Gaith said:
I haven't seen most of the entries on
this list of the best female-directed movies of the 2010s, and the only women-directed movies in my home media collection were made by two individuals who identified as male at the time. Diversity fail! Anyhow...
That's a great list, thanks for posting that
. Sadly, I've missed out on 10 of them but have recently watched two from the list:
Destroyer (2018)
Nicole Kidman gives an amazing performance as a washed up disaster-area of an LA cop out to find her nemesis, a bank-robber called Silas. I had expectations that this would be a classic revenge thriller in the
'Point Blank' mould but it's actually a deeper study of self-destruction. The narrative constantly shifts back and forward in time from where it started to go wrong, to Kidman's desperate attempts to put things right. I promise you'll be surprised at the depths her character will sink to get info on her quarry. I didn't think
Toby Kebbell had the necessary menace for Silas in the flashbacks and maybe it would have worked better with a linear structure.
The Farewell (2019)
From the trailer, I thought I was going to love this film and I really did.
Awkwafina plays Billi, a 30 year-old slightly depressed New Yorker, who joins her family on a trip back to China to say farewell to her dying grandmother "Nai Nai" (Except nobody has told Nai Nai about the diagnosis). It's about immigrants trying to keep connected and reconnecting with their heritage and about savouring life. Oh and it's really funny too! I instantly fell in love with the grandmother played beautifully by
Zhao Shuzhen, in what I believe is her first film role at the age of 76 (she's been a successful stage actress through). It was fortunate that I'd had a Chinese takeaway the night before because several of the film's scenes feature the family talking over tables filled from edge-to-edge with delicious looking Chinese food!
I made that Collider list into a Letterboxd list so I can make an effort to see the other 10:
https://letterboxd.com/tm2yc/list/the-top-20-female-directed-films-of-the-decade/
I've also just watched 'Little Women' too:
Little Women (2019)
Writer/Director
Greta Gerwig wisely makes subtle, yet impact tweaks to the source novel to make it feel fresh, like putting more focus on Jo being an aspiring writer. She also successfully plays with the time structure, which further modernises the piece. Her direction is really classy, one of those times when the camera always seems to be at the perfect angle for the best composition. The Cinematography is gorgeous, using what looks like just natural lighting to evoke the past. You couldn't ask for a better all-star cast of young actors including
Saoirse Ronan,
Florence Pugh,
Timothée Chalamet and
Emma Watson. I feel bad for saying it because his performance is excellent but I couldn't help finding it distracting that
Bob Odenkirk was the dad, when he has done Civil War sketches in Mr. Show.