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FIVE FEMALE DIRECTED IN 2019 | FILMS TO WATCH

September 29, 2020 By Zoe

Earlier this year I had a moment of realisation – when I tried to think of films directed by women that I had watched last year,  I could only come up with two – Little Women and Hustlers. I realised this while writing my dissertation, when I learned that only one woman has ever won an Oscar for Best Director – Kathryn Bigelow, for The Hurt Locker. 

 

Although this is one awards ceremony, it reflects on everything beneath it and that inspired me to make more of an effort to actively look for more female directed films to watch. Some of those films absolutely blew me away, so I’m going to discuss some that I’d recommend in this post.

The Farewell

The Farewell was directed by Lulu Wang, who aimed to bring together American and Asian cultures through this film. The Farewell follows the story of a Chinese family who are reuniting in China under the pretence of a wedding, when in fact they are there to say their goodbye’s to the grandmother of the family who only has a short amount of time left to live. The catch is that the grandmother is the only one who does not know that she is dying, and granddaughter Billi (Awkwafina) is kept out of the plan as she is the one who is most likely to let it slip.

I learned from reading interviews that this film is based on the true story of Lulu Wang’s grandmother, the funniest part being that she is still alive and still doesn’t know that she has cancer. Even after being on set and after the film coming out she still doesn’t know!

This film is beautifully made both in the acting and in the production. It touches a perfect balance between emotion and comic relief, and the performances of Awkwafina as Billi, and Zhao Shuzhen as her grandmother are some of the most poignant ones seen in this film.

Hustlers

I was honestly blown away by Hustlers – maybe because I went into it expecting not much more than pretty lights and colours, but this movie delivered so much more than that.

Directed by Lorene Scafaria and shot in just 29 days, Hustlers tells the story of a young stripper, Destiny (Constance Wu) as she begins a job in New York, as she is taken under the wing of Ramona (Jennifer Lopez), the top dog at this club. The film follows these girls through the boom of the 2000s, right through the Wall Street Crash of 2007-2008 when they are forced to earn their money by other means.

This is more of a female gangster movie than your usual rom com – at the heart of it lies a story about how far these women will go to protect their families, whether that is by blood or adoption into Ramona’s clan. From the start the production value tells us as an audience that this is a movie to be taken seriously,  but with moments of entertainment throughout.

Booksmart

 

Booksmart is the directorial debut by Olivia Wilde. This is a coming of age film which follows overachieving teenagers Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) and Molly (Beanie Feldstein) on the eve of their graduation, as they realise that they haven’t. experienced life as a teenager fully due to always having been focused on school and grades. This prompts them to go on the adventure of their lives the night before their graduation to make up for their lost time and fit in everything they’ve missed out on during high school.

The sense of humour in this movie is quirky and light hearted, however there are some moments experienced by the two girls which hit in a more emotional, heartfelt way. While this isn’t a movie I’d watch loads of times, it’s definitely one for when you’re looking to escape and relive those cringe teenage moments.

 

Queen & Slim

Queen & Slim (Malina Matsoukas)  follows the story of a traffic violation gone wrong – Slim (Daniel Kaluuya) and Queen (Jodie Turner-Smith)  are on an awkward first date, and after getting pulled over by the police on the way home, they end up on the run when the policeman is shot and killed in self defence. This is a modern day Bonnie and Clyde story, as the two main characters go on the run across America in the hopes of getting to Cuba. Along the way they come across people who both want to help them but also turn them in, as after a video of the incident goes viral and incites violence across America, there is a very large bounty put on their heads.

 

Queen & Slim is the kind of film that will stay on your mind after watching it. This is the debut feature film by Malina Matsoukas, director of Beyoncé’s Formation, and although the outlaw on the run story is one that has been seen before, she puts a new twist on it through character development and exploration of racial prejudice. Queen & Slim was shot beautifully by Tat Radcliffe, mostly taking place outdoors and he uses the outdoor light to his advantage in his overall cinematic but natural look.

This is a hard but gripping watch and I would highly recommend it.

 

Little Women

 

 

Most of you will have already heard of or seen this one – directed by Greta Gerwig, Little Women is a story that is already familiar to many of us. Although the book was written in the 1800s, the story is still very relevant and adaptable to different times. Every generation has almost had a different adaptation, and this one has been driven by Greta Gerwig.

The story of the March sisters remains the same in major details – four young girls, Jo, Meg, Amy and Beth March, finding their way in the world as they grow from children to women. Each is determined to find their own path which leads them to develop a friendship with their neighbour of the same age, Laurie (Timothée Chamalet). The main difference in this version is the timeline is slightly altered in regards to where we begin the story, but at the core it is the same story with a few more modern awarenesses.

The reason I have included this film on my list,  although its existence is already known by most, is that when I went to see it and discussing it after I found that most men either had no clue of its existence or had an adverse reaction to the idea of seeing it. For this reason I’m including it on this list and keeping it in any discussion of films made by and featuring female protagonists!

Until next time x

Filed Under: Uncategorised

ROSIE | FILM REVIEW

September 29, 2020 By Zoe

 

Recently I came across the film Rosie via the Instagram of Sarah Greene – you might know her as Lorraine Waldron, Connell’s mother from Normal People. Since Normal People I’ve been actively watching a lot more Irish productions, and also a lot of films/ series featuring Sarah Greene, so naturally I put Rosie next on my list to watch. This film had a lasting impact on me, it’s not one I’ll forget quickly as it hits so hard in the current Irish housing climate. For this reason I’ve decided to review it in this post.

 

Written by Roddy Doyle and directed by Paddy Breathnach, Rosie follows a working class family living in Dublin who are suddenly forced to leave their rental property after it is sold by their landlord. As the film unfolds over the following 36 hours, they face a heartbreaking struggle to find anywhere short term to live, let alone long term.

 

Rosie Davis is a desperate mother, and while husband John Paul (Moe Dunford) works in an upmarket kitchen to scrape together enough money to cover Dublin rent, the progression of the plot is mainly driven by Rosie’s quest to find a home for her family. She is rarely seen without her phone, a city council credit card, and a list of numbers in hand,  while at the same time trying to hold herself together in front of her children and make sure that nothing seems out of the ordinary for them at school.

We only see Rosie break down once, as she has to drag the children away from their old garden and trampoline, and the fact that she has held herself together until now makes this all the more poignant.

 

 

The filming style of Rosie can be described as quietly intimate – long handheld camera shots are used very often so that the audience is fully focused on the emotional journey of Rosie Davis, and on Sarah Greene’s incredible performance. The music used is emotional yet not over fussy, once again allowing the viewer to be fully drawn to the Rosie’s  journey. Piano chords are carefully used in a way to complement rather than distract or overwhelm.

The understated production in many areas forces the film to really confront the issues faced by Rosie Davis, and to really linger on some of the most heartbreaking moments she experiences, which are caused by not being able to protect her children from this brutal reality.

The performance of the rest of the Davis family must also be mentioned – Kayleigh (Ellie O’Halloran), Millie (Ruby Dunne), Alfie (Darragh McKenzie) and Madison (Molly McCann) are names that will definitely be heard again soon within Irish film. While Rosie is looking for somewhere for her family to live, she is also faced with her oldest daughter, Kayleigh disappearing without a word as she also struggles to deal with this reality as a young teenagers. The other children are younger and have no understanding of what is happening, other than how it affects them in school. The topic of this film is something that any young person would be challenged to confront, so these young actors must really be applauded for their entirely believable performance in this film.

 

Rosie has been praised by critics as “an indispensable film about contemporary Ireland that demands to be seen by all” and I thoroughly agree with this. It brings to mind many questions about how these circumstances are true for too many people in Ireland today, even with one parent working.

It’s not often that I get hit as hard by a film as I did watching this – when I finished watching it I felt run over by emotion and just had to sit and process it for about ten minutes. This is a very compelling watch – while at times uncomfortable in subject and depth, I really appreciated the whole story and how it was told. This is a story not usually dissected in this depth by many films which is part of what makes the writing of this story so captivating.

Rosie is an unforgivingly raw look at Ireland today through the eyes of one working class family and as a result of this it is one of the most important things you’ll watch.

‘Rosie’ can be watched on Google play or Youtube for €2.99. 

 

That’s all for now!

 

Filed Under: Uncategorised

WELLNESS + LIFESTYLE | DOCUMENTARIES TO WATCH

September 29, 2020 By Zoe

Well, this is a change – I’m back once again (saying I’m back has become a regularity here) – but this time this is a space dedicated to all things film. Since I’ve been on a documentary kick recently, today I’m going to talk about a few I would absolutely recommend watching.  I’ve found myself watching a lot of wellness and lifestyle documentaries – I find them particularly interesting as they’re such a controversial topic, so in this post I’m going to focus on a few documentaries in this area.

Everything I mention is available to watch on Netflix – so if you’re a Netflix user I’d highly recommend these.

I would also like to preface this post by saying that a few of these documentaries discuss treatments for various illnesses – please do not try them without first discussing with a relevant professional, as documentary filmmakers also sometimes take creative liberties in order to tell their stories and alternative treatments should only be used in conjunction with modern medicine where necessary. 

 

Down to Earth with Zac Efron

Down to Earth is a docuseries which follows Zac Efron as he travels to a range of countries to discover new cultures, environments and people. Along with personal trainer and guru Derin, he visits Iceland, Costa Rica, Sardinia and many more countries, in order to explore both their countries and the environmental issues faced by them.

He speaks with people such as a water sommelier in LA, food blogger Deliciously Ella in London, and many locals of native communities to gain insight into healthier ways of living.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching this series – Zac Efron’s persona comes across very well throughout and it did get me curious about some of the topics discussed and wanting to know more.

Many critics had issues as Efron is not an environmental expert in any way, but in my opinion while he is idealistic, he does not pretend to be an expert. He is completely open from the start that this is environmentalism for beginners, that he is new to this but very interested. This makes for an eye opening watch for viewers who also don’t know anything about what we should be doing in these areas but who want to do better. It also shows in a very visual way that we should be looking around us more and appreciating differing cultures.

 

Minimalism: A Film About the Important Things

Minimalism, directed by Matt d’Avella, follows “The Minimalists” Joshua Fields Milburn and Ryan Nicodemus as they bring their titular book Minimalism on tour. It tells the story of how they both left their jobs on the corporate ladder in order to focus on what they felt “was truly important.” Along the way they interview many experts, such as psychologists, as well as different people who have chosen minimalism as a way of life.

Minimalism was made for the most part by Matt d’Avella on his own, from camera work to editing. They brought on producers afterward for distribution and marketing, and outsourced sound and colour grading once they knew that they had the body of the film in the bag. I found knowing this made it a particularly interesting watch – if you do watch Minimalism and want to know more about the making of it I would strongly recommend Making Minimalism, a behind-the-scenes series on Matt d’Avella’s own YouTube channel.

I watched this at a very fitting time as I had just cleared out my student room and brought home three suitcases and three giant boxes into a room that was already full of – you guessed it – stuff. Watching Minimalism definitely made me re-evaluate the value of everything I owned – from the many Urban Decay palettes I bought when I was 15 to my treasured books – so if you need motivation to go through whatever area you’ve been putting off this is it.

 

(UN)WELL

 

This is a docuseries recently released on Netflix. There are six episodes, each of which explores a modern wellness industry such as essential oils, bulking on breast milk or bee sting therapy. Each episode explores the different sides of that area, and interviews extreme users as well as those using it in conjunction with western medicine.

 

Each episode of this series takes us on a journey of following someone who has reached a place of such desperation in their illness that they will try anything and have found these alternative therapies that seem to be working for them – however, as there is success stories there is more opportunities for these to be exploited into billion dollar industries.

 

I found each episode of this series to be balanced in the variety of people it interviewed and gave a really well rounded discussion of the benefits and misuses of these forms of alternative therapies. It showed both skeptics and believers which really allows the viewer to make up their own mind about where they stand with each therapy.

 

Many of the people featured are suffering from Lyme disease, cancer, mental illness, gastrointestinal illness and other chronic illnesses, and their journeys and struggle through treatment and alternative medicine are depicted throughout this series.

 

As this is a very controversial area, this series makes for a very interesting watch.

HEAL

This documentary explores the relationship between the human psyche and our physical health. It features both scientists and spiritual leaders such as Dr. Deepak Chopra, Anthony William ‘Medical Medium’, Marianne Williamson and many others, discussing how our thoughts and beliefs impact our ability to heal from many various illnesses. Alongside this we see three individuals go on their own healing journeys from cancers, autoimmune diseases and physical injuries.

Directed and produced by Kelly Noonan, this documentary is similar in style to [UN]WELL only rather being based on an industry it is purely focused on the power of mindset. This film has come under fire from critics for selling pseudoscience, which I think is also important to take into account when watching and forming opinions on it.

The main idea sold by this film is that these people are not victims of their diagnoses, and that we all have more power than we think in our mind in dealing with what we are faced in our lives. While I won’t be abandoning the doctor any time soon it definitely encouraged me to be more mindful in how I deal with things.

 

 

The Game Changers

 

The Game Changers follows James Wilks as he goes on a journey to discover the ultimate diet for the human body to thrive on, and for athletes to develop maximum strength. He speaks with scientists and other specialists, as well as well known athletes such as Jackie Chan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and James Cameron. Throughout the film it is argued that much of what we believe about meat protein being essential to the human diet is, in fact, untrue.

Wilks is a former MMA fighter who is also on his own journey of recovery from an injury. This is what motivates him to explore a plant based recovery, and to investigate this as a diet for those aiming to bulk up. He draws the conclusion on this journey that he feels a significant reduction of inflammation and a boost in energy which he attributes to this switch in diet. He also explores how a plant based diet can cause increased blood flow and improved muscle efficiency.

I found this a very interesting watch as most documentaries to do with veganism and plant based diets take the angle of either animal rights or environmentalism – I hadn’t seen this angle of the benefits to the human body before which made it quite a compelling watch for me.

All of the documentaries mentioned above are available to watch on Netflix.

That’s all for now!

Filed Under: Uncategorised

Copyright © 2021 · Zoe Fitzpatrick