Last week I wrote an article about the lack of non-acting female nominations at major Hollywood award shows. As mentioned in the article, both critics and movie-goers’ excuse for women excluded from the nominations for top awards is because they don’t produce quality films. In response, here are some of the top women produced, written, and directed films in the past several years.
- Booksmart
-
Synopsis: Directed by Oliva Wide, Booksmart tells the story best friends Molly (Beanie Feldstein) and Amy (Kaitlyn Dever). The two are straight-A, overachieving, teachers pet, high school seniors who thought that keeping their noses to the grindstone gave them a leg up on their high school peers. On the eve of graduation, they realize that the slack-off party kids got into the same schools as they did. The two best friends suddenly realize that they may have missed out on the special moments of their teenage years. Determined to make up for lost time, the girls decide to cram four years of not-to-be-missed fun into one night — a chaotic adventure that no amount of book smarts could prepare them for.
Booksmart manages to do it all. The film is inclusive and progressive without sacrificing an ounce of humor. Booksmart is memorable, relatable, fresh, and funny because it taps into the truth that, as Vox movie critic Alissa Wilkinson simply puts, “when you’re a teenager, your biggest enemy is usually yourself.”
- Wonder Woman
-
Synopsis: Before she was Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), she was Diana, princess of the Amazons, trained to be an unconquerable warrior. Raised on a sheltered island paradise, Diana meets an American pilot (Chris Pine) who tells her about the massive conflict that’s raging in the outside world. Convinced that she can stop the threat, Diana leaves her home for the first time. Fighting alongside men in a war to end all wars, she finally discovers her full powers and true destiny.
Wonder Woman was the first female superhero film released during the golden age of tentpole superhero films. The risk of a female director and the risk of a female lead resulted in the immense pressure for the film to be successful with critics and the box office alike. Quite literally the future of any female superhero films depended on the success of Wonder Woman. In Hollywood, men get the chance to make loads of shitty superhero movies, but women get one shot, and Patty Jenkins took the shot driving a sword through the black heart of Hollywood’s sexism.
- Lady Bird
-
Synopsis: Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson of Sacramento, CA, is in her final year of high school in 2002. She longs to leave Sacramento and go to college on the East Coast. However, her protective, obsessive mother, pessimistic at her chances, is determined to keep her in California, and ideally nearby home. Lady Bird’s final year of school will be one of discovery, new experiences and finding herself.
In Greta Gerwig’s directorial debut one realizes that while the movie is called Ladybird, follows the life of Ladybird and is centered entirely around lady; it is an ode, a love-letter to all the mothers in the world. It’s a reminder that one person’s coming-of-age story is another person’s letting-go story.
- Selma
-
Synopsis: The unforgettable true story chronicles the tumultuous three-month period in 1965 when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led a dangerous campaign to secure equal voting rights in the face of violent opposition. The epic march from Selma to Montgomery culminated in President Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965, one of the most significant victories for the civil rights movement. Director Ava DuVernay’s Selma tells the story of how the revered leader and visionary Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his brothers and sisters in the movement prompted change that forever altered history.
Ava Duvernay has been a prominent director for some time producing critically acclaimed films like 13th which exposes America’s prison industrial complex and When They See Us based on the 1989 Central Park jogger case. DuVernay’s 2018 fantasy film A Wrinkle in Time, had a production and marketing budget between $150-$250 million, making her the first black woman to direct a live-action film with a budget of more than $100 million. Although commercially unsuccessful, the film made her the first black American woman to direct a film that earned at least $100 million domestically.
- Frozen
-
Synopsis: When the newly-crowned Queen Elsa accidentally uses her power to turn her kingdom of Arendlle into an infinite frozen winter, her sister Anna teams up with an iceman, his playful reindeer, and a snowman to reverse the magic and bring her sister home.
From Broadway musicals, theme park attractions, and sequels galore, the legacy of Frozen is clear. People just can’t let it go. Yet what people may not know is about Frozen is its revolutionary behind the scenes. Jenifer Lee directed Frozen making Lee the first female director of a Walt Disney Animation Studios feature film and the first female director of a feature film that earned more than $1 billion in gross box office revenue. Frozen was the highest-earning film with a female director until it was surpassed by Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman.
- The Farewell
-
Synopsis: A headstrong Chinese-American woman returns to China when her beloved grandmother is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Billi struggles with her family’s decision to keep Grandma in the dark about her illness as they all stage an impromptu wedding to see Grandma one last time.
The Farwell contains universal themes of death, family, love and sacrifice. The film not only explores the sacrifices we make for our family, but also of the immigrant experience, of revisiting one’s homeland to, in some senses, say goodbye to it. Perhaps the most exciting theme of the film is the immigrant experience. Instead of telling the story of assimilation or the journey to America, The Farwell is a multigenerational immigrant story similar to The Joy Luck Club (also written by a woman). It is the story of a Chinese-American woman grappling with the traditionalism of her past and its impact on her future.
There are so many other films that could be included in this list ranging from Sci-Fi classic ET to the classical musical Singing in the Rain. Like in many underrepresented groups, subcategories such as women of color are even more underrepresented. With the rise of both indie film studios like A24 and mega blockbuster studios like Walt Disney, audiences seems to be invested in movies now more than ever. One can only hope that with an increasing interest in the art of filmmaking, more people will be inspired to get behind the cameras to produce the stories that need to be heard.