Class System · Drama · Exile and Displacement · French Cinema · Road Movies · Women in Film
For the Dardenne brothers, “social conditions” come down to the common denominator of cold cash – having it, lacking it, getting it, some disposing of it more than others. It’s[…]
Drama · Essays · Feminism · French Cinema · Men & Masculinity · Sex & Relationships · Women in Film
Last Tango in Paris is a case study in how a culture processes shame – who bears it, who survives it, who escapes it entirely. Maria Schneider, long ignored, is[…]
Books · Drama · Indies · Women in Film
Alexandra Seros, Ida Lupino, Forgotten Auteur: From Film Noir to the Director’s Chair. Texas University Press, 2024. 227 pages. $45.00. * * * Most readers of this journal recognize Ida[…]
Censorship · Feminism · Gender · Iranian Cinema · Middle East · Muslims · Politics · Revolution · Women in Film
The woman without a hijab in her private space, something consistently denied visual existence, is no longer hidden or censored. Instead, her presence is centered and made ordinary. In this[…]
Drama · Historical & Epic · War · Women in Film
In contrast to the patriarchal norms that dominate “American” family values, The Brutalist quietly insists on the indispensable role of women in guiding not just familial stability but broader legacies[…]
Actors & Personalities · Drama · Westerns · Women in Film
An excerpt from Vera Miles: The Hitchcock Blonde Who Got Away, to be released March 25 by University Press of Kentucky, exploring Miles’s impressive career and her relationships with the[…]
Iranian Cinema · Women in Film
Fereshteh: Sometimes I want to put on make-up, or wear beautiful dresses, or fall in love. I don’t know why, but I feel like I’m living in a small can,[…]
Books · Directors · Women in Film · Writers & Critics
Miss May Does Not Exist: The Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood’s Hidden Genius. St. Martin’s Press, 2024, 400pp., $30.00. * * * Published on the heels of Mark Harris’s[…]
Crime · Drama · Neo-Noir · Women in Film
“Oh, look. He’s being a good guy, so everybody can see him being a good guy.” – Officer James Gilpin observing Nick Dunne in Gone Girl (2014) There are many[…]
Directors · Experimental & Underground · Exploitation & Erotica · Franchises & Series · Horror · Indies · Women in Film
Just as his characters presume safety and security in their home space, so too does his audience approach each title with a sense of comfort through repeat exposures. The unseating[…]
Activist & Political · Actors & Personalities · Communism and Socialism · Race · Women in Film
At every turn, Muir was disobedient, unconventional, and disruptive; she simply didn’t care what people thought. At no point did it occur to her that she should curb her activism,[…]
Actors & Personalities · Directors · Drama · Women in Film
“[H]er favorite expression of strained intensity would be less quickly relieved by a merciful death than by Ex-Lax.”
Hinting at women’s complicity in a film plotted around men’s violent treatment of women is, well, ballsy. That Cregger’s script doesn’t delve into the larger cultural conditioning and structures that[…]
Crime · Drama · Women in Film
Ramsay uses the distinct qualities of cinema, images and sound, to immerse you in the psychic space of her characters – and what an uncommonly beautiful space it is. It’s[…]
#MeToo · Activist & Political · Animation · Commentary · Essays · Women in Film
Editor’s Note: In an era where dogma rules and layered approaches to cultural creations are considered problematic, we repost M. C. Myers’ brilliant and timely analysis of Disney’s Snow White[…]
Family · Horror · Women in Film
A living doll, everywhere you look. It can sew, it can cook, It can talk, talk, talk. – Sylvia Plath, “The Applicant” (Oct. 11, 1962) And they stuck me together[…]
Historical & Epic · Medieval · Women in Film
The adaptation is successful not just in its understanding of how irreverent and illogical the narrative space of medieval romance is and always has been, but also in how it[…]
Drama · Women in Film · Writers & Critics
We come to find out as viewers, whether we believe in Leda’s self-governing comportment at the beginning or not, that this task of motherhood is never-ending; each work demonstrates to[…]
Experimental & Underground · Religion & Spirituality · Women in Film
The volition of these dancers is as clear as the sense that it is not their own. Deren mirrors this depersonalization masterfully; her camera splits a man between his reflections,[…]
Actors & Personalities · Pre-Code · Sex & Relationships · Women in Film
West is a born outlaw, a queen of the underworld who knows that two and two are four but five will get you 10 if you know how to work[…]
