BEST WOMEN-CENTRIC FILMS OF 2019

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Marriage story

‘Marriage story’ is one of the most terrifying movies of the year; every decision, every word; every emotion feels honest and true to life. Observing a splintering union with compassion and expansive grace, the powerfully acted ‘Marriage Story’, ranks among writer-director Noah Baumbach’s best works. It’s a divorce saga about a wealthy showbiz couple that burrows into the emotional turmoil of their split. Adam Driver (Charlie) and Scarlett Johansson (Nicole), both astonishing, star as a married couple in the midst of breaking up. ‘Marriage Story’ feels like the most honest insight into the divorce process. What makes it a great film is that Baumbach never loses sight of the love that brought Charlie and Nicole together to begin with, and there’s a real softness to the film even when the characters get ugly. This is a deeply human movie.

Little Women

The eighth film adaptation of the classic novel is thoughtful yet escapist, sophisticated yet accessible, expertly crafted and deeply felt. Greta Gerwig’s all-star production breathes new life into the March family with smart, deft direction, gorgeous visuals, and top-drawer performances from a cast including Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Laura Dern, and Meryl Streep. As Jo March (Saoirse Ronan) sets about writing the story of her family, each of her three sisters is given a fair shake despite all wanting different things and fitting different definitions of femininity, and Jo’s struggle as a woman getting her work published in the 1860s shapes a larger narrative about female artists and authorship. There’s an innate, thoughtfully contemporary feel to the film’s feminism, even as it deals with material that’s now a century and a half old.

Parasite

One of the most buzzed-about films of the year, this intense thriller from South Korean director Bong Joon Ho is an unpredictable, thought-provoking masterpiece about inequality. Parasite intertwines the lives of two families and mixes many genres - comedy, thriller, social commentary - without showing a single seam. The eerie film follows an impoverished family that schemes to work for - and become part of - a richer clan. The thriller artfully explores resentment between the haves and the have-nots. What begins as a domestic comedy/drama, however, quickly blossoms into something bigger as the horrible realities of late-stage capitalism begin to set in. Bong’s aesthetics evoke the social and economic divisions governing modern South Korea, and has crafted a biting statement on class divide that manages to be heartbreaking, wholesome, laugh out loud funny, and weep-worthingly sad at the same time.

The Souvenir

Directed by Joanna Hogg, ‘The Souvenir’ is a uniquely impactful coming of age drama. It’s the story of a young woman (a fantastic Honor Swinton Byrne as Julie) and her relationship - in this case with an addict and liar Anthony played by Tom Burke), but it’s also about art, friendship, the lies we tell our families, and what it means to know yourself. The first half of the two-part saga unfolds as a delicate 1980s period piece - young and aspiring filmmaker Julie falls into an ill-fated romance with sophisticated drug addict Anthony. The semi-clandestine drug habit eventually becomes a complicating factor for the duo, but the real heart of this enthralling film is Julie herself, whose interior state is brought to vivid life by the director’s intimate, aesthetically diverse approach.

The Nightingale

‘The Nightingale’ takes unseemly material and turns it into a liberating tale of historic reckoning. This masterful Australian period piece, unfolds in colonial Australia circa 1825, as Irish convict Clare (Aisling Franciosi), sentenced to indentured servitude, survives a harrowing rape and embarks on a dizzying quest for revenge. Director Jennifer Kent’s drama wrestles with victimhood on multiple fronts, not only contending with Clare’s experiences but the persecution of the Aboriginal people as well, juggling repressed dimensions of the Australian psyche with a sophisticated eye. The Nightingale beautifully illustrates the spectrum of humanity and what human beings are truly capable of. The cinematography, the dialogue and the performances of the actors highlight those innumerable events in history which should never be forgotten nor forgiven.

Gloria Bell

An English remake of the 2013 original, ‘Gloria Bell’ is a glorious celebration of Julianne Moore at her peak. It’s a sad reality that as some women get older, they can feel less visible in the world-particularly in the movies. The protagonist of Sebasti‡n Lelio’s Gloria Bell is a bracing exception. Set in L.A., this finely etched character study stars Julianne Moore as the titular heroine, a 50-something divorcŽe who spends her days working in an insurance office and her nights at the disco looking for love. Between friends being laid off, concerns about retirement, and adult children navigating their own troubled romantic paths, Gloria makes her way through middle age with a brave face. Led by brilliant performance by Moore, Gloria Bell is a small-scale story with a profound understanding of life as it’s actually lived, and felt.

Farewell

‘The Farewell’ is an unexpectedly and deliciously funny movie, directed by Lulu Wang. It deftly captures complicated family dynamics with a poignant, well-acted drama that marries cultural specificity with universally relatable themes. The film follows a Chinese family who, when they discover their beloved Grandmother has only a short while left to live, decide to keep her in the dark and schedule an impromptu wedding to gather before she passes.

‘The Farewell’ tackles how to process grief and guilt while delivering hearty laughs. Most touching is the film’s boundless love shared between grandmother and granddaughter as Billi tries to find her place in the world.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

A singularly rich period piece, ‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’ finds stirring, thought-provoking drama within a powerfully acted romance. On an isolated island in Brittany at the end of the eighteenth century, a female painter is obliged to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman.

An enchanting, fantastic paean to forbidden love, the movie builds to a series of thrilling operatic moments, including a show-stopping musical number that catapults the story from the boundaries of its setting to achieve a timeless ecstasy. The film is directed immaculately by French director Celine Sciamma.

Her Smell

Directed by Alex Ross Perry, ‘Her Smell’ is an unforgiving film about a rock star who is consumed by the struggle between art and excess. Becky Something (Elisabeth Moss) is a ‘90s punk rock superstar who once filled arenas with her grungy all-female trio Something She. Now she plays smaller venues while grappling with motherhood, exhausted bandmates, nervous record company executives, and a new generation of rising talent eager to usurp her stardom. Elisabeth Moss delivers a tour-de-force performance of rampant egomania and self-destruction that galvanizes Alex Ross Perry’s film.

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