the bread. They have lunch with the entire town. Then the same thing repeats the next day. Until one day a young photographer Rita happens upon this village where time seems to have stopped and she wakes up Magdalena as well as the other townsfolk in a way that hasn’t happened in years.
Wallender The Revenge — directed by Charlotte Brändström
Wallender The Revenge begins with Kurt Wallander having achieved his life’s dream– buying a house by the sea. Suddenly, a heavy explosion ruptures the peace and quiet in Ystad when the town’s single transformer station is blown up, and more explosive deeds follow. The military is called and the little town starts to look like a war zone. Are the explosions acts of sabotage or terrorism? Everything is chaos and Wallander fumbles in darkness as he tries to chase down the culprits. Acclaimed Swedish actress Lena Endre (Erika Berger in the Millennium film trilogy) stars as Katarina Ahlsell, a divorced district attorney who has recently moved next door to Kurt Wallander.
Films Directed by Women Currently Playing
Mighty Fine — written and directed by Debbie Goodstein
Hysteria — directed by Tanya Wexler, co-written by Jonah Lisa Dyer
Polisse — written and directed by Maiwenn
First Position — directed by Bess Kargman (doc)
Friends With Kids — Jennifer Westfeldt
Films Written by Women Now Playing
What to Expect When You Are Expecting — written by Shauna Cross and Heather Hach
The Raven — co-written by Hannah Shakespeare
Sound of My Voice — co-written by Brit Marling
DVD Alert
Pariah
Carol Channing: Larger Than Life
We Need to Talk About Kevin
