Shockingly - I seem to have done better overall this year (20 features/36 shorts), even though it feels like I saw far fewer films this year (I am slightly down in features). In order to clear our my options list for 2022, here's everything I saw directed by women last year - broken into features and shorts. Ranking current, stars my initial ratings.
2020 here (23/4 - jeez. You can see the difference not going to film fests makes), 2019 here (15/25), 2018 here (22/20)
Features (20)
The Power of the Dog - Jane Campion - 4.5 stars. I just saw this and was blown away. I'm so glad Jane Campion is back making films (Bright Star was my 3rd favorite film of 2009.) The Power of the Dog is tonally VERY different from Bright Star's romanticism. It's chilly, precision clockwork, anchored by a tremendous cast (Thomasin McKenzie gets... 10 lines?).
Proxima - Alice Winocour - 4.5 stars. My 6th favorite film of 2020. Eva Green is masterful in this and it's an incredible film about the dedication and sacrifice of an astronaut
Never Rarely Sometimes Always - Eliza Hittman - 4.5 stars. And my 7th favorite film of 2020. I tried and didn't really love Beach Rats, but man, this was easily one of the best films of the year. The quiet realism of it is special. And the title scene is so quietly devastating, I'm still thinking about it a year later.
Dick Johnson is Dead - Kirsten Johnson - 4.5 stars. My 14th fave! Equally joyful/celebratory and sad; had the second best ending scene of the year.
After Antarctica - Tasha Van Zandt - 4.5 stars. This was a lovely documentary about the coast to coast Antarctic expedition of 1989 - something I had never heard of. It's a thrilling adventure, and drives home its messages about climate change better than many other docs. Plus: sled dogs!
Zola - Janicza Bravo - 3.5 stars. This has continued to grow on me. (I think my initial lower ranking was because I went to see this with friends and we were the ONLY ONES LAUGHING. So not the *best* viewing experience.) But it's really good, and as always, Mica Levi knocks it out of the park with the score. Do it.
Passing - Rebecca Hall - 4 stars. Ruth Negga is the best.
CODA - Siân Heder - 3.5 stars. I think David Ehrlich put it best: "the specific pleasure of watching a good movie get away with the kind of bullshit that usually makes you want to vomit." It's so true. It shouldn't work. It hits every plot beat you know it's going to. And yet it's SO charming and so enjoyable - it's like a magic trick. I'm rooting for Troy Kotsur for supporting actor so hard.
Land - Robin Wright - 4 stars. This is probably not a four star movie, but I'm a sucker for 'woman making it in the wild' narratives, and I liked the sparsity of the style and thought Demián Bichir was great.
Rita Moreno: Just a Girl who Decided to Go for it - Mariem Pérez Riera - 4 stars. Totally straightforward, but who doesn't love Rita Moreno?! (not Chris Keller, that's for sure.)
The Last Autumn - Yrsa Roca Fannberg - 3.5 stars. The final sheep drive on an Icelandic farm.
Spinster - Andrea Dorfman - 3.5 stars. This is pretty run of the mill for most of the runtime (your feelings on Chelsea Peretti may vary), and then it has one of my absolute favorite scenes out of left field.
The World to Come - Mona Fastvold - 3.5 stars. I was really looking forward to this, and left a little disappointed. Katherine Waterston is great (and should get more roles), but the relationship is SO repressed, and I almost always CANNOT with Christopher Abbott. I never bought him in the role, especially compared to Casey Affleck (who seems an equally insufferable person, but is a terrific actor.)
Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street - Marilyn Agrelo - 3.5 stars. A straightforward, but charming (how could it not be?) doc about the start of Sesame Street.
Censor - Prano Bailey-Bond - 3.5 stars. Niamh Algar is great in this ode to 80s VHS horror. It's very stylish.
Marvelous and the Black Hole - Kate Tsang - 3 stars. I LOVED Kate Tsang's shorts Sherman and So You've Grown Attached, so I was very excited for her feature debut, and disappointed that it wasn't nearly as innovative or imaginative as her shorts. There were still some of the same creative elements, but largely in service to a tropey story. Happy to see Phil from Better off Ted pop up.
The Dog Who Wouldn't Be Quiet - Ana Katz - 3 stars. I really wanted to like this more.
Promising Young Woman - Emerald Fennell - 2.5 stars. Biggest waste of a premise since I don't know when. So disappointing.
Nudo mixteco - Ángeles Cruz - 2.5 stars. Three vignettes about overlapping characters returning to their hometown.
Mayday - Karen Cinorre - 1.5 stars. Almost nothing to like here, aside from Mia Goth and a surprise musical number. Why can't we get a good girl falls into fantasy-land action film (see also: Sucker punch. No, I don't think Narnia counts.) (Return to Oz might. Oh wait: Labyrinth. Everyone else can go home.) (But for real - an R rated version should work and I can't think that anyone has managed.)
Shorts (36)
American Wildlife - Elizabeth Lo - 5 stars. A beautiful, understated short that places the animals in a rehab clinic front and center.
Bambirak - Zamarin Wahdat - 4 stars. Very charming tale of a daughter joining her immigrant father for a day of work.
Dreams in the Field - Magda Guidi & Mara Cerri - 4.5 stars. A dreamy, impressionistic animated short.
Like the Ones I used to Know - Annie St-Pierre - 4 stars. Christmas and divorce. Super well done - on the Oscar shortlist for this year.
Mountain Cat - Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir - 4 stars. A Mongolian short about a girl pushing against her mother's beliefs in a shaman.
Step into the River -Weijia Ma - 4 stars. On the Oscar shortlist! A beautiful animated film about the one child policy. Worked better for me than Sister a couple of years back (which I still liked!)
White Wedding - Melody C. Roscher - 4 stars. A tense Southern wedding with a biracial bride whose estranged father happens to be in the wedding band.
Snowy - Kaitlyn Schwalje & Alexander W. Lewis - 4 stars. That poor turtle.
Tehachapi - Tasha Van Zandt - 4 stars. Straightforward doc of prisoners in supermax working on a mural with JR.
Wavelengths - Jessie Zinn - 4 stars. Volunteers at a Bay Area hotline listen to women processing their abortions. Very affecting. Made me think of Paloma Martinez's Enforcement Hours which dealt with a similar SF hotline for immigrants and, of course, Voicemail for Jill.
Freezerburn - Sarah Maloney - 4 stars. Low budget, quirky queer film. Magical cat!
In the Shadow of the Pines - Anne Koizumi - 3.5 stars. A gut punch animated short from a daughter about her immigrant father.
Five Tiger - Nomawonga Khumalo - 3.5 stars. South African film about a woman trying to make ends meet.
You Wouldn't Understand -Trish Harnetiaux - 3.5 stars. Sci fi short.
Lata - Alisha Tejpal - 3.5 stars. An Indian maid.
The Fourfold - Alisi Telengut - 3.5 stars. Based on rituals from Mogolia and Siberia, about the need to use animism to save the planet. Interesting stop motion animation and sound.
Al-sit - Suzannah Mirghani - 3.5 stars. An arranged marriage in Sudan. Beautifully filmed.
The End of Suffering (a proposal) - Jacqueline Lentzou - 3.5 stars. Abstract, philosophical short.
We Have One Heart - Katarzyna Warzecha - 3.5 stars. Doc/animated mix about a son finding his parent's love letters.
Sing Me a Lullaby - Tiffany Hsiung - 3.5 stars. A midlength film about a daughter searching for her mother's birth parents
Doretha's Blues - Channing Godfrey Peoples - 3.5 stars. An elderly blues singer reminisces at a bar.
Doublespeak - Hazel McKibbin - 3.5 stars. Short about workplace harassment. I'm guessing the Assistant was better, but I could never bring myself to watch it.
Kapaemahu - 3.5 stars. This was on the animated shortlist last year. It was okay, but I think the subject matter (of trans or genderqueer identities in traditional societies/myths) hyped it up a bit much.
Club Quarantine -Aurora Brachman - 3.5 stars. Straightforward doc about an online queer dance party. I think I overrated this because it was nice to see sparks of hope in the midst of a year of lockdown.
The Affected - Rikke Gregersen - 3 stars. Animated film from the point of view of other passengers when one passenger takes a stand to prevent the deportation of another passenger.
Misery Loves Company - Sasha Lee - 3 stars. Melancholic animated short.
Last Days at Paradise High - Emily Thomas and Derek Knowles - 3 stars. Straightforward short about the seniors at Paradise high after the fire.
Wiggle Room - Julia Baylis & Sam Guest - 3 stars. A girl tries to keep her wheelchair ramp from being repossessed.
Flex - Josefin Malmén & David Strindberg - 2.5 stars. Crazy, short short about a bodybuilder.
Ale Libre - Maya Cueva - 2.5 stars. Doc about an activist facing deportation.
Since You Arrived My Heart Stopped Beloging to Me - Erin Semine Kökdil - 2.5 stars. Doc about a bus of mothers searching for their migrant children who went missing on the trip. Felt like the issue needed a stronger film, as heart-wrenching as these mothers' plights were.
You Won't Regret that tattoo - Angie Bird - 2.5 stars. A cool topic (interviewing the elderly tattooed) that.. just didn't end up interesting enough. Maybe different subjects/different approach would have worked better.
Tales of the Accidental City - Maimouna Jallow - 2 stars. Medium length film filmed on zoom that would have worked better with a tighter script/edit. It's about 3 people in Nairobi completing their court ordered anger management class.
Blue Fear - Marie Jacotey & Lola Halifa-Legrand - 2 stars. I don't remember this well, but I seem to recall the animation was good while the plot (extended metaphor on relationships?) was kind of a mess.
Tie - Alexandra Ramires - 2.5 stars. Animated trope - 2 characters with inverse physical deformities they hide.
GNT - Sara Hirner & Rosemary Vasquez-Brown - 2 stars. Oh no social media.
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