Our resident film buff Rose Marel offers a weekly appraisal of movies directed by women.
She’s A Feminist Without Even Realising It In Whale Rider From out of the aquamarine comes the graceful body of a whale. In the quiet capsule of water, a sliding melody begins to echo the song of a whale. Raising the hairs on your arms, this haunting music wafts forwards, and a soft voice begins …
Tiny Furniture in Huge Houses Before there was Girls, there was Tiny Furniture, the micro-budget feature film that launched Lena Dunham’s career. Think Hannah, think Jessa, and think extreme relevance in the form of ‘what-the-hell-am-I-doing-with-my-life’ themes.
Planting a Family Is Easy, Growing One Is Hard, But The Kids Are All Right “Why’d you donate sperm?” “Well, it’s a lot more fun than donating blood.” True indeed, but far messier…
Conflict, Confusion and Connection in Somersault In the same way that Miley Cyrus wears scrunchies and pigtails with thigh-high latex, Somersault perfectly captures that same contradiction between sexuality and juvenility. Heidi (Abbie Cornish) makes a mistake by “fooling around” with her mother’s boyfriend, in her fumbling search for affection and adulthood. When she’s sprung, the …
Bitches Gonna Bitch, Stitches Gonna Stitch Taking “small town hole” status to new extremes is Dungatar, the childhood home of Myrtle Dunnage (Kate Winslet). Within the first ten seconds of The Dressmaker the viewer understands that she had left, but is now returned, and that a ripple of memories lie unsettled, ready to be …
When You Give Advice That Turns Out to Be Shitty and They Come to Get Payback If a good thriller makes you just as excited as it makes you bite off your fingernails, then you’ll love Money Monster. The key facts you need to know? Live television. Narcissistic, rich presenter. Gunman. Hostage situation. Bombs. …
Roller Derby and Bruises the Size of Your Face I love any movie with an underdog and a hidden talent. Bliss (Ellen Page) certainly checks both of these boxes in the delightfully entertaining Whip It, directed by Drew Barrymore. Stifled by a small-town life where roads lead to dead-ends, Bliss and best friend Pash (Alia …
“I Know Kung Fu!” Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves) drifts through his life, publically as a corporate worker, and secretly hunched over his computer as the hacker Neo. He exists with a nagging, desperate feeling that something isn’t right. This can’t be all there is. He is correct, as he finds out when confronted by …