Female Film Critics 24/375
Moody and revisionist, Mirrah Foulkes’ dark dramedy Judy & Punch speculates about the story behind the classic British puppet show. In the process, it ably explores the important and ageless themes of artistic talent, revenge, superstition, allyship, and domestic violence, all wrapped up in lush cinematography and lavish production design.
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Part Behind the Music episode, part intimate video diary, and part indictment of the way the music industry treats women, director Amy Goldstein’s Kate Nash: Underestimate the Girl is a frank, endearing documentary about what it means to “make it.” It was filmed over the course of four and a half years, following rocker/actress Kate Nash as she figures out what comes after her big break — and the slump that followed it.
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It’s not often that a sharp-tongued, chain-smoking grandmother is the main character in a movie. Tsai Chin’s gutsy, riveting performance as the acerbic, chain-smoking titular character in Lucky Grandma, Sasie Sealy’s tight script and admirable direction, a stellar ensemble and a strong sense of place make the film a sure winner.
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Marriage, like life, is a complicated beast — and there often aren’t clear-cut answers and easy resolutions when things get messy. That compelling theme is the dynamic at the heart of Hilary Brougher’s intimate, poignant drama South Mountain, which follows Lila (Talia Balsam) over the course of a summer as her marriage crumbles and the world she knows shifts into new and discomforting directions.
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There may be no crying in baseball, but you’ll be hard pressed not to shed a tear or two while watching A Secret Love. Chris Bolan’s moving documentary details the 65-year relationship of Terry Donahue and Pat Henschel, which saw them through everything from traveling with the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League to the relief of coming out to family members in their 80s.
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Gritty and sometimes bleak, Annie Silverstein’s Bull is a haunting drama about 14-year-old Kris (Amber Havard), whose future looks about as bright as the dusty neighborhood she lives in on the outskirts of Houston. An unexpected connection offers her a glimpse at new possibilities, but is it enough to permanently change her trajectory?
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A transformative friendship between two teenage girls takes center stage in Martha Stephens’ earnest coming-of-age drama To the Stars. The film features exceptionally strong performances from its stars, Liana Liberato and Kara Hayward, who play the two teen girls who are chafing at the social restrictions and conventional expectations of life in 1960s rural Oklahoma.
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If, in a post-Hidden Figures world, anyone doubts that there are stories of amazing, accomplished women just waiting to be told, have them watch Beyond the Visible: Hilma af Klint. Halina Dyrschka’s fascinating documentary introduces viewers to a groundbreaking Swedish artist whom it’s safe to say that few had heard of — despite the fact that her work upends everything you thought you knew about abstract art.
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Stylish, intense, and thought-provoking, Malgorzata Szumowska’s The Other Lamb is both a gripping coming-of-age story and a dark, disturbing fable about a community of women who find the necessary strength to push back against and escape from a stifling patriarchy that dictates everything about their behavior and expectations in life.
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Lydia Dean Pilcher and Ginny Mohler’s fact-based drama Radium Girls may be set a century in the past, but certain aspects of the story feel as timely as today’s headlines — for instance, when Joey King’s character Bessie bemoans: “Why is there so much wrong in the world that no one knows about?” That feeling of helplessness in the face of events that feel completely out of your control is bound to strike a chord with today’s audiences.
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