Female Filmmakers

Started by ©brad, January 23, 2003, 11:13:37 AM

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EL__SCORCHO

I like Lisa Cholodenko's "High Art" but haven't seen "Laurel Canyon", has anyone?

AlguienEstolamiPantalones

i like tamra davis , i think she needs better material and by that i do not mean stuffy art films. Like for example i love cb4 , she could be like a john landis someone who makes great comedys .

Sigur Rós

Lone Scherfig is great. Check out "Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself".

godardian

I saw Laurel Canyon and enjoyed it thoroughly until the last 5 minutes. Frances McDormand is amazing- sexy, funny, sad- throughout. It just wimps out a little at the very end, I think. Gets too cutesy and sentimental. Very worth seeing, though.

Did anyone see Morvern Callar, directed by Lynne Ramsay, who did the great Ratcatcher, which I think is one of the most sorely overrated movies of the past few years?

Other women directors I like: Mary Harron, Jill Sprecher, Agnes Varda...
""Money doesn't come into it. It never has. I do what I do because it's all that I am." - Morrissey

"Lacan stressed more and more in his work the power and organizing principle of the symbolic, understood as the networks, social, cultural, and linguistic, into which a child is born. These precede the birth of a child, which is why Lacan can say that language is there from before the actual moment of birth. It is there in the social structures which are at play in the family and, of course, in the ideals, goals, and histories of the parents. This world of language can hardly be grasped by the newborn and yet it will act on the whole of the child's existence."

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Pedro

Quote from: themodernage02i think i am completely prejudiced,  but just as a rule of thumb i dont like movies directed by women.  offhand i can only think of one that i love, VIRGIN SUICIDES.  it just seems to me that their POV a lot of times is just something naive or something i cannot relate to at all.  (see TAO OF STEVE for an example of this).  perhaps the same thing that bugs people about spielberg, bugs me about a lot of women directors.  they seem to romanticize things and make them a little too tidy for my taste.  MIMI LEDER really bugs me too.  maybe i am just missing out on the "good" women directors, but in my experience i dont like em.
Well, even though you may think that this a bit too rough on the study of the male psyche, try American Psycho on for size.  See if that's too pretty for you.

modage

yeah, you're right. i did like American Psycho. i didnt LOVE it, but i liked it.  actually having a woman direct that was an interesting choice that sort of worked.  but there are exceptions of course.  but just usually.  like out of my dvd and vhs collection i think i maybe have 2 movies directed by women?  and 3 hundred some by men.
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

godardian

Quote from: themodernage02yeah, you're right. i did like American Psycho. i didnt LOVE it, but i liked it.  actually having a woman direct that was an interesting choice that sort of worked.  but there are exceptions of course.  but just usually.  like out of my dvd and vhs collection i think i maybe have 2 movies directed by women?  and 3 hundred some by men.

That just about reflects the proportion of opportunies for men directors as opposed to women...

The movie biz- even the indie-movie biz- is a boy's club. Sure, there are shitty movies made by women... but given the sheer number of movies made by men, there are far, far more shitty movies directed by men.

I think the real problem is that there are so damn few women directors, they need their own special category. The situation won't really be fair until it's so commonplace that we can judge the films without noticing the unusual gender of the person who made it.

Mary Harron is a very fine director, though. As are Claire Denis and Catherine Breillat... as is Lynn Ramsey... as are many of the ever-growing handful of women directors.
""Money doesn't come into it. It never has. I do what I do because it's all that I am." - Morrissey

"Lacan stressed more and more in his work the power and organizing principle of the symbolic, understood as the networks, social, cultural, and linguistic, into which a child is born. These precede the birth of a child, which is why Lacan can say that language is there from before the actual moment of birth. It is there in the social structures which are at play in the family and, of course, in the ideals, goals, and histories of the parents. This world of language can hardly be grasped by the newborn and yet it will act on the whole of the child's existence."

Stay informed on protecting your freedom of speech and civil rights.

modage

The movie biz- even the indie-movie biz- is a boy's club. Sure, there are shitty movies made by women... but given the sheer number of movies made by men, there are far, far more shitty movies directed by men.

true.
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

BonBon85

I think that the problem with a lot of female directors is that they only make "women's movies". The reason why the Virgin Suicides is great is because although it presents many female characters the film isn't excessively romantic or sentimental like your usual "chick flick". The movie can be enjoyed by both men and women. Chick flicks often make the assumption that women are all more sentimental than men, and perhaps, in turn, more one-dimensional than men, which is certainly untrue. I really hope to see some growth in women directors who make films that aren't specifically geared towards women but to a wider audience as well.

children with angels

I think that comes partly from - as Goddardian said - the minimal amount of material that gets offered to female directors: narrow-minded studios will only consider a female director suitable for a 'women's movie'. Another way to look at it would be to say that women get so few chances to make movies - therefore few chances to express themselves in their chosen medium - that when they do the chance they think "fuck it: I'm gonna make something personal to me": which may more often than not end up in what we men class a 'women's movie'.

And it's self-perpetuating. Because women are backed into this corner where they are gonna make female-driven movies, studio execs aren't going to consider them for more general (for 'general' read 'male-driven') storylines because they think "she can't direct that: she'll only make it into a fuckin' women's movie".
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"We always do..."

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sexterossa

i really like Jodies Foster's LITTLE MAN TATE. its like if jeremy blackman's scenes in magnolia were a full length movie.
I dream of birds and sometimes they land and burst into flames. And I dream my teeth are rotting. And when I am awake, I dream of you.

godardian

Quote from: sexterossai really like Jodies Foster's LITTLE MAN TATE. its like if jeremy blackman's scenes in magnolia were a full length movie.

And Home for the Holidays, despite how much I thought I was going to hate it (the TV ads made it look really annoying), is one I bought right away on DVD. It's not GREAT-great, but it's very enjoyable, humorous, a nice little gem. Foster is a more than competent director, judging from what I've seen (haven't seen Altar Boys yet).

It is, as BonBon stated above, a challenge not to marginalize yourself by preaching to the converted or making something "typical."

Even worse than sappy female-bonding "women's pictures," though, are gay directors. As far as that goes, you have pretty much Gus van Sant, Todd Haynes, and Rose Troche. Most of the rest is unadulterated ghettoization. That's quite a different story, however; some of Hollywood's best and most prominent directors were gay (though this is something we know now and was never discussed in the old days) while, because of exclusion, women didn't even figure in the equation.

But I'd rather sit through 24 Hour Woman (a picture I didn't care for at all, and one I thought typified the way a woman director could go wrong) ten times than have to endure Jeffrey or Trick ever again...
""Money doesn't come into it. It never has. I do what I do because it's all that I am." - Morrissey

"Lacan stressed more and more in his work the power and organizing principle of the symbolic, understood as the networks, social, cultural, and linguistic, into which a child is born. These precede the birth of a child, which is why Lacan can say that language is there from before the actual moment of birth. It is there in the social structures which are at play in the family and, of course, in the ideals, goals, and histories of the parents. This world of language can hardly be grasped by the newborn and yet it will act on the whole of the child's existence."

Stay informed on protecting your freedom of speech and civil rights.

MacGuffin

Quote from: godardianFoster is a more than competent director, judging from what I've seen (haven't seen Altar Boys yet).

Foster only produced "Dangerous Lives..." Peter Care directed.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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BonBon85

Quote from: godardianEven worse than sappy female-bonding "women's pictures," though, are gay directors. As far as that goes, you have pretty much Gus van Sant, Todd Haynes, and Rose Troche. Most of the rest is unadulterated ghettoization. That's quite a different story, however; some of Hollywood's best and most prominent directors were gay (though this is something we know now and was never discussed in the old days) while, because of exclusion, women didn't even figure in the equation.

But I'd rather sit through 24 Hour Woman (a picture I didn't care for at all, and one I thought typified the way a woman director could go wrong) ten times than have to endure Jeffrey or Trick ever again...

To go off topic a bit, I have to agree with you. I have several gay and bisexual friends who scoff at the idea of watching a heterosexual romantic comedy, but are constantly forcing me to sit through films that are equally bad but are elevated in their minds simply due to the fact that the characters are gay. They can't understand how I could dislike films like the ones you mentioned and yet they hate typical heterosexual romantic comedies that are really not any worse.

godardian

Quote from: MacGuffin
Quote from: godardianFoster is a more than competent director, judging from what I've seen (haven't seen Altar Boys yet).

Foster only produced "Dangerous Lives..." Peter Care directed.

If I ever realize my dream of becoming a film writer, you're on the A-list of prospective fact-checkers.

Looks like Foster's directorial filmography includes only Tate, Holidays, and the upcoming Flora Plum, which sounds the tiniest little bit reminiscent of Paper Moon.
""Money doesn't come into it. It never has. I do what I do because it's all that I am." - Morrissey

"Lacan stressed more and more in his work the power and organizing principle of the symbolic, understood as the networks, social, cultural, and linguistic, into which a child is born. These precede the birth of a child, which is why Lacan can say that language is there from before the actual moment of birth. It is there in the social structures which are at play in the family and, of course, in the ideals, goals, and histories of the parents. This world of language can hardly be grasped by the newborn and yet it will act on the whole of the child's existence."

Stay informed on protecting your freedom of speech and civil rights.