Tag: Female Director

Awards, Directors, Female Filmmakers, Women in Film

Should’ve Been a Contender: Marielle Heller for “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”

Marielle Heller’s “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” is a favourite among the ITOL team, I mean it landed at number 6 on our Top 50 Films of the Decade list for no reason.  And, while Heller made her debut with “The Diary of a Teenage Girl”, it is “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” where we see Heller shine as well as prove her capability as a director. It’s also worth mentioning that Heller latest film “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” is proof that she’s not just a one-hit-wonder. It’s clear that this is a filmmaker that is here to stay.

Despite garnering positive views and also picking up Oscar nominations for Melissa McCarthy, Richard E. Grant and best-adapted screenplay for Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty, Heller was completely ignored by the Academy for Best Director. Continue reading Should’ve Been a Contender: Marielle Heller for “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”

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Female Characters, Female Filmmaker, Film Reviews, Reviews, Women in Film

ITOL 2019 Round-up: Booksmart

Staring Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever, Olivia Wilde’s comedic coming-of-age film “Booksmart” follows two overachievers who attempt to cram years of high school fun into one night. Yet, their friendship will be tested when they are confronted with the changes and obstacles that come with graduation and growing up.

One of the main messages of this film revolves around the importance of experience and breaking out of your comfort zone. Best buds, Molly and Amy both seem to have wasted the fun times of high school by relentlessly studying so they decide to turn the night before graduation into the ultimate high school experience. Continue reading ITOL 2019 Round-up: Booksmart

Claire L. Smith2 Comments
Female Filmmakers, Film Reviews, Reviews, Women in Film

ITOL 2019 Round-up: The Farewell

How do you say good-bye to a beloved member of the family? Worse yet, what if they don’t know that their time is short? “The Farewell” (2019) addresses this situation with humor and gentle ruefulness that is never maudlin. Young Billi (Awkwafina) resides in America but stays in close touch with her Chinese grandmother, or Nai Nai (Shuzhen Zhao). Continue reading ITOL 2019 Round-up: The Farewell

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Female Filmmaker, Film Reviews, Retrospect Reviews, Reviews, Women in Film

Retrospective Review: Take This Waltz

“Take this Waltz” (2011) has the main character’s story undone slowly, with a meditative and varied look on relationships. There is a lot of restraint with the film, and its patience is where it flourishes, because it allows a deeper engagement with the subjects and the questions that it creates.

Margot (Michelle Williams) and Lou Seth Rogan are a married couple, distant at times, but with their own cute comforts and familiarities. There’s a sadness to Margot even though their life seems to be good. They are both writers, him a cook crafting a chicken recipe book, and her a writer of pamphlets for tourist locations. Continue reading Retrospective Review: Take This Waltz

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Film Reviews, Reviews, Top 50 of the Decade, World Cinema

ITOL Top 50 Films of the Decade, Entry No.7: Leave No Trace

I had the unique privilege of reading My Abandonment in Pete Rock’s creative nonfiction class during my junior year at Reed College, a tiny, liberal arts school in Portland, Oregon. I already knew that I wanted to write a creative thesis my senior year, but I had not yet taken a creative writing class (oops). Pete was kind enough to take a chance on me, accepting me into his mostly full upper-level course. It was in this course that we read a vast array of creative nonfiction, a unique genre that Pete capped off with one of his own works.

The writing of My Abandonment is solid, of course, the story of a weathered Iraq war verteran and his thirteen-year-old daughter imbued with the rough Oregon life that I myself had been growing accustomed to for the past two and a half years. Continue reading ITOL Top 50 Films of the Decade, Entry No.7: Leave No Trace

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Film Reviews, Reviews, Top 50 of the Decade, Women in Film

ITOL Top 50 Films of the Decade, Entry No. 14: The Farewell

In 2000, we learned that my grandfather had cancer. He went through chemotherapy, and my mother and I went up to help him and get him to doctor’s appointments as he ended up in assisted living. I was there the day he received his terminal diagnosis, and 7 of the next 10 weeks were spent trying to comfort him, and get things prepared for after the inevitable happened. It finally did in late July. I was very close to him- he was like another parent to me. It was devastating.

Those months come to the forefront of my mind in contemplating Lulu Wang’s beautiful dramatic comedy, “The Farewell.” Inspired by her own life, Wang tells the story of her family whom, when they find out the worst about their beloved Nai Nai, they do what is unthinkable to most of us- they don’t tell her. Continue reading ITOL Top 50 Films of the Decade, Entry No. 14: The Farewell

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Directors, Female Characters, Female Filmmakers, Interviews, Women in Film

Interview: Director Claire McCarthy on Ophelia and The Importance of Female Voices

At ITOL we love getting a chance to speak to filmmakers, and we were especially excited to speak to Claire McCarthy after recently catching her latest film, “Ophelia”. McCarthy is an Australian filmmaker, screenwriter, producer and visual artist. Throughout her career, she has brought audiences such films as “The Waiting City” (2009), “Little Hands” (2011) and “Skins” (2007) with actress Mia Wasikowska. Her feature film “The Waiting City”, which starred Joel Edgerton and Radha Mitchell, was released in North America after premiering at TIFF 2010, and has gone to be sold to over 40 territories world-wide. Continue reading Interview: Director Claire McCarthy on Ophelia and The Importance of Female Voices

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Female Characters, Female Filmmaker, Film Reviews, Reviews

Review: Judy and Punch

ometimes you see a film that encapsulates something so enraging and freeing and vindicating it’s like a punch in the face and you want to run up to your fellow cinemagoers and shout “wasn’t that amazing!!”

“Judy and Punch” (2019) is one such film. It’s darkly funny and a rallying call to a radical revolution of open-mindedness and inclusivity. These things are not the realm of wishy-washy millennial snowflakes as social media trolls would have us believe, but strong people willing to risk their lives standing up to tyranny and braying mobs who are choosing which rocks to stone them to death with. Continue reading Review: Judy and Punch

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Female Filmmakers, Film Reviews, Reviews

Review: Knives and Skin

There is a strangeness to “Knives and Skin” (2019) that makes it difficult to put into words precisely what it’s about and how it made me feel. Jenifer Reeder’s film is eerie, bright but dark, funny but upsetting. It puts you on edge but also has you really feeling for the people on screen.

If you like films by Peter Strickland or David Lynch you’ll love it. If not, I recommend pushing your cinematic comfort zone.

Fifteen year old Carolyn Harper (Raven Whitley) has an encounter with sexually aggressive Andy (Ty Olwin) which ends badly. She goes missing and the town is shaken. Her mother Lisa (Marika Engelhardt) slowly loses her mind but others in the community have just as tenuous a grip on reality. Continue reading Review: Knives and Skin

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Female Characters, Female Filmmaker, Film Reviews, Reviews

Review: Charlie’s Angels

While the idea of seemingly everything getting a reboot nowadays is starting to become a total drag, there was an odd amount of intrigue I still had for the “Charlies Angels” reboot/sequel/whatever it is. Maybe it was because I liked enjoyed the casting of the new trio of angels or maybe it was because I liked of seeing Elizabeth Banks behind the camera again after “Pitch Perfect 2”. Maybe it’s also because I kind of have a soft spot for franchise and I remember plenty of times that I’d catch “Full Throttle” on TV and always enjoy watching it. So, I had fair expectations going in that the film ultimately meets and exceeds at times, but also falls short of in the same breath. Continue reading Review: Charlie’s Angels

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