Women's Films Opening - June 8, 2012

Lola Versus - co-written by Zoe Lister Jones
I think that Greta Gerwig is a wonderfully interesting actress.  She's made a steady progress from her mumblecore roots to romantic interest in a studio flicks to now being the lead in a high profile indie flick.  The film Lola Versus tells the story of a woman on the brink of her 30s who gets dumped a couple of weeks before her wedding.  She spends the rest of the movie trying to figure out who she is all the while negotiating the NYC world of dating and disappointment. 

Zoe Lister Jones and Daryl Wein co-wrote this film as a follow-up to their succesful first film Breaking Upwards.  I only wish this was as interesting as Breaking Upwards.  Gerwig tries as hard as she can, and she is quite endearing and watchable, and while the film tries to be different from the typical romantic comedy, it does not succeed.  The good thing is that Gerwig is clearly not a studio type romcom leading actress saying the usual stereotypical bullshit but sadly, in the end, the film doesn't say anything new.

Peace, Love and Misunderstanding - co-written by Christina Mengert
I was able to attend the Women's Media Center premiere of Peace, Love and Misunderstanding on Monday evening.  As I was watching the movie, and the great Jane Fonda play a hippie stoner grandma with long flowing grey hair I thought to myself damn, this woman is good.  It also made me think about her remarkable body of work as an actress.

I grew up watching most of her great early roles after the fact on TV.  Two of my favorites are Julia and The China Syndrome.  I can still watch both those films anytime.  She has played such incredibly strong women.  I distinctly remember when she appeared on TV in The Dollmaker in 1984.  That was a time when people watched shows when they were on, and everyone watched Jane Fonda on TV because at that time, movie stars did not do TV.  And she was a movie star.  But she did that film because of the subject matter -- poverty -- and she was able to get all of us to watch a movie about the topic. Read more.

Corpo Celeste - directed by Alice Rohrwacher
Having recently returned to her native Italy after living in Switzerland for 10 years, quiet but curious 13-year-old Marta is left to her own devices while her loving but worn-out mother toils away at an industrial bakery. Marta's only source of socialization is the local church, where she is sent to attend preparatory classes for her confirmation. But the doctrines of Roman Catholicism offer little in terms of life lessons or consolation, and she quickly sees through the hypocrisy of the priest, who cares more about status than about his constituents. Eventually, Marta forges her very own way of the cross, which turns out to have much less to do with God than with her own ascent into adulthood. (from the press materials)

Prometheus
A team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race. (from imdb)

See all films by and about women.