Female Film Critics 24/375
Famous and beloved astrologer Walter Mercado shines in Cristina Costantini and Kareem Tabsch’s documentary profile of the charismatic gender-defying star who guided 120 million devoted fans per day over decades to believe in themselves.
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As musical biopics go, Amy Goldstein’s Kate Nash: Underestimate the Girl is what would happen if American Idol’s backstories of its aspiring singing contestants had less heart-tugging sob content and more honesty about how becoming a chart-topping star is not quite what it is cracked up to be these days. That is especially true for females in the industry, no matter how fiercely feminist they are. Nash’s struggles to continue to be an artist are very real.
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Amy Goldstein’s film illustrates why both women and men underestimate, or neglect women who create independently in both film and music. We expect women to scream, artistically or sometimes even literally, in order to be noticed. We expect them to be lauded by the powers that be. Or, we expect them to self-destruct. But, Kate Nash is a performer and creator who finds a way to speak her truth, loudly and creatively, as a woman, and on her own terms.
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This documentary opens with 30 year-old Swift pouring over her old diaries. She recalls “a need to be thought of as good.” While that propelled her into seeking public appreciation, it also deluded her into thinking that the approval of others might bring her true happiness.
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I Am Woman, directed by Unjoo Moon, is a timely, yet familiar biopic on music legend Helen Reddy and her contribution to the women’s liberation movement. It’s interesting (and disheartening) to see that many of the issues Helen and her compatriots were fighting for in the ’70s and ’80s are the same issues we are still fighting for today.
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Ryan White’s documentary biography of Ruth Westheimer shows her through all these years, but for her childhood, he adds animation — a rather weird choice. Better are scenes of her with Steinem and Obama, of her talking sex, not politics, and of her back in Europe visiting her haunts, of her in her old apartment with her long-time secretary, trying to keep up with her.
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In her new documentary, Love Gilda, filmmaker Lisa Dapolito pays tribute to and chronicles the life and career of beloved comedian Gilda Radner, who died of cancer at age 44.. In this interview, Dapolito talks about getting to know Radner through her diaries and recordings, about Radner’s influence on some of today’s brightest talents and about creating a new generation of Radner fans.
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Curiously, although the documentary shows Jane Fonda transforming herself throughout her life, the film is structured in five chapters, mostly built around the men in her life, although the men were mostly an accompaniment to her transformations.
Read moreHedy Lamarr, the inventor… who knew?! What’s clear from Alexandra Dean’s engaging and eye-opening documentary is that everyone should be
Read moreIf you use WiFi or GPS, you owe something to Hedy Lamarr. BOMBSHELL: HEDY LAMARR tells the astonishing story of
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