Category Archives: 8,0-8,9

8,0-8,9, male director, Sci-fi

“Arrival” (Denis Villeneuve, Canada 2016)

arrival

Director: Denis Villeneuve
Writers: Eric Heisserer (screenplay), Ted Chiang (based on the story “Story of Your Life” written by)
Actors: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker

“The center of the film remains our transmutation of sympathy for a grieving mother into sympathy for a woman who knows she will be grieving for a child yet unborn, and yet embraces her destiny.”

[When is Now? By David Bordwell in Observations on film art, Wednesday | November 23, 2016. http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/2016/11/23/arrival-when-is-now/]

8,0-8,9, comedy, crime, drama,, male director, romance,

“Elle” (Paul Verhoeven, France 2016)

elle

Director: Paul Verhoeven
Writers: Philippe Djian (based on the novel by), David Birke (screenplay)
Actors: Isabelle Huppert, Laurent Lafitte, Anne Consigny

The “ever-mysterious sexual power within a woman”1 exudes not only  from the main female character, but even more strongly from the new equilibrium that the end of the movie sets in motion.

1 – ELLE: A Complex & Challenging Exploration Into Lurid Territory by Laura Birnbaum. Film Inquiry, Nov. 9, 2016 http://www.filminquiry.com/elle-2016-review/

8,0-8,9, crime, drama,, female director

“Frozen River” (Courtney Hunt, US 2008)

frozen-river

Director: Courtney Hunt
Writer: Courtney Hunt
Actors: Melissa Leo, Misty Upham, Charlie McDermott

A feminine world from which the masculine is exiled at the fringe.
A world of women and children showing the universality and interchangeability of motherhood.
A multifaceted world on which it is as treacherous to tread as on a frozen river…

8,0-8,9, comedy, drama,, female director, romance,

“Parched” (Leena Yadav, India 2015)

parched

Director: Leena Yadav
Writers: Supratik Sen (dialogue), Leena Yadav
Actors: Tannishtha Chatterjee, Radhika Apte, Lehar Khan

Domestic violence, honor, infertility, prostitution, child marriage, rape… These themes are treated in a traditional gender setting in Rajasthan.

The message of the movie is straightforward: while most men drink, commit adultery, are jealous and violent, women have fun, bring changes… and are at least as sexualized as their male counterparts.