MdW – Movies directed by Women
MdW (visual) movie rating
Weak script and dialogues
Poor message
A woman, her daughter, her granddaughter, and her son sharing secrets that are veiled in mystery but are so empty when revealed…
Rotten Tomatoes Critics —
Metascore —
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience —
IMDB 5,9
TMDB 6,0
Critics average —
Audience average 6,0
Cast: Natalia Dyer, Shawn Hatosy, Frances Conroy
Director: Alex O Eaton
Writer: Alex O Eaton
Cinematography by Ashley Connor
Film Editing by Kate Abernathy
Good dialogues, direction and images
Excellent script and gender content
Top personages and message
A moving eulogy to mothers… but also more than that: the daughter is played by two actresses, not for a split-personality touch but to forge a mirror to the rich and complex person that was their mother… An emotionally rich movie
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 8,0
Metascore 7,3
Roger Ebert 8,8
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,6
IMDB 6,2
Average critics 8,0
Average public 6,9
Cast: Amy Nostbakken, Norah Sadava, Maev Beaty
Director: Patricia Rozema
Writers: Amy Nostbakken, Patricia Rozema
Music by Amy Nostbakken
Cinematography by Catherine Lutes
Film Editing by Lara Johnston
Good personages, gender content, minority representation, message, and expression
Excellent script and direction
Top images
A pearl of a movie, light, delightful, and full of palpable tensions
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 8,0
Metascore 8,2
Roger Ebert 7,5
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 8,6
IMDB 7,8
TMDB 8,1
Average critics 7,9
Average public 8,2
Original title: Que Horas Ela Volta?
Cast: Regina Casé, Helena Albergaria, Michel Joelsas
Director: Anna Muylaert
Writer: Anna Muylaert
Music by Vitor Araújo , Fábio Trummer
Cinematography by Barbara Alvarez
Film Editing by Karen Harley
Great personages, images, music, minority presence and message
Excellent script, direction and gender content
A movie that shows you how the past cannot be untangled.
Moving without any false note, it leaves you wondering what if it had happened to you… for even if it was another time, it’s still happening at this very moment somewhere in the world
IMDB 7,3
Original title: Északi fény
Cast: Mari Töröcsik, Ildikó Tóth, Franciska Töröcsik
Director: Márta Mészáros
Writers: Zoltán Jancsó, Márta Mészáros
Cinematography by Piotr Sobocinski Jr.
Film Editing by Annamaria Szanto
Good direction, images, gender content, minority presence and message
Excellent music and expression
The situations in which this young and once beautiful but now monstrous looking woman has to go through every day are so awful that you really wonder where she gets the strength to survive.
But what makes the story even more painful (!!!) is the stupidity of the world around her, of her world… At the end of the day, it might just be this hopeless stupidity that makes her unbreakable
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,4
Metascore 7,5
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 6,2
IMDB 6,4
Average critics 7,5
Average public 6,3
Cast: Vicky Knight, Katherine Kelly, Eliza Brady-Girard
Director: Sacha Polak
Writers: Sacha Polak, Susie Farrell
Music by Rutger Reinders
Cinematography by Ruben Impens
Film Editing by Sander Vos
Great direction, images and music
Excellent personages, dialogues and gender content
“A hymn to teenage idealism and hormones” (Roger Ebert)
The usual Lea Pool’s family situations – difficult but crucial mother-daughter relationships and absent fathers – play a role in the background
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 5,4
Metascore 5,3
Roger Ebert 8,8
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 8,0
IMDB 6,9
Average critics 6,5
Average public 7,5
Cast: Piper Perabo, Jessica Pare, Jackie Burroughs
Directed by Lea Pool
Written by Judith Thompson
Music by Robyn Schulkowsky
Cinematography by Jeanne Lapoirie
Film Editing by Michel Arcand
Good personages, dialogues, images, and message
Excellent direction and gender content
The relationship between an adult and a child is the main aspect of this movie, just like that of Rebecca Miller’s preceding one. The child’s guilt is not always central but often mentioned.
Other recurring themes: a dysfunctional mother, running away, insanity along the mother line, crucial mother-daughter relationship, strangely unobtrusive role of the fathers (except in “The Ballad of Jake and Rose”)
The best Rebecca Miller movie until now / Fantastic female lead!
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,2
Metascore 4,9
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 6,4
IMDB 6,4
Average critics 5,6
Average public 6,4
Cast: Robin Wright, Alan Arkin, Mike Binder
Director: Rebecca Miller
Writers: Rebecca Miller
Music by Michael Rohatyn
Cinematography by Declan Quinn
Film Editing by Sabine Hoffman
Good personages, direction, images, and music
Excellent dialogues, gender content, minority presence, and emotional charge
Some far-fetched twists take the attention away from a beautiful story.
IMDB 5,9
Cast: Zoe Ventoura, Kayla Radomski, Cale Ferrin
Director: Nicole Conn
Writer: Nicole Conn
Music by Nami Melumad
Cinematography by Seth Wessel-Estes
Film Editing by Nicole Conn, David C. Eichhorn
Good script, personages, dialogues, images and gender content
Excellent direction
A simple story, a very enjoyable movie
A milder movie in its political commitment than the previous “South Bound,” still the social angle is very similar in this story of a young woman – and her former classmate – who leaves the city to realize who she is.
This movie marks the social contrast between the city where others determine who you are and the countryside where there’s only you to do so. It also reinforces the original standpoint on the family that the precedent movie “South Bound” brought forward, in which the parents build for themselves an independent way of life, and stick to it even when their kids suffer from it. However, when they finally understand their parents’ choice, the children end up appreciating and valuing it.
Little Forest prolongs this theme: the mother has left her child without any apparent reason, and the child learns how to accept and honor her mother’s decision.
Rotten Tomatoes Critics —
Metascore —
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,0
IMDB 7,0
Average critics —
Average public 7,0
Cast: Tae-ri Kim, So-Ri Moon, Jun-yeol Ryu
Director: Soon-rye Yim
Writers: Seong-gu Hwang, Daisuke Igarashi (manga)
Great script, direction and gender content
Excellent minority presence and message
This subversive coming-of-age story shows how impermeable to social norms a young girl can be.
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,9
Metascore —
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,4
IMDB 6,7
Average critics 7,9
Average public 7,1
Cast: Noée Abita, Laure Calamy, Juan Cano
Director: Léa Mysius
Writers: Léa Mysius, Paul Guilhaume
Music by Florencia Di Concilio
Cinematography by Paul Guilhaume
Film Editing by Pierre Deschamps
Great script, personages, dialogues and message
Top gender content
A movie with double insight: an insider look at the training and the routine an astronaut has to follow before leaving earth; a take on how difficult it is for a female astronaut to combine her expected motherly role and the high intensity of a training set in a structure thought and made for men. The end credits make us discover all these ‘mothers’ who went on space missions.
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,0
Metascore 7,5
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience —
IMDB 6,3
Average critics 7,3
Average public 6,3
Cast: Eva Green, Zélie Boulant, Matt Dillon
Director: Alice Winocour
Writers: Alice Winocour, Jean-Stéphane Bron
Music by Ryuichi Sakamoto
Cinematography by Georges Lechaptois
Film Editing by Julien Lacheray
Good personages, dialogues and direction
Excellent script
Foreign films sometimes confront us with reactions or expressions that seem strange to us. For example, as a European, I find the reaction of ‘shame’ in American movies – when a man is shocked when he unintendedly sees female nudity – extremely hypocritical, even though I’ve seen it so many times…) Anyway, very little of this in this Japanese movie (except at one moment, with the cat…)
A fantasy dealing with mature subjects!
IMDB 6,3
Original title: Kohi ga Samenai Uchi Ni
Cast: Kasumi Arimura, Motoki Fukami,
Director: Ayuko Tsukahara
Writer: Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Music by Masaru Yokoyama
Cinematography by Norimichi Kasamatsu
Film Editing by Ryûji Miyajima
Good personages, images, and message
Top minority representation
Although script and direction are at times a bit clumsy, the movie has lots of good things and a good feeling about it
A very diversified cast, from beginning to end
As for the title, a mysterious choice…
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,1
Metascore 4,9
Roger Ebert 6,3
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 9,4
IMDB 5,6
Average critics 5,8
Average public 7,5
Cast: Leslie Bibb, Josh Duhamel, Sharon Lawrence, Kevin Alejandro, Georgia King
Director: Vicky Wight
Writer (novel): Katherine Center
Writer: Vicky Wight
Cinematographer: Aaron Kovalchik
Editor: Suzanne Spangler
Composer: Sherri Chung
Good script and message
Excellent gender content
Top minority representation
A fine movie about the choices and decisions a pregnant woman has to make between her career and motherhood. The movie brings also the disadvantages African-Americans face into perspective, disadvantages that even their (Caucasian) teacher has difficulty fathoming.
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,6
Metascore 6,5
Roger Ebert 7,5
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 6,4
IMDB 5,9
Average critics 6,9
Average public 6,2
Cast: Cobie Smulders, Anders Holm, Gail Bean
Director: Kris Rey
Writers: Megan Mercier, Kris Rey (as Kris Swanberg)
Music by Keegan DeWitt
Cinematography by Dagmar Weaver-Madsen
Film Editing by Zach Clark
Good script, personages, direction, images, and minority representation
A very worthy first feature!
The Indian title means “Zero Divided by Zero Equals Nothing” … which would have been much too difficult for Western audiences 🙂
Music at times too intrusive and childish: just like too many cooks spoil the broth, too many musicians handling the music spoil the score
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,5
Metascore —
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 8,0
IMDB 8,4
Average critics 6,5
Average public 8,2
Original title: Nil Battey Sannata
Cast: Swara Bhaskar, Ratna Pathak Shah, Riya Shukla
Director: Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari
Writers: Nitesh Tiwari, Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari
Music by Naren Chandavarkar, Rohan-Vinayak
Music composed by Vinayak Salvi, Rohan Utpat
Cinematography by Gavemic U. Ary
Film Editing by Chandrashekhar Prajapati
Good dialogues and message
Excellent gender content
Two mothers, two daughters, almost no male around, a lot of sharp moments
Good editing, although at times a bit too cryptic
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,4
Metascore —
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience —
IMDB 5,5
Average critics 7,4
Average public 5,5
Cast: Heather Graham, Sophie Nélisse, Jodi Balfour
Director: Aisling Chin-Yee
Writers: Alanna Francis, Mark Van de Ven
Cinematography by Daniel Grant
Film Editing by Véronique Barbe, Aisling Chin-Yee
Good dialogues
Could have been a nice movie about finding out where one belongs, if it wasn’t a movie that reenacts the core Confucian values of patriarchy with an omnipresent father who, beyond death, binds the whole network of women related to him (a wife and three daughters). Even his son-in-law and the restaurant staff seem to exist only because of him. Honor your father! is the message
The end confirms the emotional and dependent status of women (according to Confucianism).
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 8,3
Metascore —
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,8
IMDB 6,7
Average critics 8,3
Average public 7,3
Cast: Sammi Cheng, Megan Lai, Xiaofeng Li
Director: Heiward Mak
Writer: Heiward Mak
Cinematography by S.K. Yip
Film Editing by Siu-Hong Chung, Heiward Mak
Great minority presence and message
Excellent gender content
The quest for the truth of a sixteen-year-old girl who wants to find out what happened at the party where she got raped.
The movie takes you through the silent meander of the girl’s survival trajectory.
The director systematically avoids ‘sharing’ with the public what keeps the action moving (which, at times, is a bit frustrating), but instead concentrates on the internal struggles of the girl.
The movie has a great ending.
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,2
Metascore 7,3
Roger Ebert 10,0
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 5,4
IMDB 5,6
Average critics 8,2
Average public 5,5
Cast: Rhianne Barreto, Charlie Plummer, Poorna Jagannathan, Lovie Simone
Director: Pippa Bianco
Screenplay: Pippa Bianco
Director of Photography: Ava Berkofsky
Editor: Shelby Siegel
Original Music Composer: Shlohmo
Good music, gender content and message
A double love story one generation apart in which one sacrifices the relationship to fulfill their self-realization
A movie about how difficult we find it to say what we mean, sometimes just saying the opposite of what we wanted to express
A movie with many facets – some barely sketched, like the photographic aspect – that could have been more condensed (like 20 minutes shorter…)
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,6
Metascore 6,2
Roger Ebert 7,5
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 8,4
IMDB 5,9
Average critics 6,8
Average public 7,2
Cast: Issa Rae, Chanté Adams, LaKeith Stanfield
Director: Stella Meghie
Writer: Stella Meghie
Cinematographer: Mark Schwartzbard
Editor: Shannon Baker Davis
Composer: Robert Glasper
Great dialogues, direction, images, minority presence and message
Excellent script and personages
A focused, “quiet, deeply empathetic film” (Allison Shoemaker)
Formidable performance by Edie Falco
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,3
Metascore 7,6
Roger Ebert 7,5
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,6
IMDB 6,6
Average critics 7,5
Average public 7,1
Cast: Edie Falco, Jay Duplass, Kaitlyn Dever, Ben Schwartz, Aaron Blakely, Claudine Nako
Director: Lynn Shelton
Writer: Jay Duplass, Lynn Shelton
Cinematographer: Nathan M. Miller
Editor: Celia Beasley
Composer: Andrew Bird
Good dialogues
A young girl with a depressive mother and a stressed father takes her younger sister into a (religious) fantasy journey, torn between anger and guilt, heaven and hell
Some very amateurish aspects (have you seen the microphones?) but a movie that keeps surprising the viewer and that has a very expressive musical score
Nevertheless, there’s something that just feels wrong… Maybe it’s the fact that all females are having difficulties integrating the reality…
IMDB 6,4
Cast: Miranda Rhyne, Charlotte Eve Blythe, Anna Levine
Director: Rebecca Miller
Writer: Rebecca Miller
Music by Michael Rohatyn
Cinematography by Ellen Kuras
Film Editing by Melody London
A good coming-of-age-and-dealing-with my-bullies story… only that the script writer added another layer – as this was not enough! – through showing how tough life was for a lesbian in the 60s
Insipid music!
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,8
Metascore 6,0
Roger Ebert 6,3
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 9,0
IMDB 6,0
Average critics 6,4
Average public 7,5
Cast: Kara Hayward, Liana Liberato, Tony Hale, Lucas Jade Zumann, Jordana Spiro
Director: Martha Stephens
Writer: Shannon Bradley-Colleary
Cinematographer: Andrew Reed
Editor: Nathan Whiteside
Composer: Heather McIntosh
Good humor
Excellent personages, dialogues, images, music and gender content
Top script, direction, minority presence and message
A topper as cinema-vérité goes: not only is everyone and everything in the right place, but that you can’t imagine it any other way
A two-level movie: in one, an artist tries to stay true to her art and fails; in the other, she makes a movie that is itself the realization of an artistic expression unspoiled by compromises. The way Radha Blank succeeds in merging the two facets of a same message is an exceptional achievement.
Great scenes of rap battles.
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 8,1
Metascore 8,0
Roger Ebert 8,8
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 6,6
IMDB 7,1
Average critics 8,3
Average public 6,9
Cast: Radha Blank, Oswin Benjamin, Peter Kim
Director: Radha Blank
Writer: Radha Blank
Cinematography by Eric Branco
Film Editing by Robert Grigsby Wilson
Good gender content
Excellent script, personages, dialogues, music, message and expressiveness
Top direction, images and minority presence
Dreams and animals as go-between
A movie in which nothing is taken for granted
Loneliness is here expressed with a sobriety exceeding that of a Edward Hopper painting
Great editing and acting / beautiful song by Laura Marling
Rotten Tomatoes Critics —
Metascore 7,7
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 8,0
IMDB 7,6
Average critics 7,7
Average public 7,8
Original title: Teströl és lélekröl
Cast: Alexandra Borbély, Géza Morcsányi, Réka Tenki
Director: Ildikó Enyedi
Writer: Ildikó Enyedi
Music by Ádám Balázs
Cinematography by Máté Herbai
Film Editing by Károly Szalai
Good script and images
Excellent humor, music and expression
Top personages, direction, gender content and minority representation
Lots of passion but very little tenderness (Otis Redding’s Try a Little Tenderness in the background)
Darnell Martin succeeded in making an energizing comedy during 100 minutes and 10 minutes of strong drama
Great acting by Lauren Velez
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,5
Metascore —
Roger Ebert 7,5
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 8,8
IMDB 6,9
TMDB 6,6
Average critics 7,5
Average public 7,4
Cast: Luna Lauren Velez, Jon Seda, Tomas Melly
Director: Darnell Martin
Writer: Darnell Martin
Music by Sergio George
Cinematography by Alexander Gruszynski
Film Editing by Peter C. Frank
Good script and dialogues
Excellent direction and images
Top music, gender content, minority representation and message
In New York in the 1980s, a group of women fights for equality and freedom and promote an egalitarian feminist revolution, but they have first to get women to understand their second class citizen position in society and the oppression they support by remaining silent. Excellent political content
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,8
Metascore —
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 6,8
IMDB 6,4
TMDB 6,4
Average critics 6,8
Average public 6,5
Cast: Honey, Adele Bertei, Jean Satterfield
Director: Lizzie Borden
Writer: Ed Bowes
Cinematography by Ed Bowes, Al Santana
Film Editing by Lizzie Borden
Good script and humor
Excellent dialogues, images, gender content, and expression
Top personages, direction and message
An ambitious movie that realizes much of its potential. Its Shakespearean plot and twists are never too stretched to become ridiculous, especially since it is set in the 1920s, mainly because of the strongly delineated personages and excellent acting.
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 4,5
Metascore —
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 6,4
IMDB 6,2
TMDB 5,8
Average critics 4,5
Average public 6,1
Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Madeleine Stowe, William Hurt
Director: Lesli Linka Glatter
Writer: Rick Ramage
Music by Stephen Endelman
Cinematography by Peter Sova
Film Editing by Jacqueline Cambas
Good dialogues, music, gender content and minority representation
Excellent script
Top direction, images and message
A very unusual movie about resisting torture with the strength of one’s mind, about refusing lies (very timely), about sticking to one’s values… Great acting and decors!
Not a critics’ favorite…
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 4,6
Metascore 0,0
Roger Ebert 3,8
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 8,4
IMDB 7,0
TMDB 6,9
Average critics 2,8
Average public 7,4
Cast: Madeleine Stowe, Alan Rickman
Director: Radha Bharadwaj
Writer: Radha Bharadwaj
Photographed by Bill Pope
Edited by Lisa Churgin
Music by Richard Einhorn
Good script, dialogues and expression
Excellent message
Top direction, images, music, and minority presence
A second feature as explosive as the first one
A movie made 20 years before Black Lives Matter that has lost nothing of its scope and power and that so unfortunately still fits our time…
Great camera work
Rotten Tomatoes Critics —
Metascore —
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 9,2
IMDB 6,3
TMDB 5,3
Average critics —
Average public 6,9
Cast: Danny Hoch, Elvis Costello, Q-Tip
Director: Darnell Martin
Writers: Darnell Martin, Q-Tip
Cinematography by Alexander Gruszynski
Film Editing by Peter C. Frank
Good script, dialogues and images
Excellent personages
Top direction, gender content, minority presence and message
Raw, documentary-like movie inside a Paris police force that deals with sex offenders and minors
Strong emotions, not for the fainthearted
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,8
Metascore 7,4
Roger Ebert 6,3
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,6
IMDB 7,3
Average critics 6,8
Average public 7,5
Original title: Polisse
Cast: Karin Viard, JoeyStarr, Marina Foïs, Maïwenn, Emmanuelle Bercot
Director: Maïwenn
Writers: Maïwenn (screenplay), Emmanuelle Bercot (screenplay)
Music by Stephen Warbeck
Cinematography by Pierre Aïm
Film Editing by Yann Dedet, Laure Gardette
Good dialogues, music and minorities presence
Excellent script, personages, direction, images,
gender content and message
The complex story of two sisters (14 and 10) who have put their father on a pedestal and cannot accept the fact that he is but just a man.
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,5
Metascore 7,8
Roger Ebert 10,0
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 8,6
IMDB 7,3
Average critics 8,4
Average public 8,0
Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Jurnee Smollett, Meagan Good
Director: Kasi Lemmons
Writer: Kasi Lemmons
Music by Terence Blanchard
Cinematography by Amy Vincent
Film Editing by Terilyn A. Shropshire
Good script, dialogues, music, gender content and expression
Excellent personages, direction and message
Top images and minority representation
A movie about how ephemeral life is and how everything we have is inside us
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 8,9
Metascore 9,4
Roger Ebert 10,0
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 8,0
IMDB 7,6
TMDB 7,7
Average critics 9,4
Average public 7,8
Cast: Frances McDormand, David Strathairn, Linda May
Director: Chloé Zhao
Writers: Jessica Bruder (based on the book by), Chloé Zhao (written for the screen by)
Music by Ludovico Einaudi
Cinematography by Joshua James Richards
Film Editing by Chloé Zhao
Good personages, humor, images and music
Excellent script, dialogues and gender content
Top direction
As often before, Kathryn Bigelow has made a sober film of dramatic events that could have givem way to much more exuberance in emotional situations as in historical perspective(s)
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 8,6
Metascore 9,5
Roger Ebert 7,5
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 8,0
IMDB 7,4
Average critics 8,5
Average public 7,7
Cast: Jessica Chastain, Joel Edgerton, Chris Pratt
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Writer: Mark Boal
Music by Alexandre Desplat
Cinematography by Greig Fraser
Film Editing by William Goldenberg, Dylan Tichenor
Good script, dialogues, images, and message
Excellent personages, direction, music, and expression
Top gender content
A woman takes care of the last days of her dying twin-brother… No dirty secrets, no family score-setting, just the attachment and love that she devotes to her brother, the emotions building up as he gets worse, leading her to surpass herself to keep him alive…
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,1
Metascore 7,8
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience —
IMDB 6,6
TMDB 7,6
Critics average 7,5
Audience average 7,1
Original title: Schwessterlein
Cast: Nina Hoss, Lars Eidinger, Marthe Keller
Directors: Stéphanie Chuat, Véronique Reymond
Writers: Stéphanie Chuat, Véronique Reymond
Music by Christian Garcia
Cinematography by Filip Zumbrunn
Film Editing by Myriam Rachmuth
Good script and gender content
Excellent personages, direction, music, message, and expression
Top images
The sad story of parents that are confronted with their terminally ill child, told in a very unusual way
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,6
Metascore 7,7
Roger Ebert 8,8
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 8,0
IMDB 7,2
TMDB 6,8
Average critics 8,0
Average public 7,3
Cast: Eliza Scanlen, Michelle Lotters, Toby Wallace
Director: Shannon Murphy
Writer: Rita Kalnejais
Music by Amanda Brown
Cinematography by Andrew Commis
Film Editing by Stephen Evans
Good dialogues
Excellent personages, images and minority presence
Top direction and music
The continuous life struggles of Harvey Pekar, as a man and as an artist, told mixing live action and animation, actors and real personages, fiction and documentary, all of this perfectly engineered. A very special movie…
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 8,3
Metascore 9,0
Roger Ebert 10,0
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 8,0
IMDB 7,4
TMDB 7,2
Average critics 9,1
Average public 7,5
Cast: Paul Giamatti, Shari Springer Berman, Harvey Pekar
Directors: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini
Writers: Harvey Pekar, Joyce Brabner
Music by Mark Suozzo
Cinematography by Terry Stacey
Film Editing by Robert Pulcini
Good personages, humor, images, music, gender content, minority presence, and expression
Excellent script, dialogues and direction
The first half-hour is great, tense, constantly bouncing
This third feature by Berman and Pulcini brings some interesting perspective to their second movie, The Nanny Diaries, in which uninvolved motherhood and attachment are central themes. 10,000 Saint deals with uninvolved fatherhood and attachment “a sensitive and interesting film” [Sheila O’Malley]
Great acting by Ethan Hawke
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,2
Metascore 6,2
Roger Ebert 7,5
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 5,8
IMDB 5,9
TMDB 5,9
Average critics 6,6
Average public 5,9
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld
Directors: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini
Writers: Robert Pulcini, Shari Springer Berman
Based on the novel by Eleanor Henderson
Music by Garth Stevenson
Cinematography by Ben Kutchins
Film Editing by Robert Pulcini
Good dialogues, direction and images
Excellent script and gender content
Top personages and message
A moving eulogy to mothers… but also more than that: the daughter is played by two actresses, not for a split-personality touch but to forge a mirror to the rich and complex person that was their mother… An emotionally rich movie
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 8,0
Metascore 7,3
Roger Ebert 8,8
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,6
IMDB 6,2
Average critics 8,0
Average public 6,9
Cast: Amy Nostbakken, Norah Sadava, Maev Beaty
Director: Patricia Rozema
Writers: Amy Nostbakken, Patricia Rozema
Music by Amy Nostbakken
Cinematography by Catherine Lutes
Film Editing by Lara Johnston
Good personages, gender content, minority representation, message, and expression
Excellent script and direction
Top images
A pearl of a movie, light, delightful, and full of palpable tensions
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 8,0
Metascore 8,2
Roger Ebert 7,5
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 8,6
IMDB 7,8
TMDB 8,1
Average critics 7,9
Average public 8,2
Original title: Que Horas Ela Volta?
Cast: Regina Casé, Helena Albergaria, Michel Joelsas
Director: Anna Muylaert
Writer: Anna Muylaert
Music by Vitor Araújo , Fábio Trummer
Cinematography by Barbara Alvarez
Film Editing by Karen Harley
Good script, dialogues, humor, images, music, gender content and message
Excellent personages, direction and expression
A movie about passion and the pains of love, a love story full of surprises
Vincent Cassell in one of his best performances
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,7
Metascore 6,8
Roger Ebert 8,8
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,4
IMDB 7,1
Average critics 7,4
Average public 7,3
Original Title: Mon Roi
Cast: Vincent Cassel, Emmanuelle Bercot, Louis Garrel
Director: Maïwenn
Writers: Etienne Comar (screenplay), Maïwenn (screenplay)
Music by Stephen Warbeck
Cinematography by Claire Mathon
Film Editing by Simon Jacquet
Good personages, dialogues, humor, music, and message
Excellent script and direction
Top gender content and minority representation
Very enjoyable but corrosive movie about discrimination and hypocrisy in a French village not yet touched by the sexual revolution of the sixties but in which sex plays a central role
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 4,0
Metascore —
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience —
IMDB 6,9
TMDB 6,6
Average critics 4,0
Average public 6,8
Original title: La Fiancée du Pirate
Cast: Bernadette Lafont, Georges Géret, Henri Czarniak
Director: Nelly Kaplan
Writers: Nelly Kaplan (story), Claude Makovski (story) | 5 more credits »
Music by Georges Moustaki
Cinematography by Jean Badal
Film Editing by Noëlle Boisson, Nelly Kaplan, Gérard Pollicand
Good script, direction, gender content and message
Excellent personages and minority representation
Top images
A movie that shows, without Hollywood artifacts, the slow transformation of a man who takes advantage of the war to make money on the black market by selling the valuables left behind by the Jews, to become a more conscious and engaged person who, without really wanting to, will go to extreme length to hide 11 Jews from the Nazis.
Nominated for an oscar
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,6
Metascore 7,4
Roger Ebert 6,3
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,8
IMDB 7,3
Average critics 7,1
Average public 7,6
Cast: Robert Wieckiewicz, Benno Fürmann, Agnieszka Grochowska
Director: Agnieszka Holland
Writers: Robert Marshall (book), David F. Shamoon
Music by Antoni Lazarkiewicz
Cinematography by Jolanta Dylewska
Film Editing by Michal Czarnecki
Good dialogues, images, minority presence and expression
Excellent script, personages and direction
Top content
A movie that brings three personages together… The spectator is taken from one to the other, until one realizes that it’s the event itself – unique and powerful, even though extremely sad – that is central to their being and staying together until…
A movie whose mysterious attraction is uncovered slowly, even though we know almost right from the start what it’s all about.
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,3
Metascore 5,7
Roger Ebert 7,5
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 9,0
IMDB 7,3
TMDB 6,7
Average critics 6,8
Average public 7,7
Cast: Dakota Johnson, Casey Affleck, Jason Segel, Isabella Kai, Violet McGraw
Director: Gabriela Cowperthwaite
Writers: Brad Ingelsby
based on the article entitled ‘The Friend’ by Matthew Teague
Music by Rob Simonsen
Cinematography by Joe Anderson
Film Editing by Colin Patton
Gabriela Cowperthwaite has also directed
Good script, direction, images, gender content, message and expression
Excellent personages
Top minority presence
Rocks is the name of a girl in her teens who has to care for her younger brother after their mother suddenly disappears,,, A story about surviving physically but also emotionally; a story about loyalty, loyalty towards family, loyalty towards friends…
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 8,8
Metascore 9,6
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,8
IMDB 7,6
Average critics 9,2
Average public 7,7
Cast: Bukky Bakray, Kosar Ali, D’angelou Osei Kissiedu
Director: Sarah Gavron
Writers: Theresa Ikoko
Music by Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch
Cinematography by Hélène Louvart
Film Editing by Maya Maffioli
Good dialogues, humor, images and music
Excellent personages, direction and minority presence
The story of a friendship, with its complementary motivation and inevitable disappointments
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,9
Metascore 6,9
Roger Ebert 8,8
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 8,0
IMDB 7,3
Average critics 7,5
Average public 7,7
Cast: Don Cheadle, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Bruce McFee
Director: Kasi Lemmons
Writers: Michael Genet, Rick Famuyiwa
Music by Terence Blanchard
Cinematography by Stéphane Fontaine
Film Editing by Terilyn A. Shropshire
Good personages, images, music, gender content and minority representation
Excellent script, direction and expression
Great: the movie gets slowly thicker, and the action picks up in the last half hour or so
Beautiful acting by Rachel Nrosnahan / enjoy the camera during the disco attack
One of the most original thrillers I’ve seen in a long time
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,9
Metascore 6,3
Roger Ebert 8,8
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 6,2
IMDB 6,2
TMDB 5,9
Average critics 7,3
Average public 6,1
Cast: Rachel Brosnahan, Marsha Stephanie Blake, Arinzé Kene
Director: Julia Hart
Writers: Julia Hart, Jordan Horowitz
Music by ASKA
Cinematography by Bryce Fortner
Film Editing by
Shayar Bhansali, Tracey Wadmore-Smith
Also directed by Julia Hart:
Good script, direction, minority representation and expression
Excellent images and music
A delicate intimacy predominates though at times clouded by a forced dramaturgy
Highly appreciated movie by critics and public
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 9,0
Metascore 9,5
Roger Ebert 10,0
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 9,2
IMDB 8,1
TMDB 8,3
Average critics 9,5
Average public 8,5
Cast: Noémie Merlant, Adèle Haenel, Luàna Bajrami
Director: Céline Sciamma
Writer: Céline Sciamma
Music by Jean-Baptiste de Laubier, Arthur Simonini
Cinematography by Claire Mathon
Film Editing by Julien Lacheray
Good personages, dialogues, music, gender content,
minority presence and message
Excellent direction
An 11-year-old girl is caught between the African traditions of her family and the modern-day world, between the childhood that she leaves behind and the unknown of becoming a woman and discovering her sexualized body
Note the enormous discrepancy between public and critics’ score!
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,0
Metascore 6,7
Roger Ebert 10
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 2,4
IMDB 3,0
Average critics 7,9
Average public 2,7
Original title: Mignonnes
Cast: Fathia Youssouf, Médina El Aidi-Azouni, Esther Gohourou
Directors: Maïmouna Doucouré, Denny Shoopman
Writer: Maïmouna Doucouré (screenplay)
Music by Nicolas Nocchi
Cinematography by Yann Maritaud
Film Editing by Stéphane Mazalaigue, Mathilde Van de Moortel
Good personages, dialogues, minority representation, and expression
Excellent direction
Top gender content
A day in the life of a sex worker…
but in the end, it’s not about sex, it’s all about power (Oscar Wilde), for it’s not enough for these men to pay for a woman’s body, they want to possess all of her… Of course, there’s no way they’re going to get anything else than what they paid for, and even if they pay more, as most of them offer, they won’t get more than her body.
A great mix of sex and gender roles…
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,2
Metascore —
Roger Ebert 7,5
Rotten Tomatoes Audience —
IMDB 6,5
TMDB 5,7
Average critics 7,4
Average public 6,1
Cast: Louise Smith, Ellen McElduff, Amanda Goodwin
Director: Lizzie Borden
Writers: Lizzie Borden
Music by David Van Tieghem
Cinematography by Judy Irola
Film Editing by Lizzie Borden
Good music, gender content, minority presence, and expression
Excellent images
Top direction
Among the many secrets an old hacienda holds – it’s not an horror film – a story of love and passion told through the eyes of three generations of girls/women.
Rotten Tomatoes Critics —
Metascore —
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,8
IMDB 6,7
TMDB 4,9
Critics average —
Audience average 6,5
Cast: Doris Wells, Daniela Silverio, Rafael Briceño
Director: Fina Torres
Writers: Antoine Lacomblez, Fina Torres
Music by Eduardo Marturet
Cinematography by Jean-Claude Larrieu
Film Editing by Christiane Lack
Good script, personages, direction and images
Top gender content and message
A world of women in which men are either away at war or drunk.
The story of two girls who have just gone through puberty and are obliged to play their adult female social role without having the possibility of a “coming of age”
A good account of how the rich life of girls is transformed into a life of slavery as they become women, and a good representation of patriarchal rule in all its non-sense
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,2
Metascore 7,2
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,6
IMDB 7,6
Average critics 7,2
Average public 7,6
Cast: Lika Babluani, Mariam Bokeria, Zurab Gogaladze
Directors: Nana Ekvtimishvili, Simon Groß (as Simon Gross)
Writer: Nana Ekvtimishvili
Cinematography by Oleg Mutu
Film Editing by Stefan Stabenow
Good personages, images, music and content
Excellent direction
Hats off to the director for having succeeded in showing a totalitarian society with less than 10 personages and not one word said!
Great costumes and use of objects
By the way, the movie is dated 2013 but it could have very well been filmed today, in our (not yet post) COVID-19 world.
IMDB 6,8
Cast: Viktoría Rós Antonsdóttir, Davið Laufdal Arnarsson, Bryndis Petra Bragadóttir
Director: Ani Simon-Kennedy
Writers: Hrafn Jonsson, Ani Simon-Kennedy, Cailin Yatsko
Music by Hjaltalin
Cinematography by Cailin Yatsko
Film Editing by Perry Blackshear
Good script, personages, images and message
Excellent expression
Top direction
Deconstructing a relationship after a fatal accident / using death to recover life
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,4
Metascore 6,8
Roger Ebert 8,8
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 8,0
IMDB 5,7
Average critics 7,3
Average public 6,9
Cast: Diego Luna, Sienna Miller, Beth Grant
Director: Tara Miele
Writer: Tara Miele
Music by Alex Weston
Cinematography by Carolina Costa
Film Editing by Tamara Meem, Alex O’Flinn
Good script, personages, images, humor, gender content, and expression
Excellent direction
Another version of Bonnie and Clyde in which two individuals who haven’t been emotionally close to anyone before find each other and give meaning to each other’s life
Very good acting
Not a big success: is it because the main male character is impotent? 🙂
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 5,5
Metascore 6,9
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 6,2
IMDB 5,5
TMDB 5,2
Critics average 6,2
Audience average 5,6
Cast: Drew Barrymore, James Le Gros, Robert Greenberg
Director: Tamra Davis
Writer: Matthew Bright
Music by Ed Tomney
Cinematography by Lisa Rinzler
Film Editing by Kevin Tent
Good direction, images, gender content, minority presence and message
Excellent music and expression
The situations in which this young and once beautiful but now monstrous looking woman has to go through every day are so awful that you really wonder where she gets the strength to survive.
But what makes the story even more painful (!!!) is the stupidity of the world around her, of her world… At the end of the day, it might just be this hopeless stupidity that makes her unbreakable
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,4
Metascore 7,5
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 6,2
IMDB 6,4
Average critics 7,5
Average public 6,3
Cast: Vicky Knight, Katherine Kelly, Eliza Brady-Girard
Director: Sacha Polak
Writers: Sacha Polak, Susie Farrell
Music by Rutger Reinders
Cinematography by Ruben Impens
Film Editing by Sander Vos
Good personages, images and gender content
Excellent direction and music
Using a nuclear plant as background provides added tension and insecurity to a love story that is born out of the attraction between two bodies
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,5
Metascore 7,3
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 6,4
IMDB 6,2
Average critics 6,9
Average public 6,3
Cast: Tahar Rahim, Léa Seydoux, Olivier Gourmet
Director: Rebecca Zlotowski
Writers: Gaëlle Macé, Rebecca Zlotowski |
Music by Robin Coudert
Cinematography by Georges Lechaptois
Film Editing by Julien Lacheray
Good personages, direction, images and music
Excellent dialogues, gender content, minority presence and emotional charge
Some far-fetched twists take the attention away from a beautiful story.
IMDB 5,9
Cast: Zoe Ventoura, Kayla Radomski, Cale Ferrin
Director: Nicole Conn
Writer: Nicole Conn
Music by Nami Melumad
Cinematography by Seth Wessel-Estes
Film Editing by Nicole Conn, David C. Eichhorn
Good script and direction
Excellent personages, minority representation and message
Strong acting, elliptic end
IMDB 6,5
TMDB 6,1
Original title: La Fête est Finie
Cast: Zita Hanrot, Clémence Boisnard, Marie Denarnaud
Director: Marie Garel-Weiss
Writers: Marie Garel-Weiss, Salvatore Lista
Music by Pierre Allio, Ferdinand Berville
Cinematography by Samuel Lahu
Film Editing by Guerric Catala, Riwanon Le Beller
Good script, personages, dialogues, direction, gender content and minority presence
Excellent message
A movie that penetrates you slowly while it builds its personages up thoroughly
A coming of age story that reaches deeper and goes further because it avoids superficiality and cliches
A movie that shows that intimacy is not a consequence of sex but of knowing each other
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,1
Metascore —
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,0
IMDB 6,3
Average critics 6,1
Average public 6,7
Cast: Tatiana Maslany, Spencer Van Wyck, Steven McCarthy
Director: Kate Melville
Writer: Kate Melville
Cinematography by Celiana Cárdenas
Film Editing by Dev Singh
Good direction, images, music, message and expression
Excellent personages and gender content
A boy and a girl are attracted to each other but do not know how to get closer
Besides, the movie shows with much nuances how difficult it is to be a teenager, when you don’t know who you are, what you want, and you are just as unsure of the others as you are of yourself
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,2
Metascore 6,8
Roger Ebert 7,5
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 6,4
IMDB 6,2
Average critics 6,8
Average public 6,3
Cast: Emma Roberts, James Franco, Jack Kilmer
Director: Gia Coppola
Writers: Gia Coppola, James Franco (book)
Music by Devonté Hynes, Robert Schwartzman
Cinematography by Autumn Durald
Film Editing by Leo Scott
Good personages, direction, music, diversity and message
Excellent gender content
An ironic view on the world of writers (the successful ones and the others) in New York
At times a bit compelled (isn’t that inherent to irony?) but lots of surprising moments
IMDB 6,0
Cast: Wyatt Cenac, Greta Lee, Maria Dizzia
Director: Laura Terruso
Writer: Laura Terruso
Music by Jay Israelson
Cinematography by Benjamin Rutkowski
Film Editing by Robert Grigsby Wilson
Good script, personages, dialogues and music
Excellent direction
Fascinating movie, although I can’t really put the finger on why I couldn’t stop watching… Maybe it’s just because, as it is said in the end, it suggests expectations that you better not have, but that you should never losing hope.
Nice musical score
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 4,8
Metascore 4,4
Roger Ebert 5,0
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 4,8
IMDB 4,6
Average critics 4,7
Average public 4,7
Cast: Natalie Portman, Lily-Rose Depp, Emmanuel Salinger
Director: Rebecca Zlotowski
Writers: Rebecca Zlotowski, Robin Campillo
Music by Robin Coudert
Cinematography by Georges Lechaptois
Film Editing by Julien Lacheray
Good personages, dialogues, direction, gender content, message, and expression
Excellent script
An interesting game of mirrors with one woman having to choose between two men on the one hand, and one man having to choose between two women on the other hand, all of it taking place in the same space and within a couple of days.
Fine acting by Natasha Little
Rotten Tomatoes Critics —
Metascore —
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience —
IMDB 5,7
TMDB 6,0
Average critics —
Average public 5,9
Cast: Natasha Little, Rupert Penry-Jones, Rachel Blanchard
Director: Joan Carr-Wiggin
Writer: Joan Carr-Wiggin
Music by Kenneth Harrison
Cinematography by Bruce Worrall
Also by directed by Joan Carr-Wiggin
Good personages, humor and gender contentAfter one hour, you wonder what is still to be said in the second hour of the movie, but surprise, it gives you the best part, bringing the personages and their relationship closer
Some insipid songs make the score most annoying
A movie that has been well liked by the public, but not so by critics
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,1
Metascore 5,5
Roger Ebert 0,0
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 8,8
IMDB 7,5
Average critics 3,9
Average public 8,2
Cast: Priyanka Chopra, Farhan Akhtar, Zaira Wasim
Director: Shonali Bose
Writers: Shonali Bose, Juhi Chaturvedi (hindi dialogue) | 1 more credit »
Music by Mikey McCleary
Cinematography by Andrew Alderslade, Nick Cooke, Kartik Vijay
Film Editing by Manas Mittal
Good dialogues, humor and message
Excellent script, direction and expression
Top images, music and gender content
Because the system takes the side of the perpetrator, she decides to take justice into her own hands…
A brilliant construct… will probably become a classic
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 8,0
Metascore 7,2
Roger Ebert 7,5
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 8,6
IMDB 7,5
Average critics 7,6
Average public 8,1
Cast: Carey Mulligan, Bo Burnham, Alison Brie
Director: Emerald Fennell
Writer: Emerald Fennell
Music by Anthony Willis
Cinematography by Benjamin Kracun .
Film Editing by Frédéric Thoraval
Good script, direction, gender content, and message
Top minority presence
Good first feature about an 18-year-old girl who has to chose between caring for her father (a veteran with PTSD) and a life of her own
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,7
Metascore 7,9
Roger Ebert 8,8
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,6
IMDB 6,6
TMDB 5,6
Average critics 8,1
Average public 6,6
Cast: Camila Morrone, James Badge Dale, Calvin Demba
Director: Annabelle Attanasio
Writer: Annabelle Attanasio
Music by Angel Deradoorian, Brian McOmber
Cinematography by Conor Murphy
Film Editing by Henry Hayes
Weak script
Excellent minority representation
A movie with everyone saying they are sorry, and not much more to say…
Minorities are well represented: Down syndrome, racial diversity
Cast: Skyler Samuels, Martin Sensmeier, Cole Sibus
Director: Jenica Bergere
Writer: Laura Greenman Heine
Music by Danielle Brisebois, Nick Lashley
Cinematography by Alan Caudillo
Film Editing by René Besson
Weak script
Good humor
Some surprising moments but a story whose main goal is to put Gene Wilder in the limelight
IMDB 6,5
Cast: Gene Wilder, Mike Starr, Terry O’Quinn
Director: Joyce Chopra
Writers: Gilbert Pearlman, Gene Wilder
Music by John Morris
Cinematography by Bruce Surtees
Film Editing by Peter C. Frank
Good humor, music and message
Excellent script and images
Top direction and gender content
Laura Dern is magnetic here as a 15-year old girl who wants to discover love, sex and boys, and who tries her best to keep what she provokes under control… a story that so many girls go through.
Towards the end, there’s a 23-minute long scene (23 minutes !!!) in which an older and experienced man (Treat Williams) tries to convince Connie (Laura Dern) to let him be her first lover … And it’s not only about what is said but also what emanates from their bodies… Hypnotic!
A movie with imperfections (uneven personages and dialogues), but exceptional in many ways
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,6
Metascore 7,4
Roger Ebert 8,8
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 6,2
IMDB 6,2
Average critics 7,6
Average public 6,2
Cast Laura Dern, Treat Williams, Mary Kay Place, Elizabeth Berridge, Levon Helm
Directed by Joyce Chopra
Story by Joyce Carol Oates, screenplay by Tom Cole
Music by James Taylor
Edited by Patrick Dodd
Photographed by James Glennon
Great script and images
Excellent dialogues, personages and direction
Top gender content
A movie announcing three of Catherine Breillat’s favorite themes: women’s sexuality; lies and sex; age and sex.
In her urge to discover sex, a 14-year-old girl provoques the world around her while going through unbearable frustrations, not knowing how to deal with her desires… until she gets to the “other side” and finally loses her virginity.
Not a ‘pleasant’ movies (the dialogues!) but a powerful one!
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,1
Metascore —
Roger Ebert 8,8
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 6,6
IMDB 6,0
Average critics 8,0
Average public 6,3
Cast: Delphine Zentout, Jean-Pierre Leaud, Etienne Chicot, Diane Bellego, Jean-Francois Stevenin, Olivier Parniere
Written and directed by Catherine Breillat
Music by Jean Minondo
Photographed by Laurent Dailland
Edited by Yann Dedet
Good images and music
Top gender content
Even though the age difference between the two lovers, they build a regular relationship that tries to find its cruising speed but that ends up limiting instead of empowering the other
The camera gives you time to see, and even stops to give you time to listen, especially the poignant Scottish lied by Beethoven (The Lovely Lass of Inverness)
IMDB 6,3
Original title: Parfait Amour
Cast: Isabelle Renauld, Francis Renaud, Laura Saglio
Director: Catherine Breillat
Writer: Catherine Breillat
Cinematography by Laurent Dailland
Film Editing by Agnès Guillemot
Good direction
Great personages
Top gender content
Just as in 36 Fillette, we follow a not-even-sixteen-year-old girl and her still younger sister as they have their first sexual experience that ends up unexpectedly
A movie with the usual Catherine Breillat themes – female sexuality, age differences, virginity – in which everyone is lying to seduce someone else
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,4
Metascore 7,7
Roger Ebert 8,8
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,0
IMDB 6,5
Average critics 7,6
Average public 6,8
Original title: A Ma Soeur
Cast: Anaïs Reboux, Roxane Mesquida, Libero De Rienzo
Director: Catherine Breillat
Writer: Catherine Breillat
Cinematography by Giorgos Arvanitis
Film Editing by Pascale Chavance
Great script, gender content and message
Excellent personages, dialogues, direction and images
A movie with some of Catherine Breillat’s favorite themes: female sexuality; lies and sex; age and sex
“On a ship we are above the law” says the young Thomas. It perfectly illustrates this brief encounter between a woman around 30 and a 16 year-old boy as they cross the Channel / him by pretending to be older and saying that she’s his mother to get drinks from the bar / her by pretending that she’s single to catch this minor into her nets
The story of a boy who doesn’t know who he can be in front of this experienced and provocative woman / the story of a woman who can be anything she wants in front of this ‘untouched’ boy
Despite her feminist discourse, the woman acts like a femme fatale, (beautifully) playing all the tricks she knows to catch her prey… But she honestly warns us: sex is a game of power, and there’s no room in it for tenderness…
Rotten Tomatoes Critics —
Metascore —
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 8,6
IMDB 6,8
Average critics —
Average public 7,7
Original title: Brève Traversée
Cast: Sarah Pratt, Gilles Guillain, Marc Filip
Director: Catherine Breillat
Writer: Catherine Breillat
Music by Patrick Chevalier, D’Julz, Marc Filipi
Cinematography by Eric Gautier
Film Editing by Pascale Chavance
Great direction
A movie about love and passion and how one can feel passion for someone and
love for someone else
However, according to Catherine Breillat, sexual passion wins in the long run.
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,7
Metascore 7,8
Roger Ebert 8,8
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 6,8
IMDB 6,2
Average critics 7,8
Average public 6,5
Original title: Une Vieille Maitresse
Cast: Asia Argento, Fu’ad Ait Aattou, Roxane Mesquida, Claude Sarraute, Yolande Moreau, Michael Lonsdale, Anne Parillaud
Written and directed: Catherine Breillat
Based on the novel by Barbey D’Aurevilly
Good personages, direction, images and minority presence
Excellent message
The story of a passionate and idealist teen jihadist who suddenly realizes her ideals were misplaced
Nora El Koussour has a good screen presence
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,6
Metascore —
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,8
IMDB 6,7
Average critics 7,6
Average public 7,3
Cast: Nora El Koussour, Ilias Addab, Hassan Akkouch
Director: Mijke de Jong
Writers: Jan Eilander, Mijke de Jong
Music by Can Erdogan
Cinematography by Danny Elsen
Film Editing by Dorith Vinken
Good script, personages, dialogues, direction and gender content
Documentary-like movie that follows a woman who is dying of cancer and gets frailer and frailer while surrounded by her (female) friends.
A touch of cinema-vérité certainly not to the taste of everyone although everything is filmed ‘smoothly’
IMDB 7,0
Original title: Brozer
Cast: Marnie Blok, Lieneke le Roux, Leonoor Pauw
Director: Mijke de Jong
Writers: Jolein Laarman
Music by Rutger Reinders
Cinematography by Ton Peters
Film Editing by Dorith Vinken
Good humor, direction, images, gender content, and minority presence
A feminist version of a spaghetti western (inclusive a score à la Ennio Morricone) transposed in the landscape of the Sumbese Kampung (Indonesia)
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,8
Metascore 7,7
Roger Ebert 7,5
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,8
IMDB 7,0
Average critics 7,7
Average public 7,4
Cast: Marsha Timothy, Yoga Pratama, Dea Panendra, Egy Fedly, Haydar Salishz
Director: Mouly Surya
Writer: Rama Adi, Garin Nugroho, Mouly Surya
Music by Yudhi Arfani , Zeke Khaseli
Cinematography by Yunus Pasolang
Film Editing by Kelvin Nugroho
Good personages, direction, images and content
An Argentinian celebrity comes to New-York to get rid of what made him famous in his country, only to find NY and its anonimity too difficult to survive
An existantialist movie in which nobody’s watching… but everyone is a mirror
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,4
Metascore 7,9
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,2
IMDB 6,6
Average critics 4,8
Average public 6,9
Cast: Guillermo Pfening, Rafael Ferro, Paola Baldion
Director: Julia Solomonoff
Writers: Christina Lazaridi, Julia Solomonoff
Music by Sacha Amback, Pablo Mondragón
Cinematography by Lucio Bonelli
Film Editing by Pablo Barbieri Carrera, Karen Sztajnberg, Andrés Tambornino
Good script, personages, direction and images
Growing up in pre-revolutionary Iran
IMDB 7,7
Original title: Nafas
Cast: Mehran Ahmadi, Pantea Panahiha, Sareh Nour Mousavi
Director: Narges Abyar
Writer: Narges Abyar
Music by Masoud Sekhavat Doust
Cinematography by Saed Nikzat
Film Editing by Sajjad Pahlavanzadeh
Good script, personages, direction and images
A very worthy first feature!
The Indian title means “Zero Divided by Zero Equals Nothing” … which would have beem much too difficult for Western audiences 🙂
Music at times too intrusive and childish: just like too many cooks spoil the broth, too many musicians handling the music spoil the score
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,5
Metascore —
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 8,0
IMDB 8,4
Average critics 6,5
Average public 8,2
Original title: Nil Battey Sannata
Cast: Swara Bhaskar, Ratna Pathak Shah, Riya Shukla
Director: Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari
Writers: Nitesh Tiwari, Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari
Music by Naren Chandavarkar, Rohan-Vinayak
Mmusic composed by Vinayak Salvi, Rohan Utpat
Cinematography by Gavemic U. Ary
Film Editing by Chandrashekhar Prajapati
A nice romance but a slice of life that could have gone deeper into the personages
The direction has to mature… and the musical score as well
Hopefully in her next movie…
IMDB 6,9
Cast: Alexandra Swarens, Olivia Buckle, Joseph Miller
Director: Alexandra Swarens
Writer: Alexandra Swarens
Cinematography by Cory Xenos
Film Editing by Cory Xenos
It is only very recently that we became conscious of the fact that older people too have a love and a sex life! It is certainly interesting to see more of it on the screen… However, not much else to get excited about this movie
IMDB 6,2
Original title: Oude Liefde
Cast: Hadewych Minis, Halina Reijn, Gene Bervoets
Director: Nicole van Kilsdonk
Writer: Peer Wittenbols
Music by Joris Oonk, Chrisnanne Wiegel
Cinematography by Gregg Telussa
Film Editing by Wouter Jansen
Weak script and message
Average actors except for Barry / Joe Barbagallo (bad personage / badly acted)
For those allergic, warning: hidden religious message
IMDB 4,6
Cast: Patrick Zeller, Faleena Hopkins, Frances Mitchell
Director: Faleena Hopkins
Writer: Faleena Hopkins
Music by Rene Osmanczyk, David Yousefi
Cinematography by Collin Brazie
Film Editing by Faleena Hopkins
Good personages, dialogues, music, gender content and message
Top minority representation
Thanks to its actors and actresses, from this movie emanates purity, transparency and simplicity
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,8
Metascore 7,0
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,6
IMDB 7,0
Average critics 6,9
Average public 7,3
Cast: Gabrielle Marion-Rivard, Alexandre Landry, Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin
Director: Louise Archambault
Writer: Louise Archambault
Music by François Lafontaine
Cinematography by Mathieu Laverdière
Film Editing by Richard Comeau
Good personages, humor, images and music
Excellent script, dialogues and gender content
Top direction
As often before, Kathryn Bigelow has made a sober film of dramatic events that could have givem way to much more exuberance in emotional situations as in historical perspective(s)
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 8,6
Metascore 9,5
Roger Ebert 7,5
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 8,0
IMDB 7,4
Average critics 8,5
Average public 7,7
Cast: Jessica Chastain, Joel Edgerton, Chris Pratt
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Writer: Mark Boal
Music by Alexandre Desplat
Cinematography by Greig Fraser
Film Editing by William Goldenberg, Dylan Tichenor
Good dialogues, music and minorities presence
Excellent script, personages, direction, images,
gender content and message
The complex story of two sisters (14 and 10) who have put their father on a pedestal and cannot accept the fact that he is but just a man.
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,5
Metascore 7,8
Roger Ebert 10,0
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 8,6
IMDB 7,3
Average critics 8,4
Average public 8,0
Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Jurnee Smollett, Meagan Good
Director: Kasi Lemmons
Writer: Kasi Lemmons
Music by Terence Blanchard
Cinematography by Amy Vincent
Film Editing by Terilyn A. Shropshire
Good script, personages, dialogues and music
Excellent direction
Fascinating movie, although I can’t really put the finger on why I couldn’t stop watching… Maybe it’s just because, as it is said in the end, it suggests expectations that you better not have, but that you should never losing hope.
Nice musical score
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 4,8
Metascore 4,4
Roger Ebert 5,0
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 4,8
IMDB 4,6
Average critics 4,7
Average public 4,7
Cast: Natalie Portman, Lily-Rose Depp, Emmanuel Salinger
Director: Rebecca Zlotowski
Writers: Rebecca Zlotowski, Robin Campillo
Music by Robin Coudert
Cinematography by Georges Lechaptois
Film Editing by Julien Lacheray
Good script, images and gender content
Excellent personages, dialogues and direction
Top message
The movie follows a 9-year-old girl (extraordinarily acted by Helena Zengel who knows how to continuously surprise the viewer) who has suffered such heavy traumas at a younger age that no one can handle her… A girl who is not responsible but who will pay all her life for the trauma of her youth (probably due to the ‘inadequacies’ of her mother).
Don’t be deceived by her angelic face, she’s extremely dangerous. But if you expect an horror movie, you’ll be disappointed: it’s much worse because so much more real.
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,7
Metascore 9,0
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience —
IMDB 7,8
Average critics 8,4
Average public 7,8
Original title: Systemsprenger
Cast: Helena Zengel, Albrecht Schuch, Gabriela Maria Schmeide
Director: Nora Fingscheidt
Writer: Nora Fingscheidt
Music by John Gürtler
Cinematography by Yunus Roy Imer
Film Editing by Stephan Bechinger, Julia Kovalenko
Good script and images
Excellent personages, direction, music and message
Top humor and gender content
A classic jail break + pursuit story… of four female detainees who accumulates surprise after surprise!
First of all, there are only 2 male roles: a cop and an hostage. The cop thinks and acts as a man to whom things are due and that no one can resist. The hostage is attractive (that’s why he’s taken hostage, of course) and can be used for sex. He enjoys the female attention he gets until the women get tired of him and let him lose. He becomes angry, because, just like the cop, he thought he had everything under control 🙂
But this movie goes further and beyond these simple gender stereotypes, for it shows how differently these female escapees think and react from the way men react in the classic jail escape and pursuit movies. A real treat!
Besides a wink to Godard, I also had to think of Sergio Leone but you would have then to replace “the good, the bad, and the ugly” by “the hysterical, the nun, the mother, and the whore”. Enjoy!
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,0
Metascore 5,3
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 8,2
IMDB 6,5
Average critics 6,2
Average public 7,4
Cast: Katja Riemann, Jasmin Tabatabai, Nicolette Krebitz
Director: Katja von Garnier
Writers: Uwe Wilhelm, Katja von Garnier
Music by Udo Arndt, Volker Griepenstroh, Peter Weihe
Cinematography by Torsten Breuer
Film Editing by Hans Funck
Good message
Excellent script, personages, direction and gender content
Top music
A very simple story: her children being grown-ups, a woman in her fifties decides to stop playing the various roles her family (and society) imposes on her (mother, daughter, wife, sister…), and decides to leave her family for no other reason than wanting to be on her own.
Intelligent direction and exceptional (Georgian) music
Rotten Tomatoes Critics —
Metascore 8,6
Roger Ebert 10,0
Rotten Tomatoes Audience —
IMDB 7,4
Average critics 9,3
Average public 7,4
Original title: Chemi Bednieri Ojakhi
Cast: Ia Shugliashvili, Merab Ninidze, Berta Khapava, Tsisia Qumsashvili
Director: Nana Ekvtimishvili, Simon Groß
Writer: Nana Ekvtimishvili
Cinematographer: Tudor Vladimir Panduru
Editor: Stefan Stabenow
Good humor, music and message
Excellent script and images
Top direction and gender content
Laura Dern is really magnetic as a 15-year old girl who wants to discover love, sex and boys, and who tries her best to keep what she provokes under control… a story that so many girls go through.
Towards the end, there’s a 23-minute long scene (23 minutes !!!) in which an older and experienced man (Treat Williams) tries to convince Connie (Laura Dern) to let him be her first lover … And it’s not only about what is said but also what emanates from their bodies… Hypnotic!
A movie with imperfections (uneven personages and dialogues), but exceptional in many ways
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,6
Metascore 7,4
Roger Ebert 8,8
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 6,2
IMDB 6,2
Average critics 7,6
Average public 6,2
Cast Laura Dern, Treat Williams, Mary Kay Place, Elizabeth Berridge, Levon Helm
Story by Joyce Carol Oates
Directed by Joyce Chopra
Screenplay by Tom Cole
Based On Tom Cole
Music by James Taylor
Edited by Patrick Dodd
Photographed by James Glennon
Excellent script, personages, dialogues, direction and images
Top gender content, minority presence and message
A movie that shows the gender divide in a Bedouin village where men “have to” obey the rules and codes of honor that they have themselves elaborated and that deprive them of any possible empathy on one side, and women on the other side, emphatic but enslaved, who have to obey the rules imposed on them and are deprived of all weapons that could help them fight back
A movie that shows the absurdity of patriarchy, here set in the Bedouin culture but that can be found in most contexts dominated by the religions of the Book, whatever which ‘Book’ it is.
Excellent acting by Rub Blal.
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,2
Metascore 7,4
Roger Ebert 6,3
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,6
IMDB 6,8
Average critics 7,0
Average public 7,2
Cast: Lamis Ammar, Ruba Blal, Hitham Omari
Director: Elite Zexer
Writer: Elite Zexer (screenplay)
Music by Ran Bagno
Cinematography by Shai Peleg
Film Editing by Ronit Porat
Good dialogues, music and gender content
Excellent script, personages, images and message
Top direction
A boy in his late teen kills himself without leaving a note. His mother loses a son, his sister a brother, but as she once says, they both lost much more than a son/brother.. A powerful movie that shows without any superficiality how grieving is such a personal process
IMDB 7,2
Original title: Im Winter ein Jahr
Cast: Karoline Herfurth, Josef Bierbichler, Corinna Harfouch
Director: Caroline Link
Writers: Caroline Link (screenplay), Scott Campbell (novel)
Music by Niki Reiser
Cinematography by Bella Halben
Film Editing by Patricia Rommel
Good script, personages, direction, images and message
Excellent dialogues
Top gender content
Good TV movie, with a surprising musical choice
Rotten Tomatoes Critics —
Metascore —
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 6,4
IMDB 7,5
Average critics —
Average public 7,0
Cast: Hilary Swank, Margo Martindale, Anjelica Huston
Director: Katja von Garnier
Writers: Jennifer Friedes (story), Sally Robinson (teleplay)
Music by Reinhold Heil, Johnny Klimek
Cinematography by Robbie Greenberg
Film Editing by Hans Funck
Good dialogues, humor, images and music
Excellent script, personages and direction
Top gender content, minority presence and message
Miss World competition, London 1970
The movie brings the organizers, the participants, and the protesters together, without neglecting some of the complexities of the time (apartheid, sexism…)
A historical piece of the ‘women’s lib’ era (second wave), its universal connotations having not lost its implications for us today
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,5
Metascore —
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 6,8
IMDB 6,0
Average critics 6,5
Average public 6,4
Cast: Keira Knightley, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Jessie Buckley
Director: Philippa Lowthorpe
Writers: Rebecca Frayn (story written by), Rebecca Frayn | 1 more credit »
Music by Dickon Hinchliffe
Cinematography by Zac Nicholson
Film Editing by Úna Ní Dhonghaíle
Great personages, dialogues and message
Excellent script, direction and images
Top gender content and minority presence
A movie that brings together personages with different physical disabilities, coming from antagonistic backgrounds and religions, and with sexualities diverging from the norm, in a true and poignant story
Extraordinary acting by Kalki Koechlin who can express so much and so clearly with her face and her body!
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,1
Metascore 6,3
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 8,0
IMDB 7,2
Average critics 6,7
Average public 7,6
Cast: Kalki Koechlin, Revathi, Sayani Gupta
Directors: Shonali Bose, Nilesh Maniyar (co-director)
Writers: Shonali Bose, Atika Chohan
Music by Mikey McCleary
Cinematography by Anne Misawa
Film Editing by Monisha R Baldawa, Bob Brooks, Saksham Verma
Great humor and images
Excellent dialogues and direction
Top gender content
How to lose yourself… and find yourself again… and lose yourself again… You know the feeling? A very original coming-of-age movie… Enjoy!
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,5
Metascore 7,0
Roger Ebert 6,3
Rotten Tomatoes Audience —
IMDB 5,4
Average critics 6,6
Average public 5,4
Cast: Beanie Feldstein, Emma Thompson, Alfie Allen, Paddy Considine, Sarah Solemani, Laurie Kynaston, Lucy Punch
Director: Coky Giedroyc
Writer: Caitlin Moran
Cinematographer: Hubert Taczanowski
Editor: Gareth C. Scales
Composer: Oli Julian
Good personages, dialogues, music and message
Excellent script and images
Top direction and gender content
Beautiful but painful movie in which a man and a woman share their deepest secrets. Sharing brings them a form of redemption, an opening to escape the past, and a possible future. An unforgettable movie!
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,2
Metascore 6,8
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 8,2
IMDB 7,5
Average critics 4,3
Average public 7,9
Cast: Sarah Polley, Tim Robbins, Sverre Anker Ousdal
Director: Isabel Coixet
Writer: Isabel Coixet
Cinematography by Jean-Claude Larrieu
Film Editing by Irene Blecua
Great personages, images, music, minority presence and message
Excellent script, direction and gender content
A movie that shows you how the past cannot be untangled.
Moving without any false note, leaves you wandering what if it had happened to you… for even if it was another time, it’s still happening at this very moment somewhere in the world
IMDB 7,3
Original title: Északi fény
Cast: Mari Töröcsik, Ildikó Tóth, Franciska Töröcsik
Director: Márta Mészáros
Writers: Zoltán Jancsó, Márta Mészáros
Cinematography by Piotr Sobocinski Jr.
Film Editing by Annamaria Szanto
Good script and minority representation
Excellent dialogues, images, music and gender content
Top direction
Fine and clever direction that emphasizes, among other things, the extremely narrow limits within which women and men of the time and of this social class had to behave, creating thus an extremely codified society
A real Jane Austen treat!
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,3
Metascore 7,1
Roger Ebert 8,8
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,8
IMDB 6,8
Average critics 7,7
Average public 7,3
Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Johnny Flynn, Bill Nighy, Mia Goth, Josh O’Connor, Callum Turner, Rupert Graves, Miranda Hart
Director: Autumn de Wilde
Based on the novel by Jane Austen
Writer: Eleanor Catton
Cinematographer: Christopher Blauvelt
Editor: Nick Emerson
Composer: David Schweitzer, Isobel Waller-Bridge
Good dialogues, music and gender content
Excellent script, personages, images and message
Top direction and minority presence
A movie about people who do not belong to where they are
A movie with one of the weirdest ending that gives its message a definitive perspective
“a film of infinite delicacy” [Roger Ebert]
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,1
Metascore —
Roger Ebert 10,0
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,1
IMDB 7,3
Average critics 8,6
Average public 7,2
Cast: Isaach De Bankole, Giulia Boschi, Francois Cluzet, Jean-Claude Adelin
Directed by Claire Denis
Written by Claire Denis, Jean-Pol Fargeau
Photographed by Robert Alazraki
Edited by Claude Merlin
Music by Abdullah Ibrahim
Great script, personages, images and message
Excellent direction
Top gender content
A movie about a 17-years-old young girl who has to deal with a pregnancy that wasn’t planned and that she doesn’t want
A movie about girl power, without much glamour, just girls doing what has to be done
A quiet but intense movie
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 8,6
Metascore 9,2
Roger Ebert 8,8
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 6,8
IMDB 7,2
Average critics 8,9
Average public 7,0
Cast: Sidney Flanigan, Talia Ryder, Théodore Pellerin
Director: Eliza Hittman
Writer: Eliza Hittman
Cinematographer: Hélène Louvart
Editor: Scott Cummings
Composer: Julia Holter
Good script, personages, humor, music
Excellent dialogues and images
Top direction, minority presence and message
One of the best movie against death penalty, if only because it’s not about guilt but about compassion
A very ‘mature’ direction for a second (almost first) feature
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,7
Metascore 7,7
Roger Ebert 10,0
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,0
IMDB 6,6
Average critics 8,5
Average public 6,8
Cast: Alfre Woodard, Wendell Pierce, Aldis Hodge, Richard Schiff
Director: Chinonye Chukwu
Writer: Chinonye Chukwu
Cinematographer: Eric Branco
Editor: Phyllis Housen
Composer: Kathryn Bostic
Good script, images, music and minority representation
Excellent personages, dialogues, direction and message
Top gender content
You may think it will be just another movie about a Muslim girl who is stuck between the traditions of her family and the Western mores in which she has grown up. But the script will surprise you…
A movie that (once again) shows that men are the guardians of the traditions while women move ahead – quite understandably when you think that most religions and honor codes were developed by and are in the hands of men…
I especially liked the focus on Hala: although she doesn’t say much, you are with her every step of the way
A very good movie about integration
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,6
Metascore 7,5
Roger Ebert 7,5
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 6,2
IMDB 5,7
Average critics 7,5
Average public 6,0
Cast: Geraldine Viswanathan, Jack Kilmer, Gabriel Luna, Purbi Joshi, Hatta Azad Khan, Anna Chlumsky
Director: Minhal Baig
Writer: Minhal Baig
Director of Photography: Carolina Costa
Original Music Composer: Mandy Hoffman
Good humor, images, music and message
Excellent personages, dialogues and minority presence
Top script, direction and gender content
A very intelligent (and subversive) story in which a psychiatrist is asked to evaluate three women who have committed a murder without any reason and who refuse any attempt to reduce their ‘culpability’…
IMDB 6,4
Original title: De stilte rond Christine M…
Cast: Edda Barends, Nelly Frijda, Henriëtte Tol
Director: Marleen Gorris
Writer: Marleen Gorris
Music by Lodewijk de Boer, Martijn Hasebos
Cinematography by Frans Bromet
Film Editing by Hans van Dongen
Good dialogues, music and minority representation
Excellent gender content and message
Top direction and images
The perfect photography and editing, and the use of color make every new plan a surprise!
A woman who tries to survive being rejected by her first love
Great performance by Laetitia Dosch
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,7
Metascore 7,6
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 6,6
IMDB 6,5
Average critics 7,7
Average public 6,6
Original title: Jeune Femme
Cast: Laetitia Dosch, Souleymane Seye Ndiaye, Grégoire Monsaingeon
Director: Léonor Serraille
Writers: Léonor Serraille, Clémence Carré, Bastien Daret
Music by Julie Roué
Cinematography by Émilie Noblet
Film Editing by Clémence Carré
Good dialogues and music
Excellent script, personages, direction, images, gender content and message
The story of the March sisters with sharpened edges, especially in relationship to women’s financial independence
A ‘long’ feature (more than 2 hours) that allows a good buildup of strong relationships between the personages
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 8,6
Metascore 9,1
Roger Ebert 10,0
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 9,0
IMDB 8,2
Average critics 9,2
Average public 8,6
Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen, Laura Dern, Meryl Streep, Timothée Chalamet, James Norton, Louis Garrel
Director: Greta Gerwig
Writer: Greta Gerwig, based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott
Cinematographer: Yorick Le Saux
Editor: Nick Houy
Composer: Alexandre Desplat
Good script and gender content
Excellent dialogues, humor, images, music
Top personages, direction
Agnes Jaoui’s most accomplished film with a host of strong and entertaining characters defined by pungent dialogues and brought together by a scenario structured around the three unities of the classical tragedy (action, place, time)
Smart (diegetic) use of music
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,0
Metascore —
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 6,2
IMDB 5,9
Average critics 6,0
Average public 6,1
Cast: Agnès Jaoui, Jean-Pierre Bacri, Léa Drucker
Director: Agnès Jaoui
Writers: Jean-Pierre Bacri, Agnès Jaoui
Music by Fernando Fiszbein
Cinematography by Yves Angelo
Film Editing by Annette Dutertre
Good images, gender content and minority presence
Excellent script, personages, dialogues and direction
Top music
Agnes Jaoui’s characters remind me of bumper cars: they change direction every time they run into someone!
As in her first feature, Jaoui manages to stage successive repressed relational situations without sinking into heaviness
Excellent musical score perfectly integrated!
“The thing about a movie like this is, the characters may be French, but they’re more like people I know than they could ever be in the Hollywood remake.” [Roger Ebert]
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,6
Metascore 7,9
Roger Ebert 8,8
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,2
IMDB 6,8
Average critics 8,1
Average public 7,0
Original title: Comme une image
Cast: Marilou Berry, Agnes Jaoui, Jean-Pierre Bacri, Laurent Grevill, Virginie Desarnauts
Directed by Agnès Jaoui
Written by Agnes Jaoui, Jean-Pierre Bacri
Music by Philippe Rombi
Cinematography by Stéphane Fontaine
Film Editing by François Gédigier
Good personages, humor, direction and images
Excellent script
An excellent script in which all aspects, even the most insignificant ones, play their role
Good performances
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 5,4
Metascore —
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 8,0
IMDB 7,2
Average critics 5,4
Average public 7,6
Cast: Oscar Martínez, Inma Cuesta, Mafalda Carbonell
Director: Maria Ripoll
Writer: María Mínguez
Music by Arnau Bataller
Cinematography by Núria Roldos
Film Editing by Nacho Ruiz Capillas
Weak dialogues, humor, direction and content
Terrible script
Could have been part of Dogme 95 with its (beautiful) expresssionist images, natural light, and diegetic music
But the long and empty takes, the absence of action, the fact that personages speak but do not talk to each other take their toll
IMDB 7,1
Original title: Plätze in Städten
Cast: Sophie Aigner, Vincent Branchet, Katharina Eckerfeld
Director: Angela Schanelec
Writer: Angela Schanelec
Cinematography by Reinhold Vorschneider
Film Editing by Bettina Böhler, Angela Schanelec
A good vehicle for the lead personage played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson (husband of director), a rebellious and unpredictable character in a that does not deliver on its promises…
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 5,0
Metascore 4,5
Roger Ebert 3,8
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 6,1
IMDB 6,1
Average critics 4,4
Average public 6,1
Cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Billy Bob Thornton, Odessa Young, Giovanni Ribisi
Director: Sam Taylor-Johnson
Screenplay: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Sam Taylor-Johnson
Author: James Frey
Director of Photography: Jeff Cronenweth
Editor: Martin Pensa
Good personages, dialogues, direction and music (8)
Excellent script (9)
A good movie on the ‘formative’ years of John Lennon in Liverpool
Strong acting, especially the two mothers
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,9
Metascore 6,7
Roger Ebert 8,8
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,4
IMDB 7,1
Average critics 7,5
Average public 7,3
Cast: Aaron Johnson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Anne-Marie Duff, David Threlfall, Thomas Brodie Sangster
Written by Matt Greenhalgh
Directed by Sam Taylor-Wood
Music by Alison Goldfrapp, Will Gregory
Cinematography by Seamus McGarvey
Film Editing by Lisa Gunning
Original premises, but these get lost in the vast hopelessness its universe describes
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,9
Metascore 6,1
Roger Ebert 7,5
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,0
IMDB 6,3
Average critics 6,8
Average public 6,7
Cast: Emelie Jonsson, Arvin Kananian, Bianca Cruzeiro, Anneli Martini
Director: Pella Kågerman, Hugo Lilja
Writer (poem): Harry Martinson
Writer: Hugo Lilja, Pella Kågerman
Cinematographer: Sophie Winqvist
Editor: Pella Kågerman, Björn Kessler
Michał Leszczyłowski
Composer: Alexander Berg
Good script, personages, dialogues, and music (8)
Excellent content (9)
A movie about how people who did not learn how to receive and give love can’t build any (realistic) relationship
A young female sex addict and a man with mental health issues help each other out
A movie that entertains while providing content; a movie I was thankful to have seen
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,8
Metascore 7,7
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,8
IMDB 5,7
Average critics 7,8
Average public 6,8
Cast: Charlene deGuzman, John Hawkes, Melissa Leo
Director: Suzi Yoonessi
Writers: Charlene deGuzman, Sarah Adina Smith, Mark Duplass
Music by Christopher French
Cinematography by Moira Morel
Film Editing by Kai Davies
Great direction and images
Predictable but pleasant story of a Scotsman in San Francisco where his
estranged son and grandson live
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 5,9
Metascore 5,4
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,4
IMDB 6,8
Average critics 5,7
Average public 7,1
Cast: Thora Birch, Brian Cox, Tim Matheson, Rosanna Arquette
Directors: Mihal Brezis & Oded Binnun
Writers: Michael McGowan, Michal Lali Kagan, Sarah Bellwood
Music by Haim Frank Ilfman
Cinematography by Javier Aguirresarobe
Film Editing by Roberto Silvi
Great meassageMixed feelings about this movie, first of all, because it’s annoying the way the music and a few twist put the spectator on the wrong track, until one realizes that there’s nothing going on at all… BUT I liked the message for it shows that a relationship is built through time, and that love evolves and changes even though conventions tell that love has to go away (after a divorce, for example). In the end, worth watching…
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,8
Metascore 7,9
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience —
IMDB 5,2
Average critics 7,9
Average public 5,2
Cast: Talia Balsam, Scott Cohen, Andrus Nichols
Director: Hilary Brougher
Writer: Hilary Brougher
Music by Herdís Stefánsdóttir
Cinematography by Ethan Mass
Film Editing by Maria Rosenblum
Good script and dialogues
Excellent direction and gender content
The cross-currents of passion in the autonomous world of a female boarding school: exquisitely ambiguous
“a very early piece of queer cinema history” [Beatrice Loayza]
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 8,0
IMDB 7,1
Cast: Edwige Feuillère, Simone Simon, Marie-Claire Olivia
Director: Jacqueline Audry
Writers: Colette Audry, Dorothy Bussy (novel)
Music by Pierre Sancan
Cinematography by Christian Matras
Film Editing by Marguerite Beaugé
Good images and music
Top gender content
Early 20th century in a remote province of Catholic Spain, two young women fall in love with each other at first sight.
A beautifully pictured (black and white) movie with an abrupt end
A small parallel can be made with The Secret Life Of Words in the short but intense moment when the suffering of Marcella is revealed
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 5,7
Metascore 3,3
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience —
IMDB 6,5
Average critics 4,5
Average public 6,5
Cast: Natalia de Molina, Greta Fernández, Sara Casasnovas
Director: Isabel Coixet
Writers: Isabel Coixet (screenplay by), Narciso de Gabriel (based on the literary essay by)
Music by Sofia Oriana Infante
Cinematography by Jennifer Cox
Film Editing by Bernat Aragonés
Good personages, dialogues, music and message
Excellent script and images
Top direction and gender content
Beautiful but painful movie in which a man and a woman share their deepest secrets. Sharing brings them a form of redemption, an opening to escape the past, and a possible future. An unforgettable movie!
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,2
Metascore 6,8
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 8,2
IMDB 7,5
Average critics 4,3
Average public 7,9
Cast: Sarah Polley, Tim Robbins, Sverre Anker Ousdal
Director: Isabel Coixet
Writer: Isabel Coixet
Cinematography by Jean-Claude Larrieu
Film Editing by Irene Blecua
Good script, personages, images, content
Excellent direction
The life of a young girl who dreams of having a guitar
A serene movie in which children possess the rural Indian landscape
interesting scene when the girl gets her first menstruation
A movie predominantly made by Rima Das and her family, and if you’re patient enough to get to the end of the credits, you’ll see how extended her family is 🙂
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 8,0
Metascore —
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 9,3
IMDB 7,2
Average critics 8,0
Average public 8,3
Cast: Bhanita Das, Basanti Das, Boloram Das
Director: Rima Das
Writer: Rima Das
Music by Preetom Dutta
Cinematography by Rima Das
Film Editing by Rima Das
Great personages
Excellent gender content and message
Sometimes, it’s good to be reminded to which extreme religious orthodoxy can lead, for the type of civil war that is described here could happen anywhere 😦
It also helps us cherish the freedom we have, for we cannot take it for granted
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,3
Metascore 6,8
Roger Ebert 7,5
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 9,0
IMDB 7,0
Average critics 7,2
Average public 8,0
Cast: Lyna Khoudr, Yasin Houicha, Nadia Kaci, Shirine Boutella, Amira Hilda Douaouda
Director: Mounia Meddour
Writer: Mounia Meddour. Fadette Drouard
Cinematographer: Léo Lefèvre
Editor: Damien Keyeux
Composer: Robin Coudert
Good script, images and gender content
Excellent personages, dialogues and direction
Top message
The movie follows a 9-year-old girl (extraordinarily acted by Helena Zengel who knows how to continuously surprise the viewer) who has suffered such heavy traumas at a younger age that no one can handle her… A girl who is not responsible but who will pay all her life for the trauma of her youth (probably due to the ‘inadequacies’ of her mother).
Don’t be deceived by her angelic face, she’s extremely dangerous. But if you expect an horror movie, you’ll be disappointed: it’s much worse because so much more real.
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,7
Metascore 9,0
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience —
IMDB 7,8
Average critics 8,4
Average public 7,8
Original title: Systemsprenger
Cast: Helena Zengel, Albrecht Schuch, Gabriela Maria Schmeide
Director: Nora Fingscheidt
Writer: Nora Fingscheidt
Music by John Gürtler
Cinematography by Yunus Roy Imer
Film Editing by Stephan Bechinger, Julia Kovalenko
Good script, personages, direction, music and message
Excellent dialogues and minority representation
IMDB 7,4
Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Rasika Dugal, Tahir Raj Bhasin
Director: Nandita Das
Writer: Nandita Das
Music by Babli Haque, Sneha Khanwalkar, Raftaar
Cinematography by Kartik Vijay
Film Editing by A. Sreekar Prasad
Good message
Excellent script, personages, direction and gender content
Top music
A very simple story: her children being grown-ups, a woman in her fifties decides to stop playing the various roles her family (and society) imposes on her (mother, daughter, wife, sister…), and decides to leave her family for no other reason than wanting to be on her own.
Intelligent direction and exceptional (Georgian) music
Rotten Tomatoes Critics —
Metascore 8,6
Roger Ebert 10,0
Rotten Tomatoes Audience —
IMDB 7,4
Average critics 9,3
Average public 7,4
Original title: Chemi Bednieri Ojakhi
Cast: Ia Shugliashvili, Merab Ninidze, Berta Khapava, Tsisia Qumsashvili
Director: Nana Ekvtimishvili, Simon Groß
Writer: Nana Ekvtimishvili
Cinematographer: Tudor Vladimir Panduru
Editor: Stefan Stabenow
Good minority presence
Excellent gender content
A movie about love, being something that you learn giving by first receiving it
A movie with an interesting female personage who does not know how to differentiate love from sex and sex from desire and desire from money… mysterious but the end leaves us wanting…
IMDB 6,6
Original title: A Vendre
Cast: Sandrine Kiberlain, Sergio Castellitto, Jean-François Stévenin
Director: Laetitia Masson
Writer: Laetitia Masson
Music by Siegfried
Cinematography by Antoine Héberlé
Film Editing by Aïlo Auguste-Judith
In Diane Keaton’s only attempt at directing a feature movie, the too many different threads illustrate the chief beginner’s mistake, namely that of wanting to force too many ideas into one’s work…. There’s enough material in Unstrung Heroes for 5 movies (the relationship crazy uncles-boy, the science versus religion aspect, the boy who loses his mother and has to deal with his father, Uncle Arthur’s message that we’re all stuck in a role, etc.)
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,2
Metascore 7,0
Roger Ebert 8,8
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,4
IMDB 6,7
Average critics 7,3
Average public 7,1
Cast: Maury Chaykin, John Turturro, Andie MacDowell, Michael Richards
Directed by Diane Keaton
Written by Richard Lagravanese
Music by Thomas Newman
Cinematography by Phedon Papamichael
Film Editing by Lisa Zeno Churgin
Some good things in this movie, but too many guns around.
Not as bad as IMDB users rate it
IMDB 4,0
Cast: John Pyper-Ferguson, Nick McCallum, Nathan Sutton
Director: Bethany Brooke Anderson
Writer: Bethany Brooke Anderson
Music by Michael Thomas Regina
Cinematography by Matt Clegg, Ian S. Takahashi
Film Editing by Spencer Showalter
Great minority presence and message
Excellent gender content
The quest for the truth of a sixteen-year old girl who wants to find out what happened at the party where she got raped.
The movie takes you through the silent meander of the girl’s survival trajectory.
The director systematically avoids ‘sharing’ with the public what keeps the action moving (which, at times, is a bit frustrating), but instead concentrates on the internal struggles of the girl.
The movie has a great ending.
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,2
Metascore 7,3
Roger Ebert 10,0
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 5,4
IMDB 5,6
Average critics 8,2
Average public 5,5
Cast: Rhianne Barreto, Charlie Plummer, Poorna Jagannathan, Lovie Simone
Director: Pippa Bianco
Screenplay: Pippa Bianco
Director of Photography: Ava Berkofsky
Editor: Shelby Siegel
Original Music Composer: Shlohmo
Good images, music and gender content
Three girlfriends share a common madness
Interesting camera work, but not much substance
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,6
Metascore 6,0
Roger Ebert 8,8
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,2
IMDB 5,3
Average critics 7,5
Average public 6,3
Cast: Madeline Brewer, Imogen Waterhouse, Sarah Hay, Scott Cohen
Director: Mitzi Peirone
Writer: Mitzi Peirone
Director of Photography: Todd Banhazl
Editor: David Gutnik
Original Music Composer: Michael Gatt
Good dialogues and direction
A children tale
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,9
Metascore 7,4
Roger Ebert 10,0
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 8,0
IMDB 7,3
Average critics 8,4
Average public 7,7
Cast: Kate Maberly, Heydon Prowse, Andrew Knott, Laura Crossley, Maggie Smith
Director: Agnieszka Holland
Writers: Frances Hodgson Burnett (book), Caroline Thompson (screenplay)
Music by Zbigniew Preisner
Cinematography by Roger Deakins
Film Editing by Isabelle Lorente
Good script, direction, gender content and message
Excellent personages and minority representation
Top images
A movie that shows, without Hollywood artifacts, the slow transformation of a man who takes advantage of the war to make money on the black market by selling the valuables left behind by the Jews, to become a more conscious and engaged person who, without really wanting to, will go to extreme length to hide 11 Jews from the Nazis.
Nominated for an oscar
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,6
Metascore 7,4
Roger Ebert 6,3
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,8
IMDB 7,3
Average critics 7,1
Average public 7,6
Cast: Robert Wieckiewicz, Benno Fürmann, Agnieszka Grochowska
Director: Agnieszka Holland
Writers: Robert Marshall (book), David F. Shamoon
Music by Antoni Lazarkiewicz
Cinematography by Jolanta Dylewska
Film Editing by Michal Czarnecki
Good script, images and message
Excellent minority representation
The true story of a Welsh journalist during the big famine of the 1930s in Ukraine, the Soviet propaganda, and the Western world abiding to it, intertwined with George Orwell writing Animal Farm. Quite a challenge but realistically brought to an end
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,7
Metascore 6,7
Roger Ebert 7,5
Rotten Tomatoes Audience —
IMDB 6,8
Average critics 7,0
Average public 6,8
Cast: James Norton, Vanessa Kirby, Peter Sarsgaard, Joseph Mawle, Fenella Woolgar, Kenneth Cranham
Director: Agnieszka Holland
Writer: Andrea Chalupa
Cinematographer: Tomasz Naumiuk
Editor: Michał Czarnecki
Composer: Antoni Lazarkiewicz
Good script, images, music and minority representation
Excellent personages, dialogues, direction and message
Top gender content
You may think it will be just another movie about a Muslim girl who is stuck between the traditions of her family and the Western mores in which she has grown up. But the script will surprise you…
A movie that (once again) shows that men are the guardians of the traditions while women move ahead – quite understandably when you think that most religions and honor codes were developed by and are in the hands of men…
I especially liked the focus on Hala: although she doesn’t say much, you are with her every step of the way
A very good movie about integration
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,6
Metascore 7,5
Roger Ebert 7,5
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 6,2
IMDB 5,7
Average critics 7,5
Average public 6,0
Cast: Geraldine Viswanathan, Jack Kilmer, Gabriel Luna, Purbi Joshi, Hatta Azad Khan, Anna Chlumsky
Director: Minhal Baig
Writer: Minhal Baig
Director of Photography: Carolina Costa
Original Music Composer: Mandy Hoffman
Excellent script, personages, dialogues, direction and images
Top gender content, minority presence and message
A movie that shows the gender divide in a Bedouin village where men “have to” obey the rules and codes of honor that they have themselves elaborated and that deprive them of any possible empathy on one side, and women on the other side, emphatic but enslaved, who have to obey the rules imposed on them and are deprived of all weapons that could help them fight back
A movie that shows the absurdity of patriarchy, here set in the Bedouin culture but that can be found in most contexts dominated by the religions of the Book, whatever which ‘Book’ it is.
Excellent acting by Rub Blal.
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,2
Metascore 7,4
Roger Ebert 6,3
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,6
IMDB 6,8
Average critics 7,0
Average public 7,2
Cast: Lamis Ammar, Ruba Blal, Hitham Omari
Director: Elite Zexer
Writer: Elite Zexer (screenplay)
Music by Ran Bagno
Cinematography by Shai Peleg
Film Editing by Ronit Porat
Excellent gender content and minority presence
Interesting debut feature that tells the story of two women who escape “the gender-imposed hardships of their native culture,” [Godfrey Cheshire] one by fleeing an imposed marriage, the other by becoming a ‘sworn virgin,’ status that allows her to live her life like if she was a man, except for the fact that she may not have sex.
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,2
Metascore 7,0
Roger Ebert 5,0
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,0
IMDB 6,2
Average critics 6,4
Average public 6,6
Original title: Vergine Giurata
Cast: Alba Rohrwacher, Emily Ferratello, Lars Eidinger, Flonja Kodheli, Luan Jaha, Bruno Shllaku, Ilire Vinca Celaj
Director: Laura Bispuri
Writer: Elvira Dones
Writer: Laura Bispuri, Francesca Manieri
Cinematographer: Vladan Radovic
Editor: Carlotta Cristiani, Jacopo Quadri
Good gender content
In this movie, Marie Curie spends more time affirming herself against male dominance than unveiling what her real genius consisted of.
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,0
Metascore 5,6
Roger Ebert 5,0
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 6,6
IMDB 6,1
Average critics 5,5
Average public 6,4
Cast: Rosamund Pike, Sam Riley, Aneurin Barnard, Anya Taylor-Joy, Simon Russell Beale
Director: Marjane Satrapi
Based on the book by Lauren Redniss
Writer: Jack Thorne
Cinematographer: Anthony Dod Mantle
Editor: Stéphane Roche
Composer: Evgueni Galperine, Sacha Galperine
Good script and direction
Excellent images
An original script and, as usually with Marjane Satrapi, strong visual expression
Good performance by Ryan Reynolds
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,6
Metascore 5,8
Roger Ebert 7,5
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 6,6
IMDB 6,4
Average critics 6,6
Average public 6,5
Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Gemma Arterton, Anna Kendrick, Jacki Weaver
Director: Marjane Satrapi
Screenplay: Michael R. Perry
Director of Photography: Maxime Alexandre
Editor: Stéphane Roche
Good direction and music
Excellent images
A man in a loveless marriage decides to die when his wife breaks his violin… Various styles happily mixed, with lots of surprising images
Strong visual expression
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,8
Metascore 6,9
Roger Ebert 10,0
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,2
IMDB 7,0
Average critics 7,9
Average public 7,1
Cast: Golshifteh Farahani, Mathieu Amalric, Isabella Rossellini, Maria de Medeiros
Directors: Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud,
Writers: Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud
Music by Olivier Bernet
Cinematography by Christophe Beaucarne
Film Editing by Stéphane Roche
Excellent direction and images
An over-the-top story is saved by great direction and special effects
A patriarchal superhero and a snake woman: not really gender-friendly!
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 3,9
Metascore —
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience —
IMDB 5,6
Cast: Jiayin Lei, Wei Tang, Xi Qi
Director: Xiaolu Xue
Writer: Xiaolu Xue
Music by David Hirschfelder
Cinematography by Marc Spicer
Film Editing by Andy Canny, Sean Courtney Lewis
Good personages, dialogues, humor, images and gender content
Excellent direction
Could have been a bit shorter but really worth watching
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,8
Metascore 6,7
Roger Ebert 7,5
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 8,2
IMDB 7,3
Average critics 7,0
Average public 7,8
Cast: Geena Davis, Lori Petty, Madonna, Tom Hanks
Directed by Penny Marshall
Written by Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel
Based On A Story by Kim Wilson
Photographed by Miroslav Ondricek
Music by Hans Zimmer
Weak direction and message
Some interesting personages and situations but the whole doesn’t get anywhere.
The choice to use the deep, almost broken voice of a veteran smoker as voice-off for Laurie Lee is difficult to link to the main personage of the film whom we only see as a boy and in his teens.
IMDB 6,4
Cast: Timothy Spall, Samantha Morton, Georgie Smith
Director: Philippa Lowthorpe
Writers:Ben Vanstone, Laurie Lee (based on the book by)
Music by Peter Salem
Cinematography by Julian Court
Film Editing by David Thrasher
Good images
A story describing a world in which it seemed easy to differentiate the good guys from the bad guys
Angelina Jolie could have made it a bit less black and white (by more humanizing the Japanese, for example)
Movie appreciated by the public, less by the critics
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,0
Metascore 5,9
Roger Ebert 6,3
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,4
IMDB 7,2
Average critics 6,1
Average public 7,3
Cast: Jack O’Connell, Miyavi, Domhnall Gleeson
Director: Angelina Jolie
Writers: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Book by Laura Hillenbrand
Music by Alexandre Desplat
Cinematography by Roger Deakins
Film Editing by William Goldenberg, Tim Squyres
Good script, personages, dialogues and images
Excellent humor and direction
Nice story by Paul Laverty
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,6
Metascore —
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,2
IMDB 6,8
Average critics 6,6
Average public 7,0
Original title: El Olivo
Cast: Anna Castillo, Javier Gutiérrez, Pep Ambròs
Director: Icíar Bollaín
Writer: Paul Laverty
Music by Pascal Gaigne
Cinematography by Sergi Gallardo
Film Editing by Nacho Ruiz Capillas
Good script, personages, dialogues and direction
Excellent humor and message
Lots of humor in a serious comedy over the right to die
The weak minority presence is certainly a pity!
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,2
Metascore 7,1
Roger Ebert 8,8
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,2
IMDB 7,1
Average critics 7,7
Average public 7,2
Original title: Mita Tove
Cast: Ze’ev Revach, Levana Finkelstein, Alisa Rozen, Ilan Da, Rafael Tabor
Director: Tal Granit, Sharon Maymon
Writer: Tal Granit, Sharon Maymon
Music by Avi Belleli
Cinematography by Tobias Hochstein
Film Editing by Einat Glaser-Zarhin
Great personages, dialogues, direction, images and gender content
A movie made with little means but that reaches its goal
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,7
Metascore —
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,4
IMDB 7,1
Average critics 6,7
Average public 7,3
Cast: Melanie Mayron, Eli Wallach, Adam Cohen
Director: Claudia Weill
Writers: Claudia Weill, Vicki Polon
Music by Michael Small
Cinematography by Fred Murphy
Film Editing by Suzanne Pettit
Good direction, images, music, gender content and message
A bit too linear to my taste
IMDB 7,4
Cast: Teyonah Parris, Gary Dourdan, Darius McCrary
Director: Christine Swanson
Writers: Rhonda Baraka, Christine Swanson
Music by Kurt Farquhar
Cinematography by Tommy Maddox-Upshaw
Film Editing by Grisha Alasadi
Good message
Notwithstanding the fact that I have to rely on subtitles and that mine were kind of… incomprehensible, this movie, probably made on a tight budget, and an amateurish aura. However, it is surprising for any movie, and even more for a Chinese one, to talk very openly not only about prostitutes and the prejudices around their trade, but also about another heavily prejudiced item, menstruation.
IMDB 7,2
Original title: Xue shi san
Cast: Lu Huang, Gang Xie, Bo Qian
Director: Candy Li
Writer: Tu Hu
Music by Pantawit Kiangsiri
Cinematography by Hiroyuki Haga
Film Editing by Takashi Uchida
Good message
Notwithstanding the fact that I have to rely on subtitles and that mine were kind of… incomprehensible, this movie, probably made on a tight budget, and an amateurish aura. However, it is surprising for any movie, and even more for a Chinese one, to talk very openly not only about prostitutes and the prejudices around their trade, but also about another heavily prejudiced item, menstruation.
IMDB 7,2
Original title: Xue shi san
Cast: Lu Huang, Gang Xie, Bo Qian
Director: Candy Li
Writer: Tu Hu
Music by Pantawit Kiangsiri
Cinematography by Hiroyuki Haga
Film Editing by Takashi Uchida
Poor direction, weak script
A weak scenario, a direction without surprises, a boring musical score
However, some positive aspects: a younger man falls in love with an older woman / a bilingual movie (she speaks French, he speaks English)
Rachel Ward has made more interesting movies (Beautiful Kate, Palm Beach)
IMDB 6,9
Cast: Marie Bunel, Dan Spielman, Julia Zemiro
Director: Rachel Ward
Writer: Blake Ayshford
Cinematography by Germain McMicking
Film Editing by Leanne Cole
Great script, personages, music, minority presence and message
A good story and a mysterious lead personage who only gets partially revealed
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,5
Metascore 7,5
Roger Ebert 6,3
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,0
IMDB 6,7
Average critics 7,1
Average public 6,9
Cast: Jasmine Trinca, Carlo Cecchi, Libero De Rienzo, Vinicio Marchioni, Iaia Forte
Director: Valeria Golino
Novel: Angela Del Fabbro
Screenplay: Valeria Golino, Francesca Marciano, Valia Santella
Music by Christian Rainer
Cinematography by Gergely Pohárnok
Film Editing by Giogiò Franchini
MdW - Movies directed by Women 