ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

Female Film Critics 24/375

Author: Susan Wloszczyna

Reviews 

HIDDEN LETTERS – Review by Susan Wloszczyna

Susan Wloszczyna , , , , , , , , ,

The documentary Hidden Letters, directed by Violet Du Feng, digs deep into Nushu, a traditional secret writing system used by women in Jiangyong County in China’s Hunan province. For thousands of years, Nushu has been a unique script used exclusively by local women. It is somewhat like calligraphy in that the figures are written with a brush and ink. Originally used in poems and songs, it not only provided women with a coping mechanism against the patriarchal hardships experienced before 1949 but gave them hope and allowed them to leave a legacy for future generations. The last descendant fluent in Nushu may have died in 2000, but efforts have been made to prolong its history.

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Reviews 

LAST FLIGHT HOME – Review by Susan Wloszczyna

Susan Wloszczyna

Ondi Timoner’s highly personal, profoundly bittersweet, and somewhat disquieting documentary Last Flight Home, having agency over one’s final departure isn’t exclusively reserved for those existing in conflict with the status quo. Her father, Eli Timoner’s, was resolute on exercising California’s End of Life Option Act—only available to terminally ill adults. While several European nations protect this course of action within stringent limitations, just 11 states in the United States permit what’s known as medical aid in dying. As a director, Timoner doesn’t take up any debate over her father wanting to control his final days.

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Reviews 

THE WONDER – Review by Susan Wloszczyna

Susan Wloszczyna , , , , , , ,

The first half of the movie is a slow-burn, but the plot catches fire in the second act when science is pitted against religious beliefs in a contest of grieving mothers. Pugh gives a sober, determined performance as a young widow whose loss of a child in infancy causes her to self-medicate with opium as she tries to save another from self-sacrifice.

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Reviews 

CALL JANE – Review by Susan Wloszczyna

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The timely abortion rights film Call Jane, directed by Phyllis Nagy, starts off in Chicago in 1968, as the city and the nation are teetering on the brink of violent political upheaval. We meet a well-off suburban housewife Joy Griffin (Elizabeth Banks, who is the stand-out in the cast) leads an ordinary life with her husband and tween daughter. But when Joy’s pregnancy leads to a life-threatening condition, she must navigate a medical establishment unwilling to help. She then finds learns about the “Janes,” an underground organization of women who provide Joy with a safer alternative — and in the process — changes her life.

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Reviews 

THE REBELLIOUS LIFE OF MRS. ROSA PARKS – Review by Susan Wloszczyna

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The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks is a long overdue documentary that digs deep into the life of the civil rights activist from Montgomery, Alabama and is based on a best-selling biography. The film starts off with a clip of the quiz show To Tell the Truth in which the celebrity panel overlooks the real Rosa Parks.

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Reviews 

SELL/BUY/DATE – Review by Susan Wloszczyna

Susan Wloszczyna , , , , , ,

The documentary Sell/Buy/Date was inspired by actress, writer and first-time film director Sarah Jones and based on her same-named stage play in which she played three other characters who all have connections to the sex trade. There was some controversy about her topic that made people think that she would show a negative portrait of women who make a living in this way. That was not her intent. However, when a social media backlash occurred when the film was announced, producers Laverne Cox and Rashida Jones left the project. However, Meryl Streep stepped up to be the executive producer.

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Reviews 

NOTHING COMPARES – Review by Susan Wloszczyna

Susan Wloszczyna , , ,

Nothing Compares focuses on the life and career of Dublin-born pop singer-songwriter Sinéad O’Connor, who first made a huge splash on the music scene in 1987 when she made her debut album, The Lion and the Cobra, which charted internationally. With her distinctly mesmerizing vocals, shaved head and huge green eyes, she was also a rebellious fashion plate.

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Reviews 

MONA LISA AND THE BLOOD MOON – Review by Susan Wloszczyna

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Filmmaker Ana Lily Amirpour delivers a tasty walk on the wild side with her fourth feature, Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon. The film opens in a dark boggy terrain with the sounds of croaking frogs and other creatures as the song made famous by Nat King Cole is heard in the background.

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Reviews 

THE SILENT TWINS – Review by Susan Wloszczyna

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Polish director Agnieszka Smoczynska serves up an edgy, unnerving and provocative drama with her latest movie The Silent Twins. Not since The Shining have female twins gotten so under my skin. This fictionalized true-life story focuses on June and Jennifer Gibbons, two Black sisters who grew up in Wales and stuck together. Both had a creative streak but they also had major mental illness issues, including incidents of self-harm and psychological woes.

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Reviews 

AWFJ Presents: ELECTRIC SHADOWS – Review by Susan Wloszczyna

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Set during China’s Cultural Revolution, female director Xiao Jiang’s 2004 feature debut, Electric Shadows, is akin to Italy’s 1989’s Oscar-winning Cinema Paradiso as it focuses on how a makeshift outdoor theater brings together a village of cinema lovers. When we first meet film addict Mao (Xia Yu), he is footloose and fancy free. He earns a living by toting water jugs from place to place on his bike. He especially loves action movies, as an image of a Blade Runner poster with Harrison Ford’s face materializes on screen. But by accident, he tumbles into a wall of bricks and is conked on the head with a brick by an angry woman named Ling-Ling (Qi Zhongyang). When she gets arrested, she gives Mao the keys to her apartment and tells him to feed her fish.

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