margaret qualley – Page 2 – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

THE SUBSTANCE (TIFF 2024) – Review by Liz Braun

September 16, 2024September 15, 2024 Liz Braun body horror, Coralie Fargeat, demi moore, Dennis Quaid, margaret qualley, the substance, TIFF 2024

Body horror extravaganza The Substance is over-the-top gross-out fun and a true homage to the masters of the genre. Writer/director Coralie Fargeat takes no prisoners. The Substance is clever, entertaining and a monstrous amount of bloody, lurid, in-your-face fun. Whether women should shoulder quite so much of the blame for how society views them based on age and beauty is the question. The answer may be somewhere in all that patriarchy-inspired jockeying for position.

Festivals

Cannes Film Festival 2024: Yes, Women Cannes – Nikki Fowler reports

May 30, 2024May 29, 2024 Nikki Fowler Adriana Paz, Agathe Riedinger, Anasuya Sengupta, andrea arnold, Camille Cottin, Cannes Film Festival 2024, cate blanchett, Coralie Fargeat, demi moore, Elizabeth Chisela, emma stone, greta gerwig, justine triet, Karla Sofía Gascón, Kelly Rowland, Lily Gladstone, margaret qualley, meryl streep, Omarra Shetty, palme d'or, Payal Kapadia, Rungano Nyoni, Selena Gomez, Trine Dyrholm, victoria carmen sonne, Wei Liang, You Qiao Yin, zoe saldana

This year, the Cannes Film Festival spotlighted a rich diversity within its Official Selection Jury, including prominent women like Oscar nominee Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon) and the Jury President, Oscar-winning director Greta Gerwig (Barbie). The festival celebrated the achievements of many female filmmakers and actresses, who not only appeared on screens in the South of France but also took home prestigious awards. The festival was a powerful celebration of women’s contributions to cinema, setting a high standard for future events.

Reviews

DRIVE-AWAY DOLLS – Review by T. J. Callahan

February 20, 2024February 24, 2024 T. J. Callahan Beanie Feldstein, coen bros, Colman Domingo, Drive-Away Dolls, ethan coen, Geraldine viswanathan, lgbtq, margaret qualley, matt damon, Pedro Pascal, Tricia Cooke

Free spirit Jamie and buttoned up Marian set out on a spur of the moment trek to Tallahassee to break free from former relationships and start anew. Things quickly go wrong when they discover their rental car is carrying even more baggage than they thought…a highly sought after silver attaché. A pair of bumbling wannabe tough guys are soon assigned to the case of retrieving the case which puts the Dolls in danger. Audiences should make sure they buckle up for this barnstorming journey as Drive-Away Dolls takes us on a wild ride of not just criminal capers, but sexual exploration and the tools that can go with it. This film is a phallic farce full of dings and dongs that may make even the uninhibited squirm.

Reviews

DRIVE-AWAY DOLLS – Review by Diane Carson

February 20, 2024February 24, 2024 Diane Carson ari wegner, Beanie Feldstein, coen bros, Colman Domingo, Drive-Away Dolls, ethan coen, Geraldine viswanathan, lgbtq, margaret qualley, matt damon, Pedro Pascal, Tricia Cooke

Ethan Coen revives a trashy, B-movie world in Drive-Away Dolls. Fans of Ethan Coen can reliably predict his nonconformist approach in subject and style to his unique, memorable creations. That knowledge certainly informs his latest, Drive-Away Dolls, co-written with Tricia Cooke, Ethan’s wife. According to this month’s American Cinematographer, Coen says he fully intended to make a low-budget “trashy movie.” He succeeds stylistically and thematically in this disjointed road adventure.

Festivals Reviews

SANCTUARY (TIFF 2022) – Review by Ulkar Alakbarova

September 19, 2022October 23, 2025 Ulkar Alakbarova Christopher Abbott, margaret qualley, Micah Bloomberg, Sanctuary, Zachary Wigon

Has a thought such as ‘stop the world I want to get off’ crossed your mind while watching a specific film? A film that you have no clue what it’s about; neither its concept nor what it tries to tell you? The film that you have no words to describe. I will tell you what I planned to write about Zachary Wigon’s Sanctuary – this is just a phenomenal film that you won’t be able to not tell your friends about. So just go and watch it. End of review. But as a film critic, I should probably do better than that.

Festivals Reviews

STARS AT NOON (MIFF 2022) – Review by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

August 16, 2022 Alexandra Heller-Nicholas claire denis, Eric Gautier, Joe Alwyn, margaret qualley, melbourne international film festival, MIFF 2022, Stars at Noon, Tindersticks

Stars at Noon is a seductive, sexy ride, and when we’re in it it’s a pleasant enough journey. Running at well over two hours, however, it does at times overstay its welcome, a result perhaps of a too-loyal commitment to its literary source material. Stars at Noon is a satisfying one night stand of a film; it’s pleasurable enough while it is happening, but the second it’s over it’s almost far too easy to forget.

Reviews

MAID – Review by Martha K Baker

October 6, 2021October 8, 2021 Martha K. Baker (Archived Contributor) Andie MacDowell, Anika Noni Rose, Maid, margaret qualley, Molly Smith Metzler, netflix, series, Stephanie Land

The creator of Maid, Molly Smith Metzler, wrought fiction from Maid, a good book of facts about poverty in America. Although it’s best to remember that the television series is not the book (kind of like Nomadland“, the Netflix series sincerely studies poverty — especially its burden on women.

Reviews

MY SALINGER YEAR – Review by Maitland McDonagh

March 3, 2021March 3, 2021 Maitland McDonagh J.D. Salinger, Joanna Rakoff, margaret qualley, My Salinger Year, sigourney weaver

The trouble with My Salinger Year isn’t that it’s a terrible movie–it’s not. It’s that its version of Joanna Rakoff ‘s novel is so profoundly uninteresting; earnest, naïve, bright without being especially perceptive and untested by the kind of experiences that fiction writers use to force such unformed characters to develop.

Interviews Movie of the Week

Filmmaker Margaret Betts on NOVITIATE — Interview by Kristen Page-Kirby

December 30, 2017October 24, 2018 Kristen Page-Kirby 0 Comments margaret betts, margaret qualley, motw, Movie of the Week, novitiate

“Novitiate” is a love story about a girl in a relationship with a guy who just doesn’t seem to be paying much attention to her. It’s a fairly typical tale, except the girl is a 17-year-old nun in training and the guy is God. In the drama, opening Friday, Cathleen (played by Margaret Qualley) enters the (fictional) convent of the Sisters of Blessed Rose in 1964. She begins her journey toward becoming a nun with a one-year stint as a postulant, getting used to the daily routine of the convent.

Movie of the Week Reviews

MOVIE OF THE WEEK: October 27: NOVITIATE

October 22, 2017May 19, 2020 Betsy Bozdech 0 Comments anne brodie, Cate Marquis, dianne agron, esther iverem, jeanne wolf, jennifer merin, liz whittemore, maggie betts, margaret betts, margaret qualley, maryann johanson, melissa leo, nell minow, novitiate, nuns, Sheila Roberts, susan wloszczyna, thelma adams, vatican ii

Writer/director Margaret Betts’ first feature is a compelling drama that tells the sometimes-bleak story of Cathleen, an earnest young woman who decides to take the veil in the early 1960s, as Vatican II reforms dictated changes in the cloistered lives of women religious. Novitiate is a stunning eye-opener. Continue reading…