While you’re getting your Thanksgiving pants ready for the holiday season, be sure to check out these films (written and directed by women) streaming on Netflix this November.
Avail. 11/1/18
Bring It On: In It to Win It
Writers: Alyson Fouse, Elena Song
Southern California high school senior Carson arrives at the all-important “Cheer Camp Nationals” determined to lead her squad, the West High Sharks, to victory. But chic New Yorker Brooke and her team, the East High Jets, are equally steadfast in their pursuit of the competition’s coveted “Spirit Stick.” As tension mounts between the two rival squads, Carson falls for fellow cheerleader Penn, not realizing he’s a Jet. When Brooke discovers the budding romance, she raises the stakes by challenging Carson to a one-on-one cheer-off. A spectacular “cheer fighting” sequence erupts into a no-holds-barred brawl and cheerleaders on both sides are suspended from the competition. With their dreams of taking home the top prize all but shattered, the leaders of both squads realize they’ll have to take drastic measures to stay in the game. [IMDb]
Julie and Julia
Writer/Director Nora Ephron
Julie & Julia is a 2009 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Nora Ephron starring Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci, and Chris Messina. The film contrasts the life of chef Julia Child in the early years of her culinary career with the life of young New Yorker Julie Powell, who aspires to cook all 524 recipes in Child’s cookbook in 365 days, a challenge she described on her popular blog that made her a published author.
Avail. 11/2/18
The Holiday Calendar (Netflix Original)
Writers: Carrie Freedle
A struggling but talented photographer inherits an antique holiday advent calendar, the contents of which seem to predict the future. Will this magical calendar lead her to love this holiday season? [IMDb]
Avail. 11/7/18
Into the Forest
Director/writer Patricia Rozema
From writer-director Patricia Rozema, Into the Forest is a story of sisters struggling to survive in – pause for suspense – the forest. Set in the near future, sisters “Nell” (Ellen Page) and “Eva” (Evan Rachel Wood) live in a society that has become increasingly reliant on electricity for basic survival. When an unidentified force cuts off the power supply, 300 million people are left without the technology required for daily life. But what these two need the most to survive isn’t emergency generators or cans of food, it’s each other. [FF2 Media: Read review HERE.]
Avail. 11/9/18
Outlaw King (Netflix Original)
Writer: Bathsheba Doran (as Bash Doran)
A true David v Goliath story of how the great 14th Century Scottish ‘Outlaw King’ Robert The Bruce used cunning and bravery to defeat and repel the much larger and better equipped occupying English army. [IMDb]
Avail. 11/16/18
Cam
Writers: Isa Mazzei
Alice, an ambitious camgirl, wakes up one day to discover she’s been replaced on her show with an exact replica of herself. [IMDb]
The Princess Switch (Netflix Original)
Writers: Robin Bernheim, Megan Metzger
One week before Christmas, Margaret, the gorgeous Duchess of Montenaro, switches places with Stacy, a “commoner” from Chicago, who looks exactly like her. With the assistance of a magical Santa’s helper, Margaret falls in love with Stacy’s handsome co-worker, while Stacy falls in love with Margaret’s fiance, the dashing Prince. [IMDb]
Avail. 11/18/18
The Pixar Story
Director/writer: Leslie Iwerks
A look at the first years of Pixar Animation Studios – from the success of “Toy Story” and Pixar’s promotion of talented people, to the building of its East Bay campus, the company’s relationship with Disney, and its remarkable initial string of eight hits. The contributions of John Lasseter, Ed Catmull and Steve Jobs are profiled. The decline of two-dimensional animation is chronicled as three-dimensional animation rises. Hard work and creativity seem to share the screen in equal proportions. [IMDb]
Avail. 11/30/18
A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding (Netflix Original)
Writers: Karen Schaler
When a reporter goes undercover as a tutor to get the inside scoop on a playboy prince, she gets tangled in some royal intrigue and ends up finding love – but will she be able to keep up her lie? [IMDb]
Happy as Lazzaro
Director/writer: Alice Rohrwacher
This is the tale of a meeting between Lazzaro, a young peasant so good that he is often mistaken for simple-minded, and Tancredi, a young nobleman cursed by his imagination. Life in their isolated pastoral village Inviolata is dominated by the terrible Marchesa Alfonsina de Luna, the queen of cigarettes. A loyal bond is sealed when Tancredi asks Lazzaro to help him orchestrate his own kidnapping. This strange and improbable alliance is a revelation for Lazzaro. A friendship so precious that it will travel in time and transport Lazzaro in search of Tancredi. His first time in the big city, Lazzaro is like a fragment of the past lost in the modern world. [IMDb]
© Brigid K. Presecky (11/8/18) FF2 Media
Photo credit: IMDb
