Loren King – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

PIONEERS: FIRST WOMEN FILMMAKERS – Review by Loren King

November 16, 2018November 18, 2018 Loren King 0 Comments alice guy blache, kino lorber, lois weber, mitw, moviemofthe week, Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers, shelly stamp

There are many reasons to love Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers, the six-DVD set from Kino Lorber. This collection of films by women directors with a focus on American films from 1911-1929 is nothing short of amazing. These sophisticated silent films span all genres — drama, comedy, action, romance — and are themselves a revelation for their style and innovation. But producer Bret Wood has also included several short documentaries that feature a stellar cast of film experts, mostly women, who shed light on the films’ importance to cinema and to American culture.

Reviews

BECOMING ASTRID – Review by Loren King

November 9, 2018November 10, 2018 Loren King 0 Comments alba august, astrid lindgren, becoming astrid, biopic, pernille fischer christensen, pippi longstocking

Whether you are a fan of the beloved Pippi Longstocking tales, or know nothing about them or their author, Astrid Lindgren, Becoming Astrid is a welcome introduction. Danish director Pernille Fischer Christensen crafts an incisive, engaging portrait of the artist as a young woman, focusing on her formative years before she became an acclaimed children’s author.

Reviews

HERE AND NOW – Review by Loren King

November 2, 2018November 4, 2018 Loren King 0 Comments cleo from 9 to 5, here and now, laura eason, motw, Movie of the Week, sarah jessica parker

How would a day unfold when it starts with a doctor delivering a grim diagnosis? That’s the premise of Here and Now, a modest but affecting drama written by playwright and House of Cards scribe Laura Eason. It’s an intimate character study that rests on the lead performance from Sarah Jessica Parker.

Reviews

WHAT THEY HAD – Review by Loren King

October 23, 2018October 28, 2018 Loren King 0 Comments blythe danner, elizabeth chomko, hilary swank, Michael Shannon, motw, Movie of the Week, robert forster, what they had

Pangs of authenticity fill Elizabeth Chomko‘s debut feature What They Had and with good reason. Chomko based her film on her own experience with her grandmother’s dementia and the home movies we see in this tender family drama belong to her. The family dynamics and emotional push-pull in Chomko’s story of how various family members deal with the reality of Alzheimer’s Disease has a truthfulness that feels earned.

Reviews

LIYANA – Review by Loren King

October 16, 2018October 20, 2018 Loren King 0 Comments aaron kopp, amanda kopp, animation, documentary, Gina Mhlophe, liyana, motw, Movie of the Week, Shofela Coker, swaziland

Liyana is an innovative blend of documentary and animation that tells a moving story of resiliency and the power of imagination. Directors Aaron and Amanda Kopp follow orphaned children in Swaziland, who’ve suffered traumas from abduction to assault; and most have lost parents to AIDS (Swaziland has the highest HIV prevalence rate in the world). Well-known South African actress, activist and storyteller Gina Mhlophe leads the kids in storytelling sessions that are therapeutic.

Reviews

CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? – Review by Loren King

October 13, 2018October 15, 2018 Loren King 0 Comments how can you forgive me, lee israel, Marielle Heller, Melissa McCarthy

Melissa McCarthy is, not surprisingly, terrific in this juicy dramatic role. Her subtle reactions reveal so much of Lee’s brash personality and damaged soul that she turns this darkly funny tale about an oddball into a biting portrait of a writer raging from the margins.

Reviews

SADIE – Review by Loren King

October 4, 2018October 6, 2018 Loren King 0 Comments megan griffiths, melanie lanskey, mote, Movie of the Week, sadie, sophia mitre schloss

Writer/director Megan Griffiths gives us, with Sadie, a big screen character we don’t see often enough: an American girl, barely a teen, whose childhood has been defined by a distant war. Though we never see a battle, or her soldier dad, the war in the Middle East has created a void in her young life.

Festivals Reviews

TIFF18 Review: WOMEN MAKE FILM: A NEW ROAD MOVIE THROUGH CINEMA – Loren King

September 27, 2018 Loren King 0 Comments documentaries, female filmdirectors, mark cousins, women make film a new road movie through cinema

Taken as a whole, the scope and breadth of the films represented in the documentary is likely to make one wonder, as I did, why aren’t Muratova, Zhelyazkova, Reiniger, Lois Weber and Barbara Loden as famous in the film canon as Scorsese, Orson Welles, John Cassavetes and on and on? We know why. Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema goes a long way toward correcting a glaring omission.

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