You might not be aware of it, but this is a very unusual week for big summer movie releases. Both the big-ticket movies opening this week are directed by women: Bewitched by Nora Ephron, and Herbie: Fully Loaded by Angela Robinson. I cannot imagine that this has happened before.
I feel somewhat guilty because I don’t particularly want to see either film, although my boyfriend is mildly interested in Bewitched and we might end up seeing it next week sometime.
Since college, I have felt that I ought to support female filmmakers as much as possible. However, I would rather support good films as much as possible, and sometimes the Hollywood films that are directed by women are not what I would consider good films.
Most of us can count the number of female feature-film directors in Hollywood that we know about on one hand, or maybe two if we’ve been paying attention. Miranda July has been getting a lot of attention lately, which is very nice. Even independent filmmaking has a shortage of female directors.
Where are all the women? When I attended the conference at Austin Film Festival a few years ago, many of the female writers and directors said they’d fled to television because TV was more female-friendly. “Women will dominate TV just as men are dominating film,” they singsonged placidly, although I am not sure they were right about TV.
I think a lot of the women are involved in documentary filmmaking. At SXSW, two of the documentaries I enjoyed were made by women: Troop 1500 and The Education of Shelby Knox.
I’m not a big subscriber to the auteur theory, so maybe it shouldn’t matter to me that so few women are directors. Maybe I should be thinking about writers instead … the ratio of women to men is a little more balanced there. Still, no matter what I believe about filmmaking, mainstream media act as though the director is the sole filmmaker (unless a major star steps in to help a bit). The director is the one we hear about, and the director is usually a guy.
Perhaps I could rent Angela Robinson’s previous film, D.E.B.S. instead; would that count? And I’d be happy to reread Heartburn, Nora Ephron’s novel that I truly enjoy, and the only thing she’s written in which I like the main female character. (Too bad the movie adaptation is crap.)
Or maybe I’ll just feel a bit guilty, not only because I’m not supporting female directors or screenwriters, but because I’m not one myself.
New movies in Austin this week:
Bewitched—I don’t usually like movies adapted from TV shows, and the only Nora Ephron-written movie I’ve liked has been When Harry Met Sally. (This one was written not only by Nora Ephron but by her sister, Gummo. I mean Delia.) On the other hand, I like watching Nicole Kidman in comedies. I think I’ll wait and see what other people I trust have to say about it.
Herbie: Fully Loaded—I want to thank Disney for making me feel like a pervert. Ever since that rumor circulated that Lindsay Lohan’s breasts were digitally reduced to make this film more family-friendly, I cannot watch an ad for the movie without my eyes moving to her cleavage. Urgh. If I didn’t watch the Herbie movie with Bruce Campbell in it, you know I’m not going to see this one.
Land of the Dead—I wish I really wanted to see this movie. That’s not true. Part of me does really want to see it. However, the other part remembers that I could not get through Dawn of the Dead because it was boring and extremely gory, and I have heard that the gore in this movie is even more spectacular. I have trouble with gore unless it is a) cartoony, like in Kill Bill, or b) accompanied by humor. I have the feeling this movie would be difficult for me. But who knows, I may change my mind.
My Summer of Love—Sounds like an upbeat Heavenly Creatures with different accents. Not that this is a bad thing, mind you.
Torremolinos 73—Spanish movie about a couple in the 1970s who thinks they are involved in making European sex-ed films when in fact the wife has become an international porn celebrity.
Notable events/revivals in Austin:
The Adventures of Robin Hood—Playing at the Paramount on Sun. 6/26 and Tues. 6/28 in a double feature with Captain Blood. Errol Flynn and Olivia deHavilland are fine, but I’m fond of Basil Rathbone myself. The one I’d particularly like to see is The Sea Hawk, though, because Christopher Guest allegedly imitated the bad guy in that movie when portraying Count Rugen in The Princess Bride.
Beverly Hills Cop—Playing at Alamo Lake Creek on Wed. 6/29 as part of their Pick-A-Flick series.
Billy Liar—Playing at Alamo Downtown on Tues. 6/28 as part of the Essential Cinema: Shattering the Narrative series from Austin Film Society. I have never seen this 1963 movie, directed by John Schlesinger, starring Tom Courtenay. Do I have plans Tuesday night? Hmmm.
The Black Stallion—Playing at Alamo South on Sat-Sun. 6/25-26 as part of the Alamo’s free summer movie camp for kids. I remember seeing it as a child but I don’t remember anything about it; I can’t even remember Mickey Rooney’s being in it.
Candleshoe—Playing at Alamo Downtown on Sat. 6/25 at noon as part of their monthly free kids’ club movie series. Okay, I confess I really liked this movie when I saw it in a theater as a little girl. C’mon, it’s got Jodie Foster, Helen Hayes, and David Niven in it. I’m very tempted to sneak over to Alamo on Saturday, but I’m worried that it won’t be as good as I remember it.
Captain Blood—Playing at the Paramount on Sun. 6/26 and Tues. 6/28 in a double feature with The Adventures of Robin Hood. I haven’t ever seen this Errol Flynn movie myself but I suspect his better movies are a lot of fun in a theater. Also stars Olivia deHavilland and Basil Rathbone.
Casuistry: The Art of Killing a Cat—Playing at Alamo Downtown on Tues. 6/28 and Tues-Wed. 7/5-6. Controversial documentary about a group of guys in Canada who decided that for the sake of Art, they would … well, kill a cat and videotape it. The documentary doesn’t show or condone the awful footage or cruelty to animals, but focuses on the controversy surrounding this event.
Duck Soup—Playing at the Paramount Fri-Sat. 6/24-25 on a double-feature with Horse Feathers. I just saw this at Alamo a few months ago (with a great all-soup dinner) and it’s well worth seeing in a theater with a responsive audience. Just be careful … this movie almost gave me a concussion once.
Hell’s Angels—Playing at the Paramount on Wed-Thurs. 6/29-30 as part of a double feature with Hell’s Angels. If you enjoyed The Aviator you might want to see the actual films that Howard Hughes produced. This one is alllll about the airplanes.
Horse Feathers—Playing at the Paramount Fri-Sat. 6/24-25 on a double-feature with Duck Soup. I’m not sure why, but this is the Marx Brothers movie that I like the best. Maybe it’s Thelma Todd. Maybe it’s the multiple renditions of “Everyone Says I Love You.” Great stuff.
Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure—Playing at Roger Beasley Mazda South on Fri. 6/24. Rolling Roadshow presents a drive-in movie night with a really fun film. You can watch the movie from your car (with a special radio frequency for the sound) or bring blankets and chairs. Free admission, although pet food donations for Austin Humane Society are encouraged.
The Philadelphia Story—Playing at the Paramount next Fri-Sat. 7/1-2 as part of a double feature with Woman of the Year. Someone at the Paramount apparently thought it would be funny to schedule the Katharine Hepburn double feature the day after the Howard Hughes double feature. Cute. I adore this movie but I just bought the DVD, which is an incredibly good transfer, and I don’t think this movie gains much in a theater.
Raging Bull—Playing at Alamo Downtown on Fri. 6/24 and Wed. 6/29. I should post my review for this movie. The short version: Impressive but not likeable.
Scarface—Playing at the Paramount on Wed-Thurs. 6/29-30 as part of a double feature with Hell’s Angels. If you enjoyed The Aviator you might want to see the actual films that Howard Hughes produced. Ben Hecht wrote and Howard Hawks directed this 1932 film, which has inspired a lot of other gangster films.
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie—Playing at Lakeline on Tues-Wed. 6/28-29 at 10 am as part of Regal’s free family film series. My review here. My boyfriend considers this the best movie ever. We even have the soundtrack.
The Wild Bunch—Playing at Alamo Downtown next Fri-Sun. 7/1-3. Admission price to the Friday screening includes a “Southwestern feast” (which sounds delicious) and Rachael Ray will be there taping one of her TV shows. If you want to go on Friday I would suggest buying tickets in advance. I think the cameras and set dinner will be a little too distracting for me personally so I will probably go on Sat. or Sun. (No, not both. Well, probably not.) My review here.
Woman of the Year—Playing at the Paramount next Fri-Sat. 7/1-2 as part of a double feature with The Philadelphia Story. I enjoy watching Katharine Hepburn, but I have never seen this 1942 film. The plot sounds somewhat distasteful: she’s a political commentator who is humiliated by her sports-reporter husband for trying to Have It All. I like Pat and Mike so much better.
We’re going to watch The President’s Analyst again this weekend, and possibly Hoop Dreams for the first time if we can make time for it. Not exactly female-studded casts or crews, I realize, but good films nonetheless.
I am not listing all the movies for which I have to write reviews because it has become ridiculous. Ack.
Captain Blood was shown frequently on TV when I was an impressionable pre-teen. and the book was a favorite back then, too.
With Yul Brynner as “The Buccaneer” in the theaters, Errol Flynn as Captain Blood on TV, along with Burt Lancaster in “The Crimson Pirate” and even Gene Kelly in the weirdly charming Judy Garland musical “The Pirate”, it is no wonder my adolescent fantasies ran to swashbucklers.
Maybe it’s time to see “Captain Blood” again.
Assuming it will get a wider release soon due to how well it’s doing in all of two theaters that it’s currently showing in now (up from 1 at first), check out “Me and you and everyone we know,” by first-time filmmaker Miranda July, when it comes your way.
I hate to be the anal one here, but I just wanted to point out that there’s not much of a difference between the numbers of women directors and women writers, in case anyone was wondering about the exact statistics.
From Martha Lauzen’s most recent “Celluloid Ceiling” study:
“Women comprised 5% of all directors working on the top 250 films of 2004.”
“Women accounted for 12% of writers working on the top 250 films of 2004.”
On a personal note, I do agree that bad films should not be supported just because they’re made by women or some other minority, and I also don’t completely subscribe to the auteur theory. All of which leads me to point out that such movies would probably have been just as bad with male directors, because there are so many other people (84% of whom just happen to be male) involved in the filmmaking process. It is not all under the director’s control. So hopefully no one will look at these films as “evidence” that women just can’t make good films.
Thanks for the link to that study, which is interesting and also rather depressing. I was hoping that more women would have writing credits, at least (I already knew the numbers for technical positions were awful), but apparently that’s not even true. Very sad. I hope that if someone studied independent films and documentaries with national release, the numbers would look better.
Craige, I don’t know when the Miranda July movie will open in Austin — I heard that Austin Film Society might sponsor a preview in mid-July — but I am looking forward to seeing it.