Female Film Critics 24/375
Riz Ahmed’s raw intensity as the melancholy heir propels this lean non-traditional take on William Shakespeare’s 1623 masterpiece Hamlet. Set within London’s elite South Asian Hindu community, this haunting and hypnotic fresh retelling pushes Shakespeare’s enduring tragedy into the 21st century with inventive storytelling, demonstrating how timeless that 500-year-old prose is. Ah, at what price is glory?
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When Marissa Tomei’s name is on a cast list, one usually anticipates an engaging performance, but You’re Dating a Narcissist is a rare misfire. Unfortunately, the contemporary romantic comedy may seem like it’s in her wheelhouse, but the female-forward film features a mixed bag of characters who lack depth, ultimately losing its way. In her feature film debut, co-writer and director Ann Marie Allison waffles between a commentary on rom-com tropes while at the same time attempting to stage one. It’s well-meaning, with good performers, and handsomely shot, but lacks staying power, like so many high-concept rom-coms that miss the intended bullseye.
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Despite its titillating title, DTF St. Louis is not as cringy as it may seem, but yes, frank sexuality is a major part of the HBO limited series. Writer-director Steve Conrad’s aim is to explore what repressed desires and temptation lead to in a typical Midwest suburb – the holy trinity of modern crime dramas: betrayal, double-crosses, and secrets. And a healthy dose of awkwardness. As he probes middle-age malaise in an offbeat, but familiar way, Conrad’s seven-episode arc centers on an unusual murder mystery.
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Films about final acts are often divided into sweet or sour, spirited or sad, and Calle Malaga is a stimulating blend of both, for Moroccan filmmaker Maryam Touzani starts with a negative but flips it into a positive. Inspired by her grandmother (and dedicated to her), Touzani co-wrote this warm and tender drama with her husband, filmmaker Nabil Ayouch. Their exploration of a simple, gentle life cycle is invigorated by the expressive Spanish actress Carmen Maura. As the vibrant 79-year-old widow, Maria Angeles Munoz, Maura commands the screen like a maestra seizing a baton.
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With music a wholesome unifier, The Choral is a character-driven wartime drama told in an old-fashioned way that reflects British customs and attitudes in 1916. The Choral Society in Ramsden, Yorkshire, is determined to keep singing while young men are being called to the western front. The choral master is demanding and driven, and some have doubts about what secrets he may have, but they forge ahead. Fiennes is ideally suited to play this rigid, uncompromising music man. Expect to be introduced to fussbudgets, busybodies, old biddies, and fuddy-duddies as singers come together. The film emphasizes sacrifices and community, and how music makes the townsfolk forget World War I for a bit.
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Free spirit Lena (Emma McDonald), an extroverted single mom looking for a feel-good fix, and a timid introvert Daniel (Billy Postlethwaite) ‘meet cute.’ They are each waiting for their dating app swipes at a restaurant, and when they realize they’ve been stood up, decide to keep each other company for dinner. The night extends way beyond a good night kiss. When frisky Lena discovers reticent Daniel has multiple keys of his former residences, from nondescript flats to fancier high-rises, she proposes a naughty adventure – they revisit his past on a tour of London. Sure, it’s breaking and entering, but the impromptu intrigue, and sensual pleasures, are too tempting for the couple, now energized by the fun and games. As they become more intimate with each other, they reveal roots of their troubles. Are they meant to save each other? Each key represents a chapter, unlocking their past lives, which deepens into far darker territory. At first, Lena is pushier and more persuasive, while Daniel is uneasy, but he gets into the groove.
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In a revelatory performance, Lucy Liu stuns as a Chinese American mother facing a terminal cancer diagnosis while her teenage son has worsening mental health issues as his 18th birthday looms in the bleak Rosemead. While difficult, the film’s intensity gives it an urgency about mental health issues overall, and especially in the AAPI community. Grim but gripping, Rosemead hopefully sparks open discussions to prevent suffering in silence. And Liu’s shattering performance lingers.
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In this Wayback Machine, called Breakdown: 1975, we travel back 50 years to a pivotal year that defined daring, imaginative filmmaking, and how coincidentally, it happened between the resignation of President Nixon and the Bicentennial birthday celebration. In Morgan Neville’s well-intentioned documentary, he puts the chaotic 1970s in perspective, touching on how young talented filmmakers like Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman and Steven Spielberg were inspiring a cinematic revolution. Studios took risks, and moviegoers responded in this heralded New Hollywood. As exuberant as this fertile time was, in real life, America was going through dismal days post-Watergate and Vietnam.
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A fantasy feminist fable that relies more on style than substance, 100 Nights of Hero is pretty – in people and surroundings – but at times, the story feels too flimsy to be an innovative take on elevating sisterhood over the pompous patriarchy. As a unifying anthem, the film waited too long to make a bold statement– and while motivation is always welcome, why dilly-dally instead of starting the rallying cry early? Nevertheless, give credit for showing that women can conjure their own happily ever after for themselves.
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Mention the pop culture juggernaut KPop Demon Hunters, and you will immediately be considered “skibidi,” “sigma” or “Gucci,” which is in old-fashioned parlance, ‘cool.’ Dive into this dynamic animated supernatural-action-musical that follows a fashionable girl group who tours the world and moonlights vanquishing demons through sword fights and their bravery. As a unique global and cultural hybrid, KPop Demon Hunters is redefining animation and its fan base continues to broaden. Wouldn’t it be a noteworthy turning point for a female-driven project to blaze another trail?
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