Multiple facets of mother-daughter relationships (6/29)

“Destroyer” by Karyn Kusama (USA, 2019)

Unconvincing feminist plagiarism of a classic film noir, with a few good twists

Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,6
Metascore 6,2
Roger Ebert 5,0
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 6,2
IMDB 6,6
TMDB 6,0
Critics average 5,0
Audience average 6,3

Cast: Nicole Kidman, Tatiana Maslany, Sebastian Stan, Bradley Whitford, Toby Kebbell, Scoot McNairy, Toby Huss
Director: Karyn Kusama
Writer: Phil Hay, Matt Manfredi
Cinematographer: Julie Kirkwood
Editor: Plummy Tucker
Composer: Theodore Shapiro

“Atlantics” by Mati Diop (2019)

First Feature

Good script and music

A poetical love story that is at times difficult to follow

Rotten Tomatoes Critics —
Metascore 8,5
Roger Ebert 10,0
Rotten Tomatoes Audience —
IMDB 6,7
Average critics 9,3
Average public 6,7

Original title: Atlantique

Cast: Mame Bineta Sane, Amadou Mbow, Traore
Director: Mati Diop
Writers: Mati Diop, Olivier Demangel
Music by Fatima Al Qadiri
Cinematography by Claire Mathon
Film Editing by Aël Dallier Vega

“The Seven Days” by Ronit and Shlomi Elkabetz (2008)

Good images

A large orthodox Jewish family mourns one of their brothers. The numerous personages make it difficult to discern who’s who. This story gets a follow-up in Gett.

IMDB 6,9

Cast: Ronit Elkabetz, Moshe Ivgy, Yaël Abecassis
Directors: Ronit Elkabetz, Shlomi Elkabetz
Writers: Ronit Elkabetz, Shlomi Elkabetz
Music by Michel Korb, Sergio Leonardi
Cinematography by Yaron Scharf
Film Editing by Joel Alexis

“For Sale” by Laetitia Masson (1998)

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

“Finding Mr. Right” by Xiaolu Xue (2013)

The work of Xiaolu Xue

Weak personages

Despite Wei Tang strong performance, weak personages, especially the absolutely insipid Xiubo Wu, + weak story + uninstpired direction
A disappointing follow-up to Oceah Heaven!
One thing both movies have in common, however, is the unusually dedicated father role attributed to the male lead.

Cast: Wei Tang, Xiubo Wu, Hai-Qing
Director: Xiaolu Xue
Writer: Xiaolu Xue
Music by Peter Kam
Cinematography by Chi-Ying Chan
Film Editing by Ka-Fai Cheung

“An Inspector Calls” by Aisling Walsh (2015)

My Year’s Favorites (Aug. 2019-July 2020)

Good humor and images
Excellent personages and direction
Top script + content

An excellent adaptation of J.B. Priestley’s classic play about class, responsibility, guilt, honesty, and…
A world that will need a most terrible war to (almost) disappear

Rotten Tomatoes Critics 8,0
Metascore —
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 8,2
IMDB 7,7
Average critics 8,0
Average public 8,0

Cast: Sophie Rundle, Lucy Chappell, Miranda Richardson
Director: Aisling Walsh
Writers: J.B. Priestley (based on the play by), Helen Edmundson (adapted by)
Music by Dominik Scherrer
Cinematography by Martin Fuhrer
Film Editing by Alex Mackie

“Buffaloed” by Tanya Wexler (2019)

2019 was a good year!

Good dialogues, humor, direction
Great gender content and minority representation

It’s probably the first time such a (typical bad guy) role has been written for a young woman … and Zoey Deutch brings it to a top level

Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,5
Metascore 6,1
Roger Ebert 7,5
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 8,8
IMDB 6,1
Average critics 6,7
Average public 7,5

Cast: Zoey Deutch, Judy Greer, Jermaine Fowler, Jai Courtney, Jermaine Fowler
Director: Tanya Wexler
Writer: Brian Sacca
Cinematographer: Guy Godfree
Editor: Casey Brooks
Composer: Matthew Margeson

“Hustlers” by Lorene Scafaria (2019)

Lorene Scafaria (3/3)

2019 was a good year!

Good script and personages (8)

Objectified because of their sex, women decide to return the compliment to men by objectifying them for their money
A black-and-white world as it depicts gender relationships, but an intimate world of friendship and trust between women as well

Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,3
Metascore 7,9
Roger Ebert 7,5
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,4
IMDB 6,3
Average critics 7,6
Average public 6,9

Cast: Constance Wu, Jennifer Lopez, Julia Stiles, Keke Palmer, Lili Reinhart, Lizzo, Cardi B
Director: Lorene Scafaria
Screenplay: Lorene Scafaria
Director of Photography: Todd Banhazl
Editor: Kayla Emter

“Face” by Antonia Bird (1997)

Movies of the ’90s

 

Money does not make one happy, but friends do… at least that is what I understood

Rotten Tomatoes Critics 5,4
Metascore —
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,6
IMDB 6,7
Average critics 5,4
Average public 7,2

Cast: Robert Carlyle, Ray Winstone, Steve Sweeney
Director: Antonia Bird
Writer: Ronan Bennett
Music by Paul Conboy, Adrian Corker, Andy Roberts
Cinematography by Fred Tammes
Film Editing by St. John O’Rorke

“An Inspector Calls” by Aisling Walsh (2015)

A British week: Aisling Walsh (2/3)

Good humor and images (8)
Excellent personages and direction (9)
Top script + content (10)

An excellent adaptation of J.B. Priestley’s classic play about class, responsability, guilt, honesty, and…
A world that will need a most terrible war to (almost) disappear

Rotten Tomatoes Critics 8,0
Metascore —
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 8,2
IMDB 7,7
Average critics 8,0
Average public 8,0

Cast: Sophie Rundle, Lucy Chappell, Miranda Richardson
Director: Aisling Walsh
Writers: J.B. Priestley (based on the play by), Helen Edmundson (adapted by)
Music by Dominik Scherrer
Cinematography by Martin Fuhrer
Film Editing by Alex Mackie

“Daughter of Mine” by Laura Bispuri (2018)

Facets of motherhood (5/5)

Good music (8)
Excellent script, personages, dialogues, images (9)
Top score: direction, minorities, message (10)

A 10-year old girl realizes that the woman who raised her is not her mother and discovers who her biological mother is. After a first reaction of reject, the new situation helps her accepting her own “otherness’.
The three female personages symbolize the three facets of the “patriarchal” woman: the virgin, the mother, and the whore. And to make sure the symbolism will escape to no one, all three women revolve around one man who is, at the same time, father, husband, and (ex-)lover.
Recommended!

Cast: Valeria Golino, Alba Rohrwacher, Sara Casu
Director: Laura Bispuri
Writers: Francesca Manieri, Laura Bispuri
Music by Nando Di Cosimo
Cinematography by Vladan Radovic
Film Editing by Carlotta
Cristiani

“The Portrait of a Lady” by Jane Campion (1996)

Fridays Classics

Top score: dialogues, direction, images (9)

Exquisitely detailed work that parallels the conundrums of feelings

Cast: Nicole Kidman, John Malkovich, Barbara Hershey, Mary-Louise Parker, Martin Donovan, Shelley Winters
Directed by Jane Campion
Screenplay by Laura Jones, based On The Novel by Henry James
Music by Wojciech Kilar
Cinematography by Stuart Dryburgh
Film Editing by Veronika Jenet

“Mississippi Grind” by Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck (2015)

Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck (3/4)

Like in their preceding movies, the main personage finds what the motives behind his actions are only after having gone to the end of an obsessive quest
Good acting, cool music, but archetypal story

Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Ben Mendelsohn, Sienna Miller, Analeigh Tipton, Alfre Woodard, Robin Weigert, Stephanie Honoré, Lauren Gros
Director: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck
Writer: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck
Director of Photography: Andrij Parekh
Music by Scott Bomar

“Daughter of Mine” by Laura Bispuri (2018)

A year’s favorites

A 10-year old girl realizes that the woman who raised her is not her mother and discovers who her biological mother is. After a first reaction of reject, the new situation helps her accepting her own “otherness’.
The three female personages symbolize the three facets of the “patriarchal” woman: the virgin, the mother, and the whore. And to make sure the symbolism will escape to no one, all three women revolve around one man who is, at the same time, father, husband, and (ex-)lover.
Recommended!

Cast: Valeria Golino, Alba Rohrwacher, Sara Casu
Director: Laura Bispuri
Writers: Francesca Manieri, Laura Bispuri
Music by Nando Di Cosimo
Cinematography by Vladan Radovic
Film Editing by Carlotta
Cristiani

“Destroyer” by Karyn Kusama (2019)

Unconvincing feminist plagiat of a classic film noir, with a few good twists

Cast: Nicole Kidman, Tatiana Maslany, Sebastian Stan, Bradley Whitford, Toby Kebbell, Scoot McNairy, Toby Huss
Director: Karyn Kusama
Writer: Phil Hay, Matt Manfredi
Cinematographer: Julie Kirkwood
Editor: Plummy Tucker
Composer: Theodore Shapiro

“Daughter of Mine” by Laura Bispuri (2018)

A 10-year old girl realizes that the woman who raised her is not her mother and discovers who her biological mother is. After a first reaction of reject, the new situation helps her accepting her own “otherness’.
The three female personages symbolize the three facets of the “patriarchal” woman: the virgin, the mother, and the whore. And to make sure the symbolism will escape to no one, all three women revolve around one man who is, at the same time, father, husband, and (ex-)lover.
Recommended!

Cast: Valeria Golino, Alba Rohrwacher, Sara Casu
Director: Laura Bispuri
Writers: Francesca Manieri, Laura Bispuri
Music by Nando Di Cosimo
Cinematography by Vladan Radovic
Film Editing by Carlotta
Cristiani

“Friends With Money” by Nicole Holofcener (2006)

6 Mondays with Nicole Holofcener (3)

The movie further lacks the subtle humor and refined relationship constructs found in other Holofcener’s movies.
The absence of any critical statement make it a futile exercise at the end of which you ask yourself, what was it all about. A lot of fuss about nothing…

Cast: Jennifer Aniston, Joan Cusack, Catherine Keener, Frances McDormand, Simon McBurney, Jason Isaacs, Greg Germann, Scott Caan, Bob Stephenson
Directed and written by Nicole Holofcener
Music by Rickie Lee Jones, Craig Richey
Cinematography by Terry Stacey
Film Editing by Robert Frazen

“Equity” by Meera Menon (USA, 2016)

Intricate script shows how women can be as ruthless as men, and much meaner at the same time, eating each other alive while smiling! If ‘sharks’ describe guys, then what could be applied to a woman? Is “tigress”not to noble in this case?
But of course, we all know that it’s the context that transforms us into what we are: “The environment is not separate from ourselves. We are inside it and it is inside us. We make it, and it makes us.” (Yanomami, Brazil)

Cast: Anna Gunn, James Purefoy, Sarah Megan Thomas, Alysia Reiner, Carrie Preston, Michael Izquierdo, Craig Bierko, Margaret Colin
Director: Meera Menon
Writer (story by): Sarah Megan Thomas
Writer: Amy Fox
Cinematographer: Eric Lin
Editor: Andrew Hafitz
Composer: Samuel Jones, Alexis Marsh

“Money Monster” by Jodie Foster (USA, 2016)

Cast: George Clooney, Caitriona Balfe, Jack O’Connell, Julia Roberts, Olivia Luccardi
Director: Jodie Foster
Writers (story): Alan DiFiore, Jim Kouf
Writers: Jamie Linden, Alan DiFiore, Jim Kouf
Cinematographer: Matthew Libatique
Editor: Matt Chesse
Composer: Dominic Lewis

Paula Van Der Oest, director (3): “The Domino Effect” (U.K., 2012)

A plea against the global economy, showing how it particularly affects women and children. An ode to altruism, and to love as a safe haven. Great editing work and very sober dialogues, a hallmark of this director.

Actors: James D’Arcy, Theo James, Tiya Sircar
Director: Paula van der Oest
Writer: Paula van der Oest
Music by Adrian Corker
Cinematography by Guido van Gennep
Film Editing by Maurice Bedaux, Sander Vos

“Divines” (Houda Benyamina, France 2016)

In a Parisian ‘hot’ suburb, drug distribution, blackmail, and violence are controlled by women. Strong performances.

Cast: Oulaya Amamra, Déborah Lukumuena, Kevin Mischel
Director: Houda Benyamina
Writer: Houda Benyamina
Music: Demusmaker
Cinematography: Julien Poupard
Editing: Loïc Lallemand , Vincent Tricon

“American Honey” (Andrea Arnold, USA 2016)

“There is no yesterday, there is no today, there is only moving forward to tomorrow.” [Brian Tallerico. http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/american-honey-2016%5D

Cast: Sasha Lane, Shia LaBeouf, Riley Keough, McCaul Lombardi, Arielle Holmes
Director: Andrea Arnold
Writer: Andrea Arnold
Cinematographer: Robbie Ryan
Editor: Joe Bini