ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

Female Film Critics 24/375

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Opening March 20 to 26, 2023 – Margaret Barton-Fumo reports

Margaret Barton-Fumo , ,

The Alliance of Women Film Journalists highlights movies made by and about women. With a vigilant eye toward current releases, we maintain an interactive record of films that are pertinent to our interests. Be they female-made or female-centric productions, they are films that represent a wide range of women’s stories and present complex female characters. As such, they are movies that will most likely be reviewed on AWFJ.org and will qualify for consideration for our annual EDA Awards, celebrating exceptional women working in film behind and in front of the camera.

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THE WORST ONES – Review by Jennifer Merin

Jennifer Merin , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Worst Ones (Le Pire) is a compelling coming of age drama written and directed by French filmmakers Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret. The narrative involves the making of a feature movie with non-actor kids who are cast as whose fictional characters whose personalities roughly resemble their own and whose rough circumstances are similar to the real lives of those who are cast. They are the toughest kids in their on-the-dole community of Boulogne-sur-Mer, one of the poorest cities in France, and they are recruited by a film production company to act in a movie that’s set in their hood.

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MOVING ON – Review by Lois Alter Mark

Lois Alter Mark , , , ,

Moving On, brings Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin back together in a that could almost be called ‘Promising Older Woman.’ This dark comedy uses black humor to shine a light on an important and timely subject – and, thanks to Fonda and Tomlin, it mostly works. The story revolves around Claire (Fonda) and Evelyn (Tomlin), former college roommates who reunite at the funeral of a mutual friend. When we first meet Claire, she’s walking over to the widower (Malcolm McDowell) to inform him, “I’m going to kill you.” She’s not kidding. Underneath the humor, there’s a vital message that needs to be internalized: actions have consequences and moving on can take a lifetime – and, sometimes, a life.

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Oscar-Nominated Animated Shorts – MiniViews by Diane Carson

Diane Carson , ,

Oscar Shorts – Animation Selections inspire and delight. The Oscar nominated shorts programs are always a mixed bag, but never more than this year. The five candidates include two based on actual experiences and three of fanciful animation. The most surprising true story, The Flying Sailor, imagines in both two dimensional, drawn animation and computer generated images a seaman’s life flashing before his eyes.

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CINEMA SABAYA – Review by Cate Marquis

Cate Marquis , , , , , , ,

​At the beginning of the documentary-like Israeli drama Cinema Sabaya, we learn that the word “sabaya” pronounced correctly in Arabic means a group of women but mispronounced it means “women prisoners of war.” It was a term ISIS used to describe the Yazidi women they held captive 2014 and can even imply “sex slave.” It is an interesting start to Orit Fouks Rotem’s slow-burn but ultimately powerful drama, one that touches on cross-cultural issues as well as on what shared aspects in women’s lives.

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THE YELLOWSTONE TRILOGY – Review by Susan Granger

Susan Granger , , , , , , ,

With Yellowstone currently wrangling its fifth successful season, its creators – Taylor Sheridan and John Linson – have lured audiences once again into the interconnected Big Sky mythology of the American West, as epitomized by the dysfunctional Dutton dynasty. The Dutton family has owned the Yellowstone since 1883. That prequel series detailed their westward journey from Texas in a wagon train, showing how John Dutton’s great-grandfather, Civil War veteran James and his wife Margaret founded the Dutton ranch on a spot of land chosen by their daughter Elsa for her gravesite.

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THE SEVEN FACES OF JANE – Review by Rachel West

Rachel West , , , , , ,

In The Seven Faces of Jane, eight directors and eleven screenwriters tell a story about the titular Jane (Gillian Jacobs) as she goes about the course of her week after dropping her young daughter off at camp. The catch is that each of the filmmakers has imagined an entirely different day – and different Jane – to tell their story, not knowing what events come before or after their chapter. Though an innovative and interesting approach, the results are a confusing mishmash that doesn’t quite work to tell a coherent story.

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BREAKING – Review by Loren King

Loren King , , , , , , ,

Breaking is a spare and lean film with a stellar, racially diverse cast that gives the film’s depiction of working people authenticity. John Boyega is flat-out terrific as beaten down war veteran Brian Brown-Easley who, in an act of desperation, holds two women employees hostage in an Atlanta bank as he demands that the VA funds that are owed to him are paid.

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BREAKING – Review by Susan Wloszczyna

Susan Wloszczyna , , , , , , ,

Filmmaker Abi Damaris Corbin’s Breaking is a military take on 1975’s Dog Day Afternoon. In that film, Al Pacino’s bank robber committed a crime so he could pay for his male lover’s sex-change operation, which back in that era felt rather farcical given that LBTQ community was not exactly embraced back then. That stick-up job was based on a true story and so is this one. But the mood here is different — as it portrays how war vets aren’t given support they need to resume life as a civilian.

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THE HATER – Review by Susan Wloszczyna

Susan Wloszczyna , , , , , ,

Joey Alley is a sort of a one-woman band as she makes her feature directorial debut based on her own original screenplay while starring as the main character in The Hater. As Dorothy Goodwin a California resident, a dedicated environmentalist and a liberal speechwriter on a U.S. Senate campaign who loses her job after al protest about a flag goes wrong. This political comedy layers on such hot-button topics as gun control, abortions, climate change as well as support for our veterans.

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