Ása Helga Hjörleifsdótirr writes and directs her debut featureThe Swan. Based on a novel by Guðbergur Bergsson, the movie has won 3 awards and has been nominated for 8. The serene, yet haunting, coming-of-age film shows how a child comes to the realization that life is not as simple as it seems. (SYJ: 4/5)
Category: Bechdel-Wallace List
'Never Goin' Back' hilariously and astutely captures female friendship
Never Goin' Back (written and directed by Augustine Frizzell) is an intense journey through diner work, accidental drugs, multiple robberies, and the remarkable friendship between two young girls struggling to make it to the beach for a weekend off. (DLH: 4/5) Review by FF2 Intern Dayna Hagewood While the underlying circumstances of Never Goin’ Back are surely…
'Night Comes On' provides a distinctly female perspective on sisterhood and revenge
There’s a quiet confidence and a profoundly female perspective to Jordana Spiro’s Night Comes On that sucks the audience into the raw, emotional exploration of a broken family, revenge, and sisterhood. (EML: 4/5)
‘Milla’ is a visually striking, languidly paced portrait of life, loss, and endurance
A young, reckless couple makes a home out of an abandoned house by the sea as they await their first child. Valérie Massadian’s Milla languidly follows its characters through their everyday tasks, offering an unassuming yet honest portrait of life and loss. (RMM: 4/5) Review by FF2 Associate Roza M. Melkumyan Inside the backseat of…
'The Miseducation of Cameron Post' educates us to accept homosexuality
Desiree Akhavan’s direction of a Sundance Film Festival winner, “The Miseducation of Cameron Post”, shows confused teenagers, forbidden romances, and praising the Lord. The movie showcases another ploy to try and ‘cure’ homosexuality. The film is based on Emily M. Danforth's novel of the same name. Its story explores the misinformation given to teenagers that…
'The Bleeding Edge' is unafraid, unforgiving, and absolutely unbelievable
In their eye-opening documentary, The Bleeding Edge, critically acclaimed writer/director Kirby Dick and co-writer Amy Ziering shed an important light on America’s corrupt medical industry and the loopholes the FDA will find in order to comply with industry interests. (MTP: 5/5)
'Good Manners' is a monster mashup of genre
Juliana Rojas and Marco Dutra’s Good Manners is a boldly metaphoric horror movie hybrid with monsters, musical numbers and a lesbian love affair. While the “normalcy” of the first act would have been story enough to captivate viewers, the spooky supernatural weighs heavily on the scale of bizarre. (3/5)
A depiction of the delicacy of everyday life in 'Puzzle'
Directed by Marc Turtletaub and co-written by Oren Moverman and Polly Mann, Puzzle Pis a captivating, delicate film about a housewife and mother who, taken for granted in her home, finds her passion and her calling in solving jigsaw puzzles that take her beyond her house and neighborhood. (FEA 4.5/5)
'The Row'—a sorority horror with a detective father and a serial killer
Sorority sisters, a serial killer, and a hidden past—Sarah Scougal writes a new addition to the traditional sorority horror genre. Directed by Matty Beckerman, “The Row” stars Lala Kent as a newly initiated sorority girl, and Randy Couture as the father-detective. With a killer loose on the college campus, members of a sorority club find…
Generation Wealth mirrors excessive qualities of subjects
Generation Wealth is Lauren Greenfield's latest photo essay, documentary, and personal memoir that studies our culture of excess and our vicious obsession with all things money can buy. (DLH: 3/5) Review by FF2 Intern Dayna Hagewood Generation Wealth begins right in the thick of ultra decadence and extreme wealth, and even compares our current economic state…