Films Directed by Women Challenge (Official, March 2023)

[mightysparks]

Watch films directed by women through March.

Rules:
- Rewatches allowed and are good for the soul
- A feature film (Anything 40 minutes or over) counts as one entry
- A total of 80 minutes of short films/episodes counts as one entry
- Please include the name of the filmmaker and year
- Films co-directed by women (50% or another percentage due to omnibus films) count

Challenge runs from March 1st, 2023 - March 31st, 2023

Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/browse/genre/2974953?so=az

Links (iCM-related):
BBC's 100 Greatest Films Directed by Women
Female Directors Present on the Jonathan Rosenbaum List
Official movies with a woman director
ICMForum's Favourite Films Directed by Women

Links (not iCM-related):
IndieWire : The 100 All-Time Greatest Films Directed by Women
Sight and Sound's 100 Overlooked Films Directed by Women
Mubi: Films Directed By Women
100 Films Directed by Women
Allison's Favorite Films Directed by Women
Actresses Who Have Tried Their Hand at Directing
Films Directed by Danish Women
Films Directed by French Women
Films Directed by Norwegian Women
Films Directed by Portuguese Women
A Female Director a Day
Female Directors in Hollywood
Female Directors on UBUWeb
Baalman78's Top 50 Female Directors
Letterboxd's Films Directed by Women
Letterboxd Top 250 Narrative Feature Films by Women Directors

Bonus Challenge: Scavenger Hunt
Please include the #tag with the applicable film (one tag per film)!

Checklist

Tag	Challenge
#Silent	Watch a silent film directed by a woman
#Animation	Watch an animated film directed by a woman
#SciFi	Watch a sci-fi or fantasy film directed by a woman
#FinalGirl	Watch a horror film directed by a woman
#LMAO	Watch a comedy film directed by a woman
#Documentary	Watch a documentary directed by a woman
#ChickLit	Watch a film directed by a woman based on a book/short story/etc written by a woman
#Bechdel	Watch a film directed by a woman that passes the Bechdel test
#LGBTQ	Watch a film directed by an LGBTQ+ identifying female director
#BLM	Watch a film directed by a woman of colour
#<400	Watch a film directed by a woman with less than 400 checks
#New	Watch a film released in 2022 or 2023 directed by a woman
#iCMForumFaves	Watch a film from ICMForum's Favourite Films Directed by Women list
#S&S	Watch a film directed by a woman that appears on the Sight & Sound lists (see this OP for eligible lists)
#AcademyAward	Watch a film directed by a woman that was nominated for or won an Academy award (any category)
#Asia	Around the World: Asia
#Africa	Around the World: Africa
#Europe	Around the World: Europe
#SouthAmerica	Around the World: South America
#Oceania	Around the World: Oceania
#NorthAmerica	Around the World: North America (excluding USA)

Bonus Leaderboard

Bonus Leaderboard

Rank	Participant	Count
1	sol	***FIRST TO FINISH!!!***
1	flavo5000	***SECOND TO FINISH!!!***
1	gunnar	***THIRD TO FINISH!!!***
1	jdidaco	***FOURTH TO FINISH!!!***
5	blocho	17
6	Silga	16
7	Tngy	15
8	maxwelldeux	12
9	airdolll	11
9	mightysparks	11
11	Arkantos	7
12	peeptoad	6
13	Minkin	5
14	vortexsurfer	4
15	magnusbernhardsen	3
15	Lonewolf2003	3
17	DudeLanez	2
17	beasterne	2
17	Lakigigar	2
17	ororama	2
17	whizwilly	2

Leaderboard

Rank	Participant	Count
1	flavo5000	111
2	beavis	44
3	jdidaco	42
4	sol	36
5	gunnar	32
6	St. Gloede	30
7	blocho	28
8	Silga	22
9	Tngy	17
10	maxwelldeux	12
11	airdolll	11
11	mightysparks	11
11	pitchorneirda	11
14	Arkantos	8
14	peeptoad	8
16	Minkin	6
17	vortexsurfer	5
18	shugs	4
18	RogerTheMovieManiac88	4
18	Lonewolf2003	4
21	AB537	3
21	magnusbernhardsen	3
23	DudeLanez	2
23	beasterne	2
23	Lakigigar	2
23	ororama	2
23	whizwilly	2

[maxwelldeux]

Bonus Challenge: Scavenger Hunt
Please include the #tag with the applicable film (one tag per film)!

I don't know if I love you or hate you for this unexpected scavenger hunt. Probably both. I'm in.

[magnusbernhardsen]

I've started the year by noting all films I watch by women directors, in an attempt to make myself more conscious of the rate male to female, so this was a good fit for me.

[St. Gloede]

I'm in. Will continue to focus on 2022 films and have around 15-20 films lined up. Will also explore directors of older films, with Yvonne Rainer being the top priority, and perhaps I'll finally try to go through Ann Hii, so far I've only seen Boat People.

Feel free to recommend me women directors I might have missed or should dive into deeper.

The women in my top 100 directors currently are:

Agnès Varda
Chantal Akerman
Vera Chytilová
Céline Sciamma
Marguerite Duras
Kira Muratova
Claire Denis

Would be great to add at least 1 more after this challenge.

[Knaldskalle]

I'm in as well, but I have no idea what I'll be watching. I have a personal goal that takes up a lot of my time, so there's a chance my contribution to this challenge will be zero (there just aren't that many women directors on the Worldwide Box Office list, unfortunately).

[Knaldskalle]

I'm in. Will continue to focus on 2022 films and have around 15-20 films lined up. Will also explore directors of older films, with Yvonne Rainer being the top priority, and perhaps I'll finally try to go through Ann Hii, so far I've only seen Boat People.

Feel free to recommend me women directors I might have missed or should dive into deeper.

The women in my top 100 directors currently are:

Agnès Varda
Chantal Akerman
Vera Chytilová
Céline Sciamma
Marguerite Duras
Kira Muratova
Claire Denis

Would be great to add at least 1 more after this challenge.

You might like Andrea Arnold, and if you haven't, you definitely need to check out Lynne Ramsay and Lucrecia Martel.

[shugs]

In for a few. Like Gloede, I have a few Ann Hui films lined up, and I want to see more by Varda as well.

[St. Gloede]

I'm in. Will continue to focus on 2022 films and have around 15-20 films lined up. Will also explore directors of older films, with Yvonne Rainer being the top priority, and perhaps I'll finally try to go through Ann Hii, so far I've only seen Boat People.

Feel free to recommend me women directors I might have missed or should dive into deeper.

The women in my top 100 directors currently are:

Agnès Varda
Chantal Akerman
Vera Chytilová
Céline Sciamma
Marguerite Duras
Kira Muratova
Claire Denis

Would be great to add at least 1 more after this challenge.

You might like Andrea Arnold, and if you haven't, you definitely need to check out Lynne Ramsay and Lucrecia Martel.

Thanks, this is a good reason to finally see American Honey and You Were Never Really Here. Also missing Wuthering Heights from Arnold, but less interested in that one. Rather shocked that both directors have only done 4 films, was sure I was missing more films from both. Seen all the features by Martel, she is likely to make my top 100 in the future if she keeps her current level.

[magnusbernhardsen]

Arnold's short Wasp is fantastic. Danny Dyer's best role.

[beavis]

I would add
Athina Rachel Tsangari, Helena Wittmann, Josephine Decker and Kelly Reichardt for sure
Márta Mészáros, Mai Zetterling and Ann Hui belong there too... together with so many more

@Gloede
and, because of your love for Akerman, Godard, Farocki and such, you might also want to check out Yvonne Rainer, Babette Mangolte and Meredith Monk, a small feminist New York art "scene" (?) with links to experimental documentary filmmakers in France

I have a few I want to check out more (including Barbara Sass and Binka Zhelyazkova)
But the options seem almost endless, probably going to go the "obscurest first" route again
Safi Faye recently died btw, so time for me to catch up on Mossane

EDIT: made a watchlist for this https://letterboxd.com/beavis/list/new- ... watchlist/
already curated and still 205 titles at the moment!
if you want to suggest movies from this I absolutely HAVE to see, this might help me focus a bit

[sol]

Thanks for hosting, Lauren. It starts! First in?

1. Pariah (2011) #LGBTQ

Directed by Dee Rees



Based on her own personal difficulties growing up, this debut feature from Dee Rees revolves around a teen lesbian who has to put up with others making fun of her androgynous looks and two parents who would refuse to understand her if she ever came out of the closet. In many ways, it is a story that hits familiar and expected beats, but the grounded performances carry the film through, as well as the distinct eye for colour that Rees clearly possesses. Several shots come infused with purples, reds and most noticeably greens. There's also some effective neon lighting and Adepero Oduye is a great lead.

[gunnar]

1 - The Woman King (2022) - 7.5/10 - Gina Prince-Bythewood - #BLM - In the 1820s, a kingdom in Africa has an elite group of female warriors (led by Viola Davis). They fight to protect their people from the warriors of a neighboring kingdom and from slavers. The focus is split between the leader and a new recruit (Thuso Mbedu) who joins the warriors rather than wed a man who will beat her. It was perhaps a bit predictable, but was entertaining.

2 - Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) - 8/10 - Chantal Akerman - #S&S - A 40 something Belgian widow goes about her daily routine over a three day period. She has dinner with her son, cooks, cleans, runs errands, takes a bath, babysits, has sex with men for money before her son comes home from school, and so on. Based on the length of the film and the description, I went in expecting to be bored with the film and to not really like it. I ended up being pleasantly surprised and enjoyed it. I wouldn't rank it among my all time favorites by any means, but it was good.

3 - The Headless Woman (2008) - 6/10 - Lucrecia Martel - #SouthAmerica - A woman runs over a dog while momentarily distracted by her cell phone while on a deserted road. She is shaken up and doesn't get out to check on it. She continues to be out of sorts for days to come as she convinces herself that she might have actually run over a child instead of a dog. The film seemed a bit lifeless at times and while it isn't bad, it didn't really do much for me.

4 - Le Bonheur (1965) - 7.5/10 - Agnès Varda - #Europe - Francois is happily married with a beautiful wife and two young children. They enjoy taking picnics out in the woods. He meets a young single woman and embarks on a relationship with her as well and this only increases his happiness. I've seen this film described as horror wrapped in sunny colors and the description seems to fit. It is very nicely shot.

5 - Portrait of Jason (1967) - 7.5/10 - Shirley Clarke- #Documentary - This film features is essentially just 105 minutes of Jason Holiday being interviewed by Shirley Clarke and another person from off camera. Jason is a good storyteller who seems to love the attention. The first half hour was pretty hilarious, but the rest of it was okay, but not as good. I'm not sure if it was because I was tiring a bit of the shtick, but suspect that was only part of it. Still, overall an interesting film.

6 - Wanda (1970) - 4/10 - Barbara Loden- #iCMForumFaves - Wanda is a not very bright woman whose husband divorces her and keeps their young children since she was neglectful of them. Wanda readily agrees to the divorce and starts wandering, sleeping with men who buy her drinks and give her a place to sleep. She ends up traveling around with a small time criminal who doesn't treat her very well. The film is kind of a slog to get through with uninteresting characters and situations. I didn't think the acting was that great either. The most interesting part of the film was seeing the cars , buildings, etc. from that time period.

Sight and Sound is my major challenge this month, but I thought I might as well watch most of the films I have ready to go which were directed by women. I have a few more and then I'll have to dig up more if I want to make a run at the Bonus Challenge.

[Arkantos]

Thanks for hosting, mightysparks!

1. The Headless Woman (2008, Lucrecia Martel) #SouthAmerica

[airdolll]

Thanks for hosting mightysparks!

1. La mujer sin cabeza | The Headless Woman (2008) Lucrecia Martel #S&S

Good psychological portrayal of guilt and the discomfort of acknowledging privilege.

2. La niña santa | The Holy Girl (2004) Lucrecia Martel #ICMForumFaves

Liked this one less than La mujer sin cabeza or Zama, but I still enjoyed the characters and the intimate feel. Very sweet ending.

Watched films:

1. La mujer sin cabeza | The Headless Woman (2008) Lucrecia Martel
2. La niña santa | The Holy Girl (2004) Lucrecia Martel

[maxwelldeux]

1. Coded Bias (2020) #BLM
This is a documentary about algorithmic bias against protected groups, notably women and people of color. It's a topic I know quite a bit about, so I was really curious to see how they would handle the topic. All in all, I was pretty impressed - they raised well-known issues in an engaging way. An interesting perspective, for sure.

2. To All the Boys I've Loved Before (2018) #ChickLit
This was really effective at hitting a specific pre/early-teen-looking-up-at-older-teen genre. I felt the feelings you get at that age as well as the cringe factor you get looking back at that age. On the whole, more fun than I thought it was going to be.

[peeptoad]

Thanks for hosting mighty!

1. La Ciénaga (2001, Argentina) 7 Lucrecia Martel #SouthAmerica

[sol]

Spoiler

1. Pariah (2011) #LGBTQ

2. 7 Boxes (2012) REVISION #SouthAmerica

Directed by Tana Schémbori



The mysteriousness of what is in the boxes of this thriller is so well handled that -- watched for a second time -- it still feels amiss that we discover the contents of the boxes long before the halfway mark. In fact, despite the occasionally effective darkly humorous moment, the middle stretch of the film feels messy as it constantly cuts away from the teen to explore the mobsters, their underlings and mistaken code words. Things culminate very well in the final fifteen minutes though that bring all the main characters together, and the last scene is absolutely pitch perfect given the teenager's obsessions.

3. Grace of My Heart (1996) #S&S

Directed by Allison Anders



Best known for memorable supporting turns in films like Ghost World, it is nice to see Illeana Douglas excelling in a lead role in a character-driven piece like this, but her performance and some nifty songs aside, this not an easy film to warm to. The movie is set over a number of years, concluding in the hippie era, and her story gets less interesting with every change of era, eventually ending up as a maudlin A Star is Born variant. Certainly, the changes in the music industry between periods is interesting, but her personal life just begins to feel more and more melodramatic. Very long film too for what it is.

[peeptoad]

7 Boxes (2012) REVISION #SouthAmerica

Directed by Tana Schémbori

...

The mysteriousness of what is in the boxes of this thriller is so well handled that -- watched for a second time -- it still feels amiss that we discover the contents of the boxes long before the halfway mark. In fact, despite the occasionally effective darkly humorous moment, the middle stretch of the film feels messy as it constantly cuts away from the teen to explore the mobsters, their underlings and mistaken code words. Things culminate very well in the final fifteen minutes though that bring all the main characters together, and the last scene is absolutely pitch perfect given the teenager's obsessions.

This one is also on my watch list for this month. Good to see that you enjoyed it enough to see it a second time, sol.

[flavo5000]

7 Boxes (2012) REVISION #SouthAmerica

Directed by Tana Schémbori

...

The mysteriousness of what is in the boxes of this thriller is so well handled that -- watched for a second time -- it still feels amiss that we discover the contents of the boxes long before the halfway mark. In fact, despite the occasionally effective darkly humorous moment, the middle stretch of the film feels messy as it constantly cuts away from the teen to explore the mobsters, their underlings and mistaken code words. Things culminate very well in the final fifteen minutes though that bring all the main characters together, and the last scene is absolutely pitch perfect given the teenager's obsessions.

This one is also on my watch list for this month. Good to see that you enjoyed it enough to see it a second time, sol.

I remember liking this one too when I saw it a couple years ago.

[flavo5000]

1. Magdalena Viraga (Nina Menkes, 1986)
2. Queen of Diamonds (Nina Menkes, 1991)
3. The Bloody Child (Nina Menkes, 1996)
4. Phantom Love (Nina Menkes, 2007)
5. Hitparkut a.k.a. Dissolution (Nina Menkes, 2010)


6. Tomboy (Céline Sciamma, 2011)


7. Mississippi Masala (Mira Nair, 1991)

Spoiler

1. Magdalena Viraga (Nina Menkes, 1986)
2. Queen of Diamonds (Nina Menkes, 1991)
3. The Bloody Child (Nina Menkes, 1996)
4. Phantom Love (Nina Menkes, 2007)
5. Hitparkut a.k.a. Dissolution (Nina Menkes, 2010)
6. Tomboy (Céline Sciamma, 2011)
7. Mississippi Masala (Mira Nair, 1991)

[Silga]

1. The Peacemaker (Mimi Leder, 1997) 6/10 (rewatch) #ChickLit
2. Nothing Compares (Kathryn Ferguson, 2022) 8/10 #Documentary

[blocho]

1. Detroit (2017, Kathryn Bigelow)
Bigelow’s social conscience as represented by her work on screen has heretofore seemed morally suspect to me. She made both a rigorously apolitical movie in The Hurt Locker (stripping a war film of politics is itself a political choice) and cinema’s foremost apologetics of torture in Zero Dark Thirty. So I was a bit surprised to find that Detroit is a movie that takes a far more sour view of the violence meted out by the state, including acts that can only be described as torture. Is this Bigelow making amends for Zero Dark Thirty? Or is she making a more nuanced point — some torture good; other torture bad? I’m uncertain. In any case, Detroit is excellent. Riveting, well-acted and well-filmed, and a valuable depiction of just one episode of police savagery among the many thousands that occurred during the police/military urban riots of the late 1960s.

2. The Willmar 8 (1981, Lee Grant) #Documentary
After seeing Down and Out in America for the Documentary Challenge in December, I knew I wanted to see Lee Grant’s other documentaries. This one is about a group of eight women in a small Minnesota town who go on strike against the bank they work at after being repeatedly passed over for promotion and denied even the chance to apply for managerial positions. As far as filmmaking goes, this is a very basic production. And Grant makes no pretense of impartiality, though her repeated attempts and failures to get anyone from the bank to provide a comment is an ongoing plot point, so she’s at least trying to hear the other side. I also think a bit of detail was missing here. I wanted to know more about the reasoning for the ultimate decision on the case by the National Labor Relations Board. In any case, as I've written before on this forum, labor movement movies are rare enough that I appreciate any good effort on this topic.

[gunnar]

7 - Werckmeister Harmonies (2000) - 6.5/10 - Ágnes Hranitzky, Béla Tarr - The film is shot fairly well and I liked the theme music and a few of the scenes, but overall I slightly prefer Satantango even though it is nearly three times the length of this film.

8 - She Said (2022) - 7/10 - Maria Schrader - #New - This film tells the tale of the New York Times investigation into Harvey Weinstein by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey. Zoe Kavan and Carey Mulligan are pretty good in their roles as the reporters. The subject is important and I did like the film, but I think it was missing something and seemed a bit by the numbers at times.

9 - Till (2022) - 8/10 - Chinonye Chukwu - #<400 - Danielle Deadwyler stars as the mother of Emmitt Till, the 14 year old boy murdered in 1955 for whistling at a white woman while he was visiting his relatives. The circumstances of Till's death are re-enacted and the rest focuses on the mother's story. Deadwyler does a very nice job.

10 - Where the Crawdads Sing (2022) - 7.5/10 - Olivia Newman - #ChickLit -A girl grows up in the marshlands outside of a town. Her mother and siblings leave over time due to the abusive father and then the father leaves. She is left to fend for herself. Years later, she is arrested and put on trial when her former boyfriend is found dead. I've never read the book, but I found the movie to be pretty entertaining.

Spoiler

1 - The Woman King (2022) - 7.5/10 - Gina Prince-Bythewood - #BLM
2 - Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) - 8/10 - Chantal Akerman - #S&S
3 - The Headless Woman (2008) - 6/10 - Lucrecia Martel - #SouthAmerica
4 - Le Bonheur (1965) - 7.5/10 - Agnès Varda - #Europe
5 - Portrait of Jason (1967) - 7.5/10 - Shirley Clarke- #Documentary
6 - Wanda (1970) - 4/10 - Barbara Loden- #iCMForumFaves

[sol]

7 Boxes (2012) REVISION #SouthAmerica

Directed by Tana Schémbori

This one is also on my watch list for this month. Good to see that you enjoyed it enough to see it a second time, sol.

Just to be clear, I rewatched the film because I couldn't remember why I gave it only a 6 and not a 7/10. After revisiting it, I can say why. The middle chunk is significantly weaker than the first half-hour and final quarter-hour, but the movie at least begins and ends very well. Fantastic ending actually.

[sol]

Spoiler

1. Pariah (2011) #LGBTQ
2. 7 Boxes (2012) REVISION #SouthAmerica
3. Grace of My Heart (1996) #S&S

4. Portrait of Animal Behavior (2015) #<400

Directed by Florencia Colucci



Opening with a hitchhiker who climbs into a man's car under the incorrect assumption that he has pulled over to offer her a ride, this comedy gets to a delightfully quirky start. Things get even more interesting as they later cross paths again and begin an offbeat romance with deliciously awkward silences as the pair look at each other with their narrated thoughts played aloud in a duelling conversation fashion. There are also some amusing sleepwalking woes and neat cutaways to wildlife footage, but the film becomes disappointingly conventional in its second half with formulaic relationship jealousy and fights.

[maxwelldeux]

Woman. Whoa man. Whoooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Man.

1. Coded Bias (2020) #BLM
2. To All the Boys I've Loved Before (2018) #ChickLit

3. My Country, My Country (2006, Laura Poitras) #Documentary
This was an absolutely fascinating look at the insides of the 2005 Iraqi election after the US invasion. Shot cinema verite style, there's a true insider perspective on this, including reactions from families of people running for office, internal politics, as well as looks into coalition forces protecting the elections. I probably would have liked this a lot more 15 years ago, but an interesting time capsule nonetheless.

4. Never Back Down: Revolt (2021, Kellie Madison) #Bechdel
A woman gets human trafficked into a fighting ring. Not a good movie by any means, but some decent enough action to keep one entertained. I'm calling this for #Bechdel because

Spoiler

of the hilarious timing of some dialogue that qualifies. After they're used up and can't fight any more, the women get sold into sexual slavery. So the dialogue about them plotting their escape while brutally beating the sex traffickers to death was very well timed, IMHO.

[flavo5000]

8a. The Great Sadness of Zohara (Nina Menkes, 1983)
8b. The Lioness (Nina Menkes, 2022)
8c. Verdict Not Guilty (Eloyce Gist + guy, 1933)
8d. Heaven-Bound Traveler (Eloyce Gist + guy, 1935)
8e. Helicopter (Kit Zauhar, 2016)
8f. The Terrestrials (Kit Zauhar, 2018)


9. Hideout in the Sun (Doris Wishman, 1960) #<400


10. A Taste of Flesh (Doris Wishman, 1967)


11. God Said, 'Ha!' (Julia Sweeney, 1998) #LMAO


12. National Bird (Sonia Kennebeck, 2016) #Documentary


13. The Rider (Chloé Zhao, 2017)

Spoiler

1. Magdalena Viraga (Nina Menkes, 1986)
2. Queen of Diamonds (Nina Menkes, 1991)
3. The Bloody Child (Nina Menkes, 1996)
4. Phantom Love (Nina Menkes, 2007)
5. Hitparkut a.k.a. Dissolution (Nina Menkes, 2010)
6. Tomboy (Céline Sciamma, 2011)
7. Mississippi Masala (Mira Nair, 1991)
8a. The Great Sadness of Zohara (Nina Menkes, 1983)
8b. The Lioness (Nina Menkes, 2022)
8c. Verdict Not Guilty (Eloyce Gist + guy, 1933)
8d. Heaven-Bound Traveler (Eloyce Gist + guy, 1935)
8e. Helicopter (Kit Zauhar, 2016)
8f. The Terrestrials (Kit Zauhar, 2018)
9. Hideout in the Sun (Doris Wishman, 1960) #<400
10. A Taste of Flesh (Doris Wishman, 1967)
11. God Said, 'Ha!' (Julia Sweeney, 1998) #LMAO
12. National Bird (Sonia Kennebeck, 2016) #Documentary
13. The Rider (Chloé Zhao, 2017)

Bonus Needed: #Silent, #Animation, #Scifi, #FinalGirl, #ChickLit, #Bechdel, #BLM, #New, #iCMForumFaves, #S&S, #AcademyAward, #Asia, #Africa, #Europe, #SouthAmerica, Oceania, #NorthAmerica

[sol]

This was another "I can't remember why I only gave it a 6/10" rewatch, only in this case the film climbed to a 7 for me upon revisit.

Spoiler

1. Pariah (2011) #LGBTQ
2. 7 Boxes (2012) REVISION #SouthAmerica
3. Grace of My Heart (1996) #S&S
4. Portrait of Animal Behavior (2015) #<400

5. The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018) REVISION #Bechdel

Directed by Susanna Fogel



Watched for a second time, the mysterious package here still irksomely comes off as a pure McGuffin, but the chemistry between lead actresses Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon is amazing, and the film really succeeds as a look at two believable best friends getting in over their heads while inadvertently exploring the world and leaving their humdrum lives behind that they both have come to resent. The action also nicely varies from car chases, to foot chases, to close combat, to explosives, to even trapeze circus acts. A really energetic effort and just as entertaining upon rewatch knowing everything.

[gunnar]

11 - The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach (1968) - 5.5/10 - Danièle Huillet, Jean-Marie Straub - The film mostly consists of people in period costume performing works composed by J.S. Bach with sporadic narration from his second wife's (fictitious) journal about his life. The film is worth listening to for the classical music if you are in to that at all and I would rate the music as a 9/10, but the narration is kind of tiresome and what acting there is is fairly wooden. As a movie on its own, it's not very good.

12 - Leviathan (2012) - 3/10 - Véréna Paravel, Lucien Castaing-Taylor - The film takes place on a fishing boat in the North Atlantic. There is a lot of shaky cam and no real dialogue other than a bit of background noise. One person described it as a Brakhage film with added fish. That seems like an apt description.

13 - XXY (2007) - 6/10 - Lucía Puenzo - Alex is an intersex teen who explores both sides of her gender identity. Her family wants to be supportive, but also wants Alex to decide which gender she will follow. Alex doesn't really seem to be a very interesting individual and the film is a bit dull at times, though there are a few interesting scenes.

Spoiler

1 - The Woman King (2022) - 7.5/10 - Gina Prince-Bythewood - #BLM
2 - Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) - 8/10 - Chantal Akerman - #S&S
3 - The Headless Woman (2008) - 6/10 - Lucrecia Martel - #SouthAmerica
4 - Le Bonheur (1965) - 7.5/10 - Agnès Varda - #Europe
5 - Portrait of Jason (1967) - 7.5/10 - Shirley Clarke- #Documentary
6 - Wanda (1970) - 4/10 - Barbara Loden- #iCMForumFaves
7 - Werckmeister Harmonies (2000) - 6.5/10 - Ágnes Hranitzky, Béla Tarr
8 - She Said (2022) - 7/10 - Maria Schrader - #New
9 - Till (2022) - 8/10 - Chinonye Chukwu - #<400
10 - Where the Crawdads Sing (2022) - 7.5/10 - Olivia Newman - #ChickLit

[blocho]

3. The German Doctor (2013, Puenzo) #ChickLit
Comments in the South America challenge.

4. Raw (2016, Ducournau) #ICMForumFaves
Going off to college is a jolt for a lot of people. For many, it’s their first significant time away from their family. It’s an entirely new social and academic realm. It’s oftentimes in a new locale. What follows is usually a process of self-exploration and self-definition. It can be such a rattling experience that perhaps everyone who survives it without dismemberment should consider themselves lucky.

There’s a throwaway line of dialogue halfway through this movie, when a father advises one of his two daughters not to ever have two daughters that at the moment struck me as casually cruel. I thought it pointed toward the way that going to college, for the protagonist, represented a destabilizing liberation from the confines of a harsh family. By the movie’s end, another meaning becomes clear. It’s just one example of how much more clever and interesting Raw is than the typical horror movie.

[sol]

Another rewatch, this time one that I didn't expect to go up my estimation, yet it did.

Spoiler

1. Pariah (2011) #LGBTQ
2. 7 Boxes (2012) REVISION #SouthAmerica
3. Grace of My Heart (1996) #S&S
4. Portrait of Animal Behavior (2015) #<400
5. The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018) REVISION #Bechdel

6. Lady Bird (2017) REVISION #AcademyAward

Directed by Greta Gerwig



Rewatched after five years, this is a movie that works far better without the weight of the Oscar buzz that surrounded it at the time. Several scenes also feel more spontaneous compared to in 2018 when award show clips and trailers spelled most of the film out. That said, the project certainly does not do a lot more than the average coming-of-age comedy out there. Coming-of-age comedies are undervalued genre in general though and this one benefits from a very authentic lead character. And Laurie Metcalf really shines as her overbearing mother, however, Tracy Letts as her quiet father is equally impressive, if not more so. The way the film pivots around the weirdness of identifying ourselves by a name "randomly" chosen by our parents is an intriguing idea too.

[Lonewolf2003]

1. Underworld: Blood Wars (2016, Anna Foerster): 5.2 #SciFi

[Arkantos]

2. Beau travail (1999, Claire Denis) #S&S

The List

1. The Headless Woman (2008, Lucrecia Martel) #SouthAmerica
2. Beau travail (1999, Claire Denis) #S&S

[vortexsurfer]

1. Censor (Prano Bailey-Bond, 2021) - 8/10 #FinalGirl

[sol]

Spoiler

1. Pariah (2011) #LGBTQ
2. 7 Boxes (2012) REVISION #SouthAmerica
3. Grace of My Heart (1996) #S&S
4. Portrait of Animal Behavior (2015) #<400
5. The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018) REVISION #Bechdel
6. Lady Bird (2017) REVISION #AcademyAward

7. Women Talking (2022) #ChickLit

Directed by Sarah Polley



While the decision to leave or stay here might sound simple, the film dives into every fear and worry plaguing the women, including not knowing what is out there beyond their community. The film has quite a few striking elements, including distracting (if deliberate) colour desaturation and intrusive voiceover that fortunately soon disappears. The most striking aspect though is how little agency the men in the film are afforded; none of the perpetrators are ever given a voice, nor do we ever see their faces except in long shot. The film leaves a few unanswered questions, but this pretty was damn intense.

[jdidaco]

Thank you for hosting and putting up the very tempting Scavenger Hunt, mightysparks!

(Screenshots from 'A byahme mladi' & 'EAMI'),



1. Zhivotut si teche tiho... (Life Flows Slowly By..., Binka Zhelyazkova & Hristo Ganev, 1957/88) 9/10 (#Europe)
2. A byahme mladi (We Were Young, Binka Zhelyazkova, 1961) 10/10 (#<400)
3. La donna nella Resistenza (Women of the Resistance, Liliana Cavani, 1965) 9/10 (#Documentary)
4. L'ospite (The Guest, Liliana Cavani, 1971) 8/10
5. Feminino Plural (Vera de Figueiredo, 1976) 7/10
6. Samba da Criação do Mundo (Samba of the Creation of the World, Vera de Figueiredo, 1979) 9/10 (#ChickLit)
7. Le grain de sable (Grain of Sand, Pomme Meffre, 1983) 8/10 (#LMAO)
8. Amelia Lópes O'Neill (Valeria Sarmiento, 1991) 8/10 (#SouthAmerica)
9. Images d'Orient: Tourisme vandale (Images of the Orient: Vandal Tourism, Angela Ricci Lucchi & Yervant Gianikian, 2001) 8.5/10
10. EAMI (Paz Encina, 2022) 8/10 (#New)

[airdolll]

3. XXY (2007) Lucía Puenzo #SouthAmerica
4. El niño pez | The Fish Child (2009) Lucía Puenzo #ChickLit
5. A Woman's Revenge | A Vingança de Uma Mulher (2012) Rita Azevedo Gomes #Europe





It's insane how consistently gorgeous this looks.

Watched films:

1. La mujer sin cabeza | The Headless Woman (2008) Lucrecia Martel #S&S
2. La niña santa | The Holy Girl (2004) Lucrecia Martel #ICMForumFaves
3. XXY (2007) Lucía Puenzo #SouthAmerica
4. El niño pez | The Fish Child (2009) Lucía Puenzo #ChickLit
5. A Woman's Revenge | A Vingança de Uma Mulher (2012) Rita Azevedo Gomes #Europe

[DudeLanez]

1. The Last Stage (1948, Wanda Jakubowska) 6/10 #Bechdel

[maxwelldeux]

Woman. Whoa man. Whoooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Man.

1. Coded Bias (2020) #BLM
2. To All the Boys I've Loved Before (2018) #ChickLit
3. My Country, My Country (2006, Laura Poitras) #Documentary
4. Never Back Down: Revolt (2021, Kellie Madison) #Bechdel

5. The Edge of Democracy (2019, Petra Costa) #SouthAmerica
Comments in the ABPU challenge.

6. Near Dark (1987, Kathryn Bigelow) #FinalGirl
Vampires are always a tough sell for me. While I thought this was "fine" as a film, nothing outside of the vampire stuff really elevated it.

7. Shoes (1916, Lois Weber) #Silent
I actually liked this one. You have a young woman living with her family in poverty, and she needs new shoes - they're worn out. But all her money has to go to supporting her family, especially since her dad is a deadbeat. And all she wants is some new shoes - her current ones are making her miserable. So she hyperfixates, and looks for any way to get new shoes. Great look into poverty and what you have to deal with just to get by.

[gunnar]

14 - Zama (2017) - 7/10 - Lucrecia Martel - Zama is a Spanish officer stationed in a remote part of Argentina, far from his wife and children. He longs for a transfer to a larger location, but is frustrated in his efforts. The tedium of life in this part of the colonial world takes its toll on him over time.

Spoiler

1 - The Woman King (2022) - 7.5/10 - Gina Prince-Bythewood - #BLM
2 - Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) - 8/10 - Chantal Akerman - #S&S
3 - The Headless Woman (2008) - 6/10 - Lucrecia Martel - #SouthAmerica
4 - Le Bonheur (1965) - 7.5/10 - Agnès Varda - #Europe
5 - Portrait of Jason (1967) - 7.5/10 - Shirley Clarke- #Documentary
6 - Wanda (1970) - 4/10 - Barbara Loden- #iCMForumFaves
7 - Werckmeister Harmonies (2000) - 6.5/10 - Ágnes Hranitzky, Béla Tarr
8 - She Said (2022) - 7/10 - Maria Schrader - #New
9 - Till (2022) - 8/10 - Chinonye Chukwu - #<400
10 - Where the Crawdads Sing (2022) - 7.5/10 - Olivia Newman - #ChickLit
11 - The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach (1968) - 5.5/10 - Danièle Huillet, Jean-Marie Straub
12 - Leviathan (2012) - 3/10 - Véréna Paravel, Lucien Castaing-Taylor
13 - XXY (2007) - 6/10 - Lucía Puenzo