DON’T SAY GOOD LUCK – Review by Sarah Ward

Don’t Say Good Luck isn’t astute and thoughtful solely because it features Melanie Lynskey. That the Yellowjackets star was the only actor that filmmaker Julia Hart wanted (and even considered) for the movie’s second-biggest role is a perfect piece of shorthand, however. How do you instantly signal to the watching world that a film values emotional honesty, and that it isn’t afraid to confront life’s heartaches and struggles with authenticity? How do you convey that a movie that plays with plenty of familiar elements — such as telling a teen coming-of-age tale, and one about staging a musical at that, while unfurling an illness story — won’t settle for standard? You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah’s Sunny Sandler is Don’t Say Good Luck’s lead, but Lynskey is its lighthouse.

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I’M YOUR WOMAN – Review by Susan Granger

Rachel Brosnahan goes for a total change-of-pace in Julia Hart’s neo-noir crime thriller about a woman struggling to survive. Brosnahan plays Jean, a sheltered suburban housewife whose husband Eddie (Bill Heck) surprises her with a baby. Unable to have children of their own, Eddie ‘acquires’ one, and Jean knows enough about her thieving husband not to ask too many questions.

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AWFJ Movie of the Week, September 21-27: THE KEEPING ROOM

Opening September 2, the AWFJ Movie of the Week is The Keeping Room, director Daniel Barber’s powerful Civil War drama which sees three women fighting to defend their isolated home from a pair of desperate rogue soldiers.. Read on…

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