Opening Jan 30 to Feb 5, 2023 – Margaret Barton-Fumo reports

The Alliance of Women Film Journalists highlights movies made by and about women. With a vigilant eye toward current releases, we maintain an interactive record of films that are pertinent to our interests. Be they female-made or female-centric productions, they are films that represent a wide range of women’s stories and present complex female characters. As such, they are movies that will most likely be reviewed on AWFJ.org and will qualify for consideration for our annual EDA Awards, celebrating exceptional women working in film behind and in front of the camera. Our members are feature writers, columnists and regular contributors to a variety of media outlets and many of us publish regularly on the festival circuit. Our critical voices are widespread and diverse. We invite you to join us in tracking weekly releases of particular interest. And we welcome information about new films that will help us to keep our records updated and our critics alert. Below is a concise list of new releases set for the week of January 30 to February 5, 2023 that are of particular interest. Film titles highlighted in red have links to full reviews.  

Tuesday, January 31

• Pamela: a love story – Netflix – USA – Documentary following the life of pop culture icon Pamela Anderson, including never-before-seen archival footage and personal journals.

 

• Townhouse Confidential – Vision Films (Cinemas) – USA – Comedy written by Rosalind Resnick, directed by Patrick Perez Vidauri. When the three Perry sisters, Elizabeth, Lydia, and Mary, inherit a New York City townhouse from their Jane Austen-loving parents, the race is on to find a wealthy tenant to rent their garden apartment to cover their mortgage, taxes, and repairs to avoid losing their home and being forced to move to cheaper digs in New Jersey.

Wednesday, February 1

• The Stories of Us – (VOD) – USA – Documentary directed by Steven Hentges and Monica Levinson. Prolific Hollywood producer Monica Levinson brings a camera home to capture the love, acceptance, and hilarity that spontaneously combust whenever her Jewish American family gather ’round a table.

Friday, February 3

• 80 for Brady – Paramount (Cinemas) – USA – Dramedy written by Emily Halpern and Sarah Haskins. A group of friends made it their life-long mission to go to the Super Bowl and meet NFL superstar Tom Brady.

 

• Baby Ruby – Magnet Releasing (Cinemas, VOD) – USA – Thriller written and directed by Bess Wohl. The tightly scripted world of a vlogger and influencer unravels after she becomes a mother, in noted playwright Bess Wohl’s feature debut. Starring Noémie Merlant.

 

• Body Parts – Shout! Studios – USA – Documentary directed by Kristy Guevara-Flanagan. An examination of how the nude female body is hypersexualized, under attack, and exploited on- and offscreen in Hollywood.

 

• Erin’s Guide to Kissing Girls – Quiver Distribution (VOD) – Canada – Comedy written and directed by Julianna Notten. As middle school is ending, Erin, the only out person in her grade, and Liz, fellow comic nerd and track star, find their friendship tested when Liz is accepted to private school and Erin falls hard for new girl and ex child-star, Sydni.

 

• Full Time – (Cinemas) – France – Drama starring Laure Calamy. Julie finally gets an interview for a job where she can raise her children better only to run into a national transit strike.

 

• She is Love – Bright Iris – USA – Dramedy. Coming face-to-face after being estranged for over a decade, divorced couple, Idris and Patricia, opt to revisit the past and traverse that treacherous path together, emerging open to new beginnings.

 

• Shtetlers – Film Movement (VOD) – Russia – Shtetlers tells the secret story of small Jewish towns in the former Soviet Union. In those small and remote towns of the Soviet interior, hidden from the world outside of the Iron Curtain, the traditional Jewish life continued for decades after it disappeared everywhere else.

 

• True Spirit – Netflix – USA / Australia – Bio-drama directed by Sarah Spillane, co-written by Spillane with Rebecca Banner and Cathy Randall. The story of Australian teenager, Jessica Watson, the youngest person ever to sail solo, non-stop around the world.

 

• TwoTwo – Good Deed Entertainment (VOD) – USA – Fantasy film written and directed by Jun Hoskulds. Socially awkward David appears to have the perfect life, until he loses his corporate job and is faced with eviction. Through a chance encounter with a mysterious young woman on the run, David discovers her unusual ability to manifest reality as she conceives it and their lives become intertwined.

Film descriptions are adapted from press releases. Titles highlighted in red have links to full reviews. Stay tuned in for next week’s releases! Contact us if we’ve overlooked anything.