Female Film Critics 24/375
Picking up right after the events of Avengers: Endgame, the new Disney+ series Loki follows the Norse God of Mischief when he’s summoned by the intergalactic Time Variance Authority to right the transgressions that the Avengers’ interference – particularly the utilization of the Tesseract – caused to the timeline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
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Activism and intersectionality are at the heart of Philippa Lowthorpe’s fact-based dramedy Misbehaviour, which follows the tumultuous events surrounding the 1970 Miss World pageant in London and their impact on the women’s liberation movement. While always firmly on the side of the feminists who disrupted the event to protest its objectification of women, the film also makes sure to include other important perspectives on women’s roles and representations — which ultimately makes its message all the more effective.
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Taking factual, electrifying social/political historical events and turning them into engaging human dramas is something British filmmakers are particularly good at. Two obvious recent examples are Made in Dagenham (2010) about women workers who fought for equal pay at the Ford Motor company’s Dagenham factory; and Pride (2014) about the alliance between striking Welsh miners and London’s young LGBT community in 1984. Misbehaviour is a welcome and rousing feminist addition to this genre.
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At its core, Misbehaviour is a crowd pleaser, and that’s a good thing. All over the world, things have been especially tough on women lately. The film also has strong, inspiring messages, mostly based in the idea that ‘well-behaved women rarely make history’, and that it is essential to upend the status quo if it keeps members of society down.
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The focus isn’t on nostalgia but feminist fury. There are two especially galling scenes that are staged for maximum effect. The first is when the contestants walk on stage in swimsuits while their measurements are duly noted, smiling all the while. But then the male announcer on stage says, “There are two sides to everything.” That’s the cue for the women show off their backsides to the crowd for what seems like an eternity. If it sounds demeaning, it is.
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If you’ve never heard of Summerland’s title inspiration, never fear. You’ll recognize the territory immediately. Writer-director Jessica Swale’s feature debut takes us to World War II Britain, where keep-calm, carry-on proprieties reign in a quiet coastal village far from the perils of London during the Blitz.
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If you have the stomach for even more corruption in the political arena, then director John Madden’s new drama Miss Sloane might be just the ticket. Opening Nov. 25, AWFJ’s Movie of the Week is Miss Sloane, a searing look at the business of lobbying, with Jessica Chastain in top form. Read on…
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Opening Nov. 14, AWFJ’s Movie of the Week is Beyond the Lights, the new drama from writer/director Gina Prince-Bythewood (Love & Basketball, The Secret Life of Bees). British actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw stars as a talented young musician on the brink of superstardom who finds herself struggling with her new-found fame Read on…
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