ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

Female Film Critics 24/375

Author: Susan Wloszczyna

Reviews 

HOPE – Review by Susan Wloszczyna

Susan Wloszczyna , , , , , , ,

It takes some cinematic guts for a filmmaker to base a movie on their own harrowing encounter with a terminal cancer diagnosis that eventually led to a nine-year hiatus from their craft. With Hope, Norwegian writer/director Maria Sodahl doesn’t just make a comeback, but she also delivers a no-holds-barred accounting of a relationship of an unmarried couple with six children of various ages between them whose romantic inclinations have grown stale as the pair focus on their own creative pursuits.

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Reviews 

SUGAR DADDY – Review by Susan Wloszczyna

Susan Wloszczyna , , , , ,

Sometimes, a girl has to do what a girl has to do just to survive and, perhaps, make her dream come true. That is the case with Sugar Daddy’s Darren (Kelly McCormack), a struggling 25-year-old free spirit who aspires to become a musical artist. But her lack of funds forces her to take odd jobs such as a caterer just to make ends meet. After she is fired for sneaking food into her backpack, however, Darren decides to become an escort for older males who just want a female presence when they go out to dinner.

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Reviews 

GROOMED – Review by Susan Wloszczyna

Susan Wloszczyna , , , , ,

Director Gwen van de Pass, who lives in San Francisco as an adult, turns the tables on that scenario by being able take control of the narrative of own sexual abuse story. As a pre-teen in Holland in the late-‘90s, she was part of a swim team whose male assistant instructor singled her out for special attention. She continues to be haunted by how her sexual abuser systematically made her feel special while taking physical liberties with an under-aged child. Van de Pas uses the medium of film to perform a kind of exorcism for her and others so they can move on with their lives.

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Reviews 

ROSE PLAYS JULIE – Review by Susan Wloszczyna

Susan Wloszczyna , , , , , , , ,

If you had trouble watching Carey Mulligan in Promising Young Woman turning the tables on men who prey on inebriated women in bars as she sets a trap by acting drunk in clubs in you should be forewarned that the eerie, unnerving thriller Rose Plays Julie takes such matters more than a few steps farther. Let’s just say the spirit of the cult ‘80s vengeance drama Ms. 45 is alive and kicking years later.

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Reviews 

MOXIE – Review by Susan Wloszczyna

Susan Wloszczyna , , , , , , , , ,

Never would I think that a teen-aimed movie would cause me to Google how many R’s are in riot grrrl. But leave it to Amy Poehler to introduce a rage-filled femme-forward music movement spin-off of punk from the ‘90s to the Covid-19 generation. In Moxie, she shows up both in front of the camera as a semi-cool mom of an introverted high-schooler and behind it as it director. But the focus is on Hadley Robinson as her daughter Vivian, who is trying to define herself while facing the task of writing a college essay.

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Reviews 

THE ORPHANAGE – Review by Susan Wloszczyna

Susan Wloszczyna , , , , ,

Boys will be boys, no matter what their nationality or beliefs. That thought resounded in my head throughout The Orphanage, a coming-of–age tale that is the second cinematic chapter of a planned five-part series directed by Afghan director Shahrbanoo Sadat. The time is 1989 and the place is Kabul. That’s where we first meet 15-year-old movie fan and street kid Qodrat (Qodratollah Qadri) who earns his keep by selling key chains and scalping movie tickets.

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Reviews 

MY ZOE – Review by Susan Wloszczyna

Susan Wloszczyna , , , , ,

Ever since I first saw Julie Delpy in Before Sunrise, the first film in Richard Linklater’s top-notch romantic trllogy, I’ve always found her to be casually mesmerizing and naked with her feelings in a way that only a handful of actresses could ever achieve. That is also true with her latest project, “My Zoe,” where she proves to be a triple threat as the female lead, director and writer.

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Reviews 

TWO OF US – Review by Susan Wloszczyna

Susan Wloszczyna , , , , , ,

Filippo Meneghetti rarely takes a wrong emotional turn with this story of long-time female lovers who are able to keep their relationship on the down-low given their living circumstances. The sweet-natured widow Madeline (Martine Chevallier) is able to hide the fact that she and the much more brazen and younger Nina are a couple since they dwell in adjacent domiciles on the top floor of an apartment building.

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Reviews 

TRUE MOTHERS – Review by Susan Wloszczyna

Susan Wloszczyna , , , , , ,

As someone who was given up for adoption as an infant, True Mothers couldn’t help but touch my heart and souL. What most got to me about Japanese filmmaker Naomi Kawase’s touching drama about a well-off Tokyo couple with an adopted 5-year-old son were the two mothers at the center of the story. The message that matters? That maternal love can come in many forms.

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