Female Film Critics 24/375
Joining a host of recent works of both fact and fiction – such as Sudabeh Mortezai’s Joy and Gabrielle Brady’s Island Of The Hungry Ghosts – which highlight the refugee crisis engulfing the globe, Capernaum is a gut-punch reminder that the rise of isolationist politics is leaving swathes of human casualties in its wake. Devastating but utterly essential cinema
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Writer Laura Eason’s screenplay effectively mines the anonymity and isolation of modern life, where people connect more easily through technology than face-to-face; we often see Vivienne surrounded by people but utterly, desperately alone. And if Fabien Constant’s direction sometimes over-eggs the pudding, the emotional truth of the story, and Parker’s nuanced, sympathetic performance, prevent it from straying too far into melodrama.
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An electric turn from Mary Elizabeth Winstead pulses through this striking feature debut from short filmmaker Eva Vives, which effectively shines a light on issues of honesty, identity and equality through the story of a stand-up comedian transplanted from cacophonous New York to the more introspective LA. While the character’s resulting journey of self-discovery may follow familiar lines, it is bracing nevertheless.
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Rungano Nyoni’s debut feature, I Am Not A Witch could be described as bold filmmaking. The story of an eight-year-old Zambian girl accused of witchcraft is both visceral drama and intelligent, powerful social commentary. Yet for writer/director Nyoni, it was simply a narrative she felt compelled to bring to an audience.
“Fasten your seat belt and let’s move,” says Hasidic Jewish woman Rachel ‘Ruchie’ Freier early on in 93Queen, and you
Read moreWith films like Winter’s Bone and documentary Stray Dog, Debra Granik has proved herself to be a masterful explorer of
Read moreThe exploration of history through the female experience remains a rare thing in filmmaking – and perhaps nowhere more so
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To say that Lynne Ramsay has a powerful understanding of film may be an obvious statement, given that she’s made
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For her first feature in four years, filmmaker Lynne Shelton (Humpday, Your Sister’s Sister) turns in a bittersweet exploration of
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As the opening credits of Clio Barnard’s Dark River play over a black screen, we hear the landscape before we
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