Female Film Critics 24/375
A new mother’s unresolved trauma leads to intense distress in writer/director Chloé Cinq-Mars’ gripping French drama/thriller Nesting. As it explores the impact of postpartum depression, the film paints a painfully relatable picture of what it’s like to lose your sense of self once part of that self becomes a needy, vulnerable creature that seemingly can’t be satiated, no matter how much you might love it or sacrifice for it.
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For anyone who hears the name “E. Jean Carroll” and thinks “that woman who sued Donald Trump,” do yourself a favor and watch Ivy Meeropol’s engaging documentary Ask E. Jean sooner than later. Because, yes, Carroll did do that, but she’s also done so much more (let’s just say that you don’t get nicknamed “the female Hunter S. Thompson” for being boring), and she deserves to be just as well known for all of that, too.
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It’s tricky to discuss Katie Aselton’s poignant relationship drama Magic Hour without revealing the story twists that give it such a powerful emotional punch. The writer-director-star crafts the first act of her film very carefully, setting viewers’ expectations and then challenging them. The result is both romantic and touching, with memorable performances by Aselton and co-star Daveed Diggs and a gorgeous, haunting setting amid the singular landscape of Joshua Tree.
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Like a prestigious literary novel, Hungarian filmmaker Ildikó Enyedi’s deliberately paced drama Silent Friend deftly weaves together three stories that might seem, at first glance, to have little in common but are actually all variations on the same theme, connected by the same majestic, impassive ginko tree. Situated on the grounds of a German university, that tree — the titular silent friend — offers comfort and inspires curiosity over the course of more than a century.
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It’s been slightly over 40 years since Hormel factory workers in Austin, Minnesota, went on a nearly year-long strike to protest slashed wages and benefits — and 35 years since Barbara Kopple’s revealing film about the strike, American Dream, won the Best Documentary Oscar in 1991. And what lingers most after watching the movie’s new 4K restoration is the feeling of how relevant so much of it still is decades later. Sure, fashions may have changed since the mid-’80s, and filmmaking equipment is more sophisticated these days but we still live in a world (or at least a country) in which the rich continue to get richer while the working class struggles to make ends meet. And when the latter dares to stand up for themselves, they’re met with disdain, condescension, and an unyielding devotion to capitalism. Let’s just say that the parade of White men in suits defending Hormel’s anti-worker policies and choices in 1985 doesn’t feel very far removed from the politicians and business leaders who are still prioritizing profit over people in 2026.
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Listening to Dr. Jessica Zitter and Pastor Betty Clark note, more than once, how unusual their close working relationship on the palliative care team at Oakland’s Wilma Chan Highland Hospital is, it’s impossible not to shake your head and wonder why. Because, as the moving documentary The Chaplain and the Doctor — which Zitter also directed — makes abundantly clear, their teamwork benefits the hospital’s patients (and each other) in many ways.
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Name any major U.S. news story that’s dominated the headlines since the late 1980s/early 1990s, and chances are Amy Goodman was on the front lines with a microphone and a camera, reporting the hell out of it. The founder of progressive journalism institution Democracy Now!, Goodman is tireless and fearless in her pursuit of the unvarnished truth, as documented in Tia Lessin and Carl Deal’s timely documentary Steal This Story, Please!. The documentary makes it abundantly clear that, while a reporter like Goodman is rare enough to warrant a film about her, the world would be a far better place if she were just one of many.
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If you’ve ever dreamed of interpreting the immortal words of the Bard while treading the boards, director Sophie Fiennes’ (Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow, Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami) observational documentary Acting is a must-watch. Essentially a master class in Shakespearean acting, it follows the accomplished directors and talented acting ensemble of acclaimed international theatre company Cheek by Jowl as they rehearse scenes from Macbeth amid the delightfully gothic ruins of London’s Twyford Abbey in 2021.
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The film takes place in a near-future Brazil in which senior citizens are removed from their jobs and homes and relocated to the mysterious “colony” when they reach a certain age, to make more opportunities and resources available for younger people. Older folks are promised the chance to rest and be taken care of … but no one ever seems to see them again once they’ve been moved. Tereza (Weinberg), at 77, is self-sufficient and still working every day at her factory job when she learns that her number is up, and she’ll be colony-bound in just a few days. The deadline spurs her to take action, using her savings in pursuit of checking one item off of her very modest bucket list: She’d like to fly in an airplane.
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Like Mean Girls by way of Heathers, Jawbreaker, and The Craft, Meredith Alloway’s stylish, buzzy dark horror comedy Forbidden Fruits takes a critical look at the power dynamics of female friendship — with healthy doses of witchcraft and gore tossed in for good measure. Taking place almost entirely in a Texas mall, it also skewers the impact of influencer culture on everything from fashion trends to slang to coffee orders.
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