ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

Female Film Critics 24/375

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THE OTHER BENNET SISTER – Review by Susan Granger

Susan Granger , , , , , ,

Jane Austen aficionados have devoted so much time to “Pride and Prejudice” characters Elizabeth and Darcy that it may come as a surprise that there’s The Other Bennet Sister, a new BritBox series heralded as a ‘sleeper sensation.’ the often-overlooked middle sister, Mary Bennet (Ella Bruccoleri), is a ‘late bloomer.’ According to her hypercritical mother (Ruth Jones) and apathetic father (Richard E. Grant), among the five ‘eligible’ Bennet daughters, she’s a dismal disappointment – not quick-witted nor beautiful, not energetic nor good at games. Based on Janice Hadlow’s 2020 novel, adapted by Sarah Quintrell, this rich, re-imagined spinoff is an archetypal romantic period drama, exploring the “marriage or misery” dilemma faced by women in that patriarchal period.

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WINTER OF THE CROW – Review by Monique Jones

Monique Jones , , , , , ,

Kasia Adamik’s Winter of the Crow, co-written by Adamik, Sandra Buchta and Lucinda Coxon, is a tight thriller that intrigues as much as it paints a picture of bleak political events in 1980s Poland. Lesley Manville is an actress who is never given roles to truly show her talents. Thankfully, Winter of the Crow is one of the projects where Manville is able to showcase her gifts by portraying a layered character who grows amid harsh adversity.

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READING LOLITA IN TEHRAN – Review by Jennifer Green

Jennifer Green , , , , , , , ,

The memoir Reading Lolita in Tehran has many, many fans, and they should be pleased by this faithful film adaptation. Staying very true to its source material, former English literature professor Azar Nafisi’s 2003 memoir about hosting a secret weekly book club with female students in post-revolutionary Iran, means the film can sometimes feel overly episodic, like chapters in a book rather than visual sequences in a narrative arc. But filmmaker Eran Riklis and team have succeeded in conveying the tale’s still-timely messages and capturing its tone.

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COUTURE – Review by Loren King

Loren King , , , ,

Fashion is high minded art and serious business to some; frivolous to others. The always interesting French screenwriter and director Alice Winocour’s drama Couture balances both. Much like life, the story ambles from ordinary, even mundane travails, to matters of life and death. Couture follows three women from different cultures who converge in Paris for fashion week. Nearly all the film’s substantial scenes take place between the women. Their disparate lives may intersect only briefly but Couture is most effective when subtly revealing a world where survival often depends on fleeting connections and unspoken understandings.

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THE BLUE TRAIL – Review by Cate Marquis

Cate Marquis , , , , , ,

The Blue Trail is a future-fantasy film that starts grim but then takes an unexpected turn. In a near future, dystopian Brazil, an authoritarian government flies planes overhead proclaiming that, for the good of families and the economy, all people reaching mandatory retirement age will lose their jobs and be transported to a retiree colony, where “they can relax” and families do not have to take care of them. It is all phrased as if it is being done out of respect and kindness, but 77-year-old Tereza (Denise Weinberg) isn’t buying that happy talk – nor are many others around her.

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