Category Archives: female director

“Buster’s Mal Heart” by Sarah Adina Smith (USA, 2017)

Buster's Mal Heart

A typical piece of Americana with doomsayers, prophets, and believers of all kind at every corner. However, not sure what the story is all about, with its narrative marred in mysteries that lead nowhere

Cast: Rami Malek, Dj Qualls, Kate Lyn Sheil, Toby Huss, Lin Shaye, Mark Kelly
Director: Sarah Adina Smith
Writer: Sarah Adina Smith
Cinematographer: Shaheen Seth
Editor: Sarah Adina Smith

 

“Project Eden vol.1” by Ashlee Jensen & Terrance Young (USA, 2017)

Project Eden I

Very foreseeable developments, many cliches (the mafia speaks Russian, to make sure we know it is the mafia), enormous mistakes in the continuity (after she has been running hard for a few hundred meters, he asks her if she can walk), and a dystopian setting that is not even necessary to the plot… The few twists after an hour or so don’t make it better. One of the worse movies I’ve ever seen!

Actors: Erick Avari, Mike Dopud, Anna McGahan
Directors: Ashlee Jensen, Terrance M. Young
Writers: Ashlee Jensen, Terrance M. Young | 1 more credit »
Music by Jamie Murgatroyd
Cinematography by Christopher Lange
Film Editing by Terrance M. Young

“Forever My Girl” by Bethany Ashton Wolf (USA, 2018)

forever my girl

A movie that not only celebrates everlasting love, but adds to it family, religious, and small town values in a most simplistic and nauseating way / Propaganda cinema at its best! And it works: the public seems to like it (6,4 on IMDB and an astonishing 9 as audience score on Rotten Tomatoes)! So depressing! 🙁

Cast: Alex Roe, Jessica Rothe, John Benjamin Hickey, Abby Ryder Fortson, Tyler Riggs, Peter Cambor, Gillian Vigman, Morgan Alexandria
Director: Bethany Ashton Wolf
Writer: Bethany Ashton Wolf
Music by Brett Boyett
Cinematography by Duane Manwiller

“The Long Excuse” by Miwa Nishikawa (Japan, 2016)

A few recent movies on fatherhood

The Long Excuse

Erasing motherhood: a rare look at fatherhood and male altruism

Cast: Masahiro Motoki, Pistol Takehara, Eri Fukatsu
Director: Miwa Nishikawa
Writers: Miwa Nishikawa (screenplay), Miwa Nishikawa (novel)
Music: Michiaki Katoh, Toshihiro Nakanishi
Cinematography: Yutaka Yamazaki
Film Editing: Ryûji Miyajima

“Into The Forest” by Patricia Rozema (Canada, 2015)

A few recent movies on fatherhood

Into The Forest

Good story and realization, average content
Three men: the father, the lover, the raper / Three women: ywo sisters + deceased mother
The “scifi” setting that was perhaps justified when the story was written in 1996 doesn’t convey anything to the plot today.

Cast: Ellen Page, Evan Rachel Wood, Callum Keith Rennie, Max Minghella
Director: Patricia Rozema
Based on the novel by Jean Hegland
Writer: Patricia Rozema
Cinematographer: Daniel Grant
Editor: Matthew Hannam
Composer: Max Richter

“Infinitely Polar Bear” by Maya Forbes (USA, 2014)

A few recent movies on fatherhood

Infinitely Polar Bear

Many good things about this movie: good humor, good dialogues, very good acting by Ruffalo. Add to this the efficient way to stage multiple facets about minorities  (depressed parent, mixed-race family, single father household, etc,).
The way the two daughters evolve and learn how to cope with their lovable but manic-depressive father is remarkable.

Cast: Mark Ruffalo, Zoe Saldana, Keir Dullea, Beth Dixon, Georgia Lyman
Director: Maya Forbes
Writer: Maya Forbes
Director of Photography: Bobby Bukowski
Music by Theodore Shapiro
Film Editing by Michael R. Miller

“Every Secret Thing” by Amy Berg (USA, 2014)

Every Secret Thing

Good acting, good drama / “The interrogation scenes, between Alice and a detective played by Elizabeth Banks, explore the social disadvantages of a fat woman with a stark bluntness that’s unheard of in a popular cinema” writes Chuck Bowen.

Cast: Diane Lane, Elizabeth Banks, Dakota Fanning, Danielle Macdonald
Director: Amy Berg
Screenplay: Nicole Holofcener
Novel: Laura Lippman
Director of Photography: Rob Hardy
Editor: Ron Patane, Billy McMillin

“The Female Brain” by Whitney Cummings (USA, 2017)

The Female Brain

First feature / Characters are too caricatural to create empathy, most dialogues sound unnatural and forced, and at times just poor

Cast: Whitney Cummings, Sofía Vergara, Toby Kebbell, James Marsden, Lucy Punch
Director: Whitney Cummings
Writer: Neal Brennan, Louann Brizendine, Whitney Cummings
Cinematographer: Bradford Lipson
Editor: Peggy Eghbalian
Composer: Jeff Cardoni

“Obvious Child” by Gillian Robespierre (USA, 2014)

Obvious Child

First feature / A Woody Allen (the artist not the dirty old man) in a liberated female way!

Cast: Jenny Slate, Jake Lacy, Gaby Hoffman, Gabe Liedman, David Cross, Richard Kind. Polly Draper, Paul Briganti, Cindy Cheung, Stephen Singer
Director: Gillian Robespierre
Screenplay: Gillian Robespierre
Music by Chris Bordeaux
Cinematography by Chris Teague
Film Editing by Casey Brooks