Female Film Critics 24/375
The very ephemeral nature of moments in which life and death come to a head unweaves the old neo-realist assurances of the powerful weightiness of the least of us. Rather, Cuaron distances us from any pretensions to human importance as he opens the door to his vision of how fleeting, brief, and weightless human life is. This is a realism that is harsh medicine to the individualist American and to all cultures that are Americanized.
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Since I don’t watch pro wrestling on TV, I was unfamiliar with World Wrestling Entertainment’s Diva champion Paige who inspired this shamelessly self-promoting real-life biopic. Saraya-Jade Bevis was raised by parents, Ricky (Nick Frost) and Julia (Lena Headley) Knight, who run a minor-league wrestling league in Norwich, England.
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Some rare, remarkable stories are the kind I wish were true, and fortunately The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is. Actor Chiwetel Ejiofor knew its inspirational uniqueness as soon as he read William Kamkwamba’s 2016 book of the film’s title, chronicling the true story of thirteen-year-old William, loving school and science.
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The Iranian writer/director Asghar Farhadi is well known and well honored for his works, including the luminous Separation and The Salesman. With Everybody Knows, he continues observing families, but the film trembles on the cusp of telenovela as often as it explores secrets.
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Slowly and steadily, for those who have been paying attention, French filmmaker Bertrand Mandico and Romanian-American actor Elina Löwensohn have become one of the most consistently productive and unrelentingly original collaborative teams working in cinema today.
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Alison Klayman’s documentary profiles the artist, and provides background on his work from the time he left China during the 1970s to study in New York City and became part of the city’s downtown art scene, to the establishment of his home studio in China, his contribution to the architectural design of the stadium used for the Chinese Olympics, and his very well-attended art installation at London’s Tate Gallery.
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“Captain Marvel” is part trippy, rainbow-hued space adventure, part buddy-cop road trip featuring terrific chemistry between Larson and Jackson, and part empowering coming-of-age story. The latter gets a welcome boost when Carol reunites with her stalwart best friend, fellow fighter pilot Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch), and Maria’s precocious daughter Monica (Akira Akbar), who help her rediscover her true self in time for the superpowered final showdown.
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How did a concussion injury become a romantic comedy cliché? Following What Men Want, this is the second cinematic instance in 2019 when a woman’s life suddenly changes – for the better – after she suffers a brain injury. Formulaically scripted, it evokes the ‘concussive’ concept that’s been around since Mark Twain wrote A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court and recalls Amy Schumer’s I Feel Pretty.
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Following the infamous 2012 case in Steubenville, Ohio, in which two teen boys who were local highschool football heroes assaulted and raped an intoxicated female classmate, Nancy Schwartzman’s compelling documentary, Roll Red Roll, crystalizes the danger of supporting a “boys will be boys” mentality.
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3 Faces is another example of deeply empathetic cinema from the filmmaker, an exploration of the frictions between generations inside Iran while offering sympathy to all parties: the young and the old, the traditional and the cosmopolitan, and in particular the women caught in a transitioning society that too often refuses to grant them the respect they deserve.
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