MdW – Movies directed by Women
MdW (visual) movie rating
Good script, personages, dialogues, images
Top score: minorities (10)
Soberer direction and camera than in Haines’ previous movies (i.e. The Outsider) and the first movie in which the hero – a teacher – is not taught a lesson 🙂
Cast: Matthew Perry, Judith Buchan, Griffin Cork
Director: Randa Haines
Writers: Annie DeYoung, Max Enscoe
Music by Mark Adler
Cinematography by Derick V. Underschultz
Film Editing by Heather Persons
Top score: message (9)
A poignant movie about motherhood
We don’t get to hear much about Astrid Lindgren’s work but the intelligent script gives us a good glimpse on how and why she created such stories for children as the extraordinary Pipi Longstockings
5th movie written by Kim Fupz Aakeson and Pernille Fischer Christensen
“For in the end, the narrative’s central crisis is resolved by Lindgren’s becoming a mother not only to her estranged young son, but to an entire continent of children.” [Pat Brown]
Cast: Alba August, Maria Bonnevie, Trine Dyrholm, Henrik Rafaelsen, Magnus Krepper, Björn Gustafsson, Maria Alm Norell, Maria Fahl-Vikander
Director: Pernille Fischer Christensen
Writer: Pernille Fischer Christensen, Kim Fupz Aakeson
Cinematographer: Erik Molberg Hansen
Editor: Kasper Leick, Åsa Mossberg
Composer: Nicklas Schmidt
Top score: personages, images (9)
A movie of high quality, a Jane Campion’s signature
Cast: Abbie Cornish, Ben Whishaw, Paul Schneider, Edie Martin
Written and directed by Jane Campion
Music by Mark Bradshaw
Cinematography by Greig Fraser
Film Editing by Alexandre de Franceschi
Thirteen minutes into the movie, the plot is clearly established, and we are emotionally involved
Emotions are very soberly displayed / no false notes in the characters / good editing and photography, and a very interesting musical score… An amazing feat!
All this within the profound humility of an hommage made by a grand-daughter to her grandma
This second feature is a strong follow-up to her first movie Posthumus.
Cast: Awkwafina, Tzi Ma, Diana Lin, Zhao Shuzhen, Lu Hong, Jiang Yongbo
Director: Lulu Wang
Screenplay: Lulu Wang
Director of Photography: Anna Franquesa Solano
Editor: Michael Taylor
Top score: direction (9)
Long but captivating
Cast: Kerry Fox, K.J. Wilson, Iris Churn
Directed by Jane Campion
Written by Laura Jones
Photographed by Stuart Dryburgh
Edited by Veronika Haussler
Top score: message (9)
Interesting story about an artist who has to break the scholastic chains that her totalitarian father has imposed on her to find herself in her art
Chaotic direction, weak acting (except Bjorn Johnson)
The excessive use of music and the mixing of too many different styles blurr the important meaning music could have for this movie
Cast: Rachel Ann, Bjorn Johnson, Laura Kirk
Director: Catherine Dudley-Rose
Writer: Catherine Dudley-Rose
Music by Danielle Howle
Cinematography by Kyle Krupinski
Film Editing by Patrick Lawrence
gender/minorities/message 10
Excellent direction of this poignant and soberly told story
The script could have brought us closer to the influence female genital mutilation has on a girl/woman emotional life
BEWARE: Some very disturbing scenes
Cast: Liya Kebede, Sally Hawkins, Timothy Spall, Juliet Stevenson, Craig Parkinson, Anthony Mackie
Written and directed by Sherry Hormann
Music by Martin Todsharow
Cinematography by Ken Kelsch
Film Editing by Clara Fabry
An inspiring movie with a strong message, highly needed as the notions of truth and equality are being sullied and corrupted all around us!
Cast: Felicity Jones, Armie Hammer, Justin Theroux, Kathy Bates, Sam Waterston
Director: Mimi Leder
Writer: Daniel Stiepleman
Cinematographer: Michael Grady
Editor: Michelle Tesoro
Composer: Mychael Danna
Fine humor + great dialogues and personages
““Can You Ever Forgive Me?” comes from a place of understanding and love that few other biopics do, and it makes this difficult character a joy to meet.” [Monica Castillo]
Cast: Melissa McCarthy, Richard E. Grant, Marc Evan Jackson, Joanna Adler, Ben Falcone
Director: Marielle Heller
Writer: Jeff Whitty, Nicole Holofcener
Cinematographer: Brandon Trost
Editor: Anne McCabe
Composer: Nate Heller
Fine humor + great dialogues and personages
““Can You Ever Forgive Me?” comes from a place of understanding and love that few other biopics do, and it makes this difficult character a joy to meet.” [Monica Castillo]
Cast: Melissa McCarthy, Richard E. Grant, Marc Evan Jackson, Joanna Adler, Ben Falcone
Director: Marielle Heller
Writer: Jeff Whitty, Nicole Holofcener
Cinematographer: Brandon Trost
Editor: Anne McCabe
Composer: Nate Heller
An inspiring movie with a strong message, highly needed as the notions of truth and equality are being sullied and corrupted all around us!
Cast: Felicity Jones, Armie Hammer, Justin Theroux, Kathy Bates, Sam Waterston
Director: Mimi Leder
Writer: Daniel Stiepleman
Cinematographer: Michael Grady
Editor: Michelle Tesoro
Composer: Mychael Danna
The passionate love story between two most venerated writers of their time, George Sand – I am a writer, not a woman who writes – and Alfred de Musset
A historical drama with themes close to the other works by Diane Kurys
Great acting and excellent dialogues
Cast: Juliette Binoche, Benoît Magimel, Stefano Dionisi
Director: Diane Kurys
Writers: Murray Head, Diane Kurys
Music by Luis Bacalov
Cinematography by Vilko Filac
Film Editing by Joële Van Effenterre
As in other Amma Asante’s movies, the love story of a mixed couple in an inimical environment.
The themes are very similar to those found in Belle and in A United Kingdom: a web of social constraints that ensue from racial segregation (horizontal) and hierarchical stratification and dominance (vertical inequalities), with love and politics cleverly intertwined. Here too, the main female characters are and remain intelligent and substantial throughout the movie.
However, the direction and acting here are stiff and clumsy
Cast: Amandla Stenberg, George MacKay, Abbie Cornish, Christopher Eccleston
Director: Amma Asante
Writer: Amma Asante
Cinematographer: Remi Adefarasin
Editor: Steve Singleton
Composer: Anne Chmelewsky
Interesting story but the script is out of focus / Excellent music
Cast: Maria Dragus, Devid Striesow, Lukas Miko
Director: Barbara Albert
Writers: Kathrin Resetarits, Barbara Albert
Cinematography by Christine A. Maier
Film Editing by Niki Mossböck
A woman can’t reign as a woman (the loving, child-bearing Mary), but it becomes possible when she pretends to be a man (the childless, conspiring Elisabeth)
Good leads but weak supporting personages
Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Margot Robbie, Jack Lowden, Joe Alwyn, David Tennant, Guy Pearce, Gemma Chan, Ian Hart, Maria Dragus, James McArdle
Director: Josie Rourke
Writer: Beau Willimon
Based on the book “Queen of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart” by John Guy
Cinematographer: John Mathieson
Editor: Chris Dickens
Composer: Max Richter
The first hour is fireworks, the last half hour (starting with a long and boring Christmas scene with Christmas music) a boring bland story that transforms the lead into an inconsistent character. A pity!
The abundant racial cliches and a girl who returns to her daddy in the end left me with a bitter taste
Cast: Francesca Eastwood, Elisa Donovan, Pierson Fode
Director: Angie Wang
Writers: Angie Wang, Angie Wang
Music by Pei Pei Chung
Cinematography by Brett Pawlak
Film Editing by Jeff Castelluccio, Robert Schafer
Great nature and wild life / Text and humor fall sometimes flat
Lea Pool’s distinguishing feature: a strong mother-child relationship and two absent fathers
Cast: Marc Donato, William Hurt, Pascale Bussières
Director: Léa Pool
Writer: Pete McCormack
Music by Stephen Endelman
Cinematography by Pierre Mignot
Film Editing by Michel Arcand
Great images and strong performance, but somewhat lost in time
Cast: Elle Fanning, Douglas Booth, Bel Powley, Maisie Williams, Joanne Froggatt, Stephen Dillane, Tom Sturridge, Ben Hardy, Hugh O’Conor, Jack Hickey, Ciara Charteris
Director: Haifaa Al-Mansour
Writer: Emma Jensen
Editor: Alex Mackie, Nathan Nugent
Director of Photography: David Ungaro
A magnificent story with an inescapable (sad) ending / Establishes in a non too subtle way the parallel between the patriarchal oppressive use of power in gender relationships and with regard to minorities
The lead roles are not marked sufficiently to fill the scope of their personage
Cast: Jessica Chastain, Michael Greyeyes, Sam Rockwell, Ciarán Hinds, Chaske Spencer, Bill Camp, Michael Nouri
Director: Susanna White
Writer: Steven Knight
Cinematographer: Mike Eley
Editor: Lucia Zucchetti, Steven Rosenblum
Composer: George Fenton
Powerful story and strong content that the director doesn’t fully control
“It’s a timely affirmation of feminine power—of the ways in which female wisdom and strength can charge hearts and minds, influence culture and inspire others to be their most authentic selves. That was certainly true of this summer’s origin story, with its deeply moving lead performance from Gal Gadot, and it’s true again here in the origin story behind that origin story.” Christy Lemire
Cast: Luke Evans, Rebecca Hall, Bella Heathcote, Allie Gallerani, Christopher Jon Gombos, J. J. Feild, Connie Britton
Director:
Writer: Angela Robinson
Cinematographer: Bryce Fortner
Editor: Jeffrey M. Werner
Composer: Tom Howe
Working in pair: man + woman directing
Too predictable and at times grotesque
Cast: Emma Stone, Steve Carell, Andrea Riseborough, Sarah Silverman, Alan Cumming
Director: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris
Writer: Simon Beaufoy
Cinematographer: Linus Sandgren
Editor: Pamela Martin
Composer: Nicholas Britell
The many facets of truth!
Gender roles in Victorian Canada / Excellent female lead
Cast: Sarah Gadon, Edward Holcroft, Rebecca Liddiard, David Cronenberg, Anna Paquin
Director: Mary Harron
Script: Margaret Atwood, Sarah Polley
Cinematography: Brendan Steacy
Music: Jeff Danna, Mychael Danna
Happiness doesn’t need much and can be learned.
One negative point: Ethan Hawke doesn’t fit the personage.
Cast: Sally Hawkins, Ethan Hawke, Gabrielle Rose, Billy MacLellan, Zachary Bennett, Kari Matchett
Director: Aisling Walsh
Writer: Sherry White
Cinematographer: Guy Godfree
Editor: Stephen O’Connell
Composer: Michael Timmins
Besides the difficulties Mary has in her village for being pregnant without having ‘known a man’, nothing in this movie brings any inspiration to a story that certainly needs a more critical approach. The church music sinks the movie irredeemably.
Cast: Keisha Castle-Hughes, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Oscar Isaac
Director: Catherine Hardwicke
Writer: Mike Rich
Music by Mychael Danna
Cinematography by Elliot Davis
Film Editing by Robert K. Lambert, Stuart Levy
The black-and-white ideological journey of a young reporter / Very active camera
Cast: Maria Bello, Kelly Macdonald, Ella Purnell
Director: Bronwen Hughes
Writers: Bronwen Hughes, Jan Sardi
Cinematography by Giulio Biccari
Film Editing by Robert Ivison, Natan Moss
Still wondering what the director’s intention was
Actors: Barbara Sukowa, Tómas Lemarquis,Nahuel Pérez Biscayart
Director: Maria Schrader
Writers: Maria Schrader (screenplay), Jan Schomburg(screenplay)
Music by Cornelius Renz, Tobias Wagner
Cinematography by Wolfgang Thaler
Film Editing by Hansjörg Weißbrich
Cast: Lupita Nyong’o, David Oyelowo, Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine, Madina Nalwanga,
Director: Mira Nair
Writer: William Wheeler, (book by) Tim Crothers
Cinematographer: Sean Bobbitt
Editor: Barry Alexander Brown
Composer: Alex Heffes
Cast: Emma Greenwell, Tom Hughes, Alex Macqueen
Director: Vivienne De Courcy
Writer: Vivienne De Courcy
Music: Colm Mac Con, Iomaire
Cinematography: Cathal Watters
Editing: Nick Emerson, Pedro Kos
MdW - Movies directed by Women 