ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

Female Film Critics 24/375

NYFF 2024

Reviews 

THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG – Review by Jennifer Green

Jennifer Green , , , , , , , ,

What makes this film so impactful is the way one family’s story is developed to reflect and embody the realities of an entire society. Tellingly, last spring, director Mohammad Rasoulof was sentenced to eight years in prison in Iran and other punishments for his critical work. He concluded shooting this film clandestinely and, in a tale worthy of its own film, made his way out of Iran on foot. He now resides in exile in Germany, which nominated Sacred Fig to represent it in this year’s International Oscar race. The film also screened in competition at last May’s Cannes Film Festival,

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Festivals 

New York Film Festival (NYFF 2024) Overview – Diane Carson reports

Diane Carson , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The 62nd New York Film Festival offers a diverse range of film styles and issues, a delightful world cinema snapshot. With entries from Singapore and Georgia, China and Japan, France and Palestine, South Korea and Portugal, any attempt to synthesize the myriad issues and themes is futile, albeit tempting, for all touched on weighty issues, even the more amusing ones.

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Festivals Reviews 

ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT (NYFF 2024) – Review by Margaret Barton-Fumo

Margaret Barton-Fumo , , , , ,

Payal Kapadia’s second feature All We Imagine as Light is a suitably vibrant portrait of the city of Mumbai. Settling quickly on a trio of women, the film opens with a broad perspective, showing images of the bustling city set to voice-overs of its various inhabitants. Many people move to Mumbai for work, resulting in a hybrid population of different backgrounds and even nationalities. Kapadia is deeply interested in women’s struggles, surrounding the story of her main trio of characters with supporting anecdotes. Kapadia avoids wrapping up her criss-crossing plots in a neat bow, keeping her film admirably true to life. Friendship, however, (especially among women) can serve as a healing force, and All We Imagine as Light depicts that salve beautifully.

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Festivals Reviews 

GRAND TOUR (NYFF 2024) – Review by Diane Carson

Diane Carson , , ,

Some films surprise in the most satisfying, delightful way. That’s the case for Portuguese director Miguel Gomes’ Grand Tour, a lark of a film equally divided into two stories. More accurately,Grand Tour delightfully plays with contrasting personalities through civil servant Edward’s and his fiancée Molly’s travels or, more accurately, Edward’s flight and Molly’s pursuit of him. With superb performances by the principal and supporting actors, with stunning cinematography, effective sound, and magnificent art direction, Grand Tour is as unusual, even quirky, as it is imaginative and memorable. This intriguing tale competed for the 2024 Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or and director Miguel Gomes won the well-deserved Best Director award.

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Festivals Reviews 

HAPPYEND (NYFF 2024) – Review by Diane Carson

Diane Carson , , , , , ,

Japanese writer/director Neo Sora’s Happyend chronicles high school friends, on graduation eve, confronting retaliation for a silly prank that goes awry. Taking advantage of an intolerant, hierarchical environment, the principal introduces AI surveillance that enrages students. Tension builds, confrontations escalate, and each student must decide what values will guide significant decisions for their future advancement. Set in a near-future Tokyo high school, it is anchored primarily in the perspective of Kou, a thoughtful student, who has bonded with best friend Yuta, both aspiring DJs. Their world is circumscribed by periodic earthquake sirens and the intrusive, all-encompassing visual scrutiny that follows the misguided targeting of the authoritative principal’s beloved, bright yellow sports car.

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Interviews Reviews 

MISERICORDIA (NYFF 2024) – Review by Diane Carson

Diane Carson , , , ,

Straightforward and entertaining, French writer/director Alain Guiraudie’s Misericordia watches as the adult Jérémie returns to his childhood, isolated mountain village of Saint-Martial for the funeral of his mentor Jean-Pierre, a baker of whom he was enamored. True to the cliché that you can’t go home again, Jérémie confronts resentment, rejection, homophobia, and romantic flirting by Jean-Pierre’s widow Martine. Adding idiosyncratic personalities to this microcosm of society are: the outraged baker’s son, once Jérémie’s boyhood friend Vincent; local priest Father Philippe; and long-time resident Walter, Vincent’s quite solitary best friend. All factor into the disappearance of one man and the intrusive involvement of the others.

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Festivals Reviews 

STRANGER EYES (NYFF 2024) – Review by Diane Carson

Diane Carson , , ,

Singaporean writer/director Yeo Siew Hua’s Stranger Eyes reinforces all the characters’ surveillance paranoia after young Little Bo disappears from a playground with her father nearby. In a plot that zig zags through disparate events, Bo’s parents frantically pursue leads, complicated by furtive DVDs repeatedly pushed under their apartment door. The content depicts Bo’s parents’ most private and some public moments. Numerous subplots and a nonchronological timeline challenge viewers to follow what at first appear to be disconnected events. However, all the characters contribute incidents that implicate them in covert activities. Conclusions to incidents are occasionally left hanging, only to circle around and connect with a delayed contextualization. This shatters the public personas, thereby delivering a clever, poetic justice payoff for the previously off-putting voyeurism. For each character hides a secret self expressed through veiled desires and embarrassing behavior.

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Festivals Reviews 

SUBURBAN FURY (NYFF 2024) – Review by Margaret Barton-Fumo

Margaret Barton-Fumo , , , , , , , ,

Seattle based filmmaker Robinson Devor’s latest documentary, Suburban Fury offers unprecedented access to Sara Jane Moore, the former accountant and FBI informant who unsuccessfully attempted to assassinate Gerald Ford in 1975. Relying almost entirely on Moore’s personal narrative (with the addition of archival footage), Devor’s film is both historical and subjective, leaving much up to interpretation. It’s quite the task for the viewer, given that the facts of Moore’s life are often stranger than fiction

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Festivals Reviews 

TRANSAMAZONIA (NYFF 2024) – Review by Margaret Barton-Fumo

Margaret Barton-Fumo , , , , , , , , ,

Set deep within the Brazilian rainforest where lush vegetation runs into endless dirt roads, Pia Marais’ fourth feature Transamazonia is a measured portrayal of a conflicted landscape, produced in collaboration with the Assurini people of the Trocará Indigenous Territory. The film focuses on two Westerners, the evangelist Lawrence Byrne and his teenage daughter, the sole survivor of a plane crash nine years prior. Byrne is capitalizing on his daughter’s supposedly miraculous survival, promoting her as a faith healer for the local population.

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Festivals 

New York Film Festival 62 (NYFF 2024) Wrap Up – Margaret Barton-Fumo Reports

Margaret Barton-Fumo , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

This year’s New York Film Festival boasted an impressive roster of features, with an array of talented women both behind and in front of the camera. The coveted Main Slate was stacked, with eight films directed by women and nearly as many women-centric titles directed by men. Several women directors went out on a limb, performing bold experimentations in style and genre. It is difficult to establish a theme within such a varied international festival, but in general I was taken with several women’s performances in male-directed films and by the bold choices made by many of the women directors. In either case, women are occupying center stage in a still male-dominated festival, in which the majority of the films are directed by men. It’s a promising step forward, to see so many inspiring women both in front of and behind the scenes, and one can only hope that next year will bring even more to the forefront.

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