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52 Films by Women Vol 10. 42. LADY (Director: Olive Nwosu)

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  Pictured : Lady ( Jessica Gabriel’s Ujah ) drives a group of prostitutes to their next appointment in a scene from the Lagos-set drama, ' Lady ', written and directed by Olive Nwosu . Photo: Peter Okesun / Film Four (UK) Buoyed by sentiment rather than authenticity, Lady is a genre film that really ought to be a realistic drama. The Lagos-born, US trained writer-director Olive Nwosu has been steered towards choices that rob her debut feature film of grit and substance. The cast acquit themselves well, but this is a film where you never once enter the title character’s head. Nwosu privileges positive representation over truth and the result is two-dimensional. You can enjoy the images. Emotionally, you are frozen out. Set in Lagos, it tells the story of woman taxi driver Lady (newcomer Jessica Gabriel’s Ujah) who has been traumatised by her mother’s struggle to survive. Asked how she managed to afford her car, or rather who did she have sex with, Lady doesn’t answer. Her d...
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52 Films by Women Vol 10. 41. THE DREAMED ADVENTURE (Director: Valeska Grisebach)

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  Pictured : Archaeologist Veska ( Yana Radeva , left) catches up with old friend  Saïd ( Syuleyman Alilov Letifov , right) in a scene from co-writer-director Valeska Grisebach 's Bulgaria-set drama, ' The Dreamed Adventure '. Photograph courtesy of ' Haut et Court ' (France) The Dreamed Adventure ( Das Geträumte Abenteuer ), the first film in nine years from German co-writer-director Valeska Grisebach, runs for 2 hours and 44 minutes. The duration might seem excessive but the slow rhythm of the film, focussing on conversations between groups of people and featuring authentic faces rather than actors, together with a mystery that Grisebach and her co-writer Lisa Bierwirth are in no hurry to solve – the disappearance of what appears to be the main character – not to mention the presence of shady types whose menace increases, keeps you riveted. Grisebach’s choices are unexpected. She stretches narrative form with a novelist’s touch. I was thoroughly absorbed. For t...
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52 Films by Women Vol 10. 40. HOT SPOT (Director: Agnieszka Smoczynska)

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  Pictured : Ayka ( Reika Kirishima , right) is confronted with the father of her child who has morphed into a cat in a scene from the futuristic drama, 'Hot Spot', written by Robert Bolesto and directed by  Agnieszka Smoczynska . Still courtesy of So Films (Poland) / Focus Features (US) In the future, civilization thrives on jelly beans. That’s the premise of Polish director Agnieszka Smocynska’s fourth feature, Hot Spot , which reteams her with writer Robert Bolesto, who scripted her debut, The Lure . The year is unspecified – films generally get caught out tying themselves to a future date, from 2001 – A Space Odyssey onwards. Like most films about the future, Hot Spot (not a great title) is shaped by current preoccupations: artificial intelligence and migration. There are those who have access to resources, who sign up to being mentally joined to the Head, who instructs them daily to not waste water or sexual energy, and migrants who don’t, covering half their faces wit...
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52 Films by Women Vol 10. 39. GIRLS LIKE GIRLS (Director: Hayley Kiyoko)

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  Pictured : Teenagers Coley ( Maya Da Costa , left) and Sonya ( Myra Malloy , right) explore the Oregon countryside and their own feelings for each other, in the teen romance, ' Girls Like Girls ', co-written (with Stefanie Scott ) and directed by Hayley Kiyoko . Still courtesy of Focus Features / Universal  Girls Like Girls is not the first song to be turned into a movie – Girls Just Want To Have Fun , inspired by Cyndi Lauper’s 1983 hit single and starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Helen Hunt and Shannon Doherty, was released in 1985. However, it is the first to be done so by its singer, in this case biracial American Hayley Kiyoko, by way of her novel published in 2023. It is an example of a piece of intellectual property squeezed almost to its limit by its author. A musical, stage show, TV spin off, perhaps even a video game, all remain options for the artist who first released the song in 2015 and saw it become a queer anthem, the video for which attracted 100 million view...
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52 Films by Women Vol 10. 38. PRACTICAL MAGIC 2 (Director: Susanne Bier)

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  Pictured : Sally Owens ( Nicole Kidman , left) and her older sister Gillian ( Sandra Bulloc k, right) reunited for the sequel, ' Practical Magic 2 ', adapted from Alice Hoffman 's 2021 novel, ' The Book of Magic ' by Akiva Goldsman , Georgia Pritchett and Kelly Marcel and directed by Susanne Bier . Still courtesy of Warner Bros . For those who remember Danish director Susanne Bier as the woman who, working with writer Anders Thomas Jensen, engaged audiences with the moral dramas Open Hearts , Brothers and A Second Chance , that auteur is entirely absent from her sequel Practical Magic 2 , an adaptation of Alice Hoffman’s 2021 novel, ‘The Book of Magic’, the fourth and final book of her ‘Practical Magic’ series. Admittedly, there is a character in a coma brought about entirely by a young woman’s love, but the Susanne Bier of Dogme 95 would have focussed on whether the woman, witch’s daughter Kylie Owens (Joey King) should release the comatose Gideon (Xolo Maridu...
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52 Films by Women Vol 10. 37.5. TOW (Director: Stephanie Laing)

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  Pictured : Displaced vehicular resident Amanda Ogle ( Rose Byrne ) shares to a group of addicts, her hand held by group leader, Barbara ( Octavia Spencer ) in a scene from the Seattle-set fact based drama, ' Tow ', written by  Jonathan Keasey and Brant Boivin and directed by Stephanie Laing . Still courtesy of Vertical / Roadside Attractions (US) How did American director Stephanie Laing expect audiences react to her film, Tow ? Insufficiently funny to be a comedy, lacking in sharp edges to be a drama, it relates the fact-based story of ‘vehicular resident’ Amanda Ogle and her attempt to retrieve her car, a 1991 blue Toyota Camry, from a Seattle-based towing company. The cast is stacked: Academy Award nominee Rose Byrne, Academy Award winner Ariana DeBose, Elsie Fisher (from Eighth Grade ), Octavia Spencer, Demi Lovato and the fiercely-imposing comedian Lea DeLaria, not to mention Simon Rex (from Red Rocket ) and Corbin Bernsen, the latter as a lawyer who never ...
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52 Films by Women Vol 10. 37. HOME STORIES (Etwas ganz Besonderes) (Director: Eva Trobisch)

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  Pictured : Bonny ( Ida Fischer , left) and Lea ( Frida Hornemann , right) perform on the eve of a recording of a television talent contest. A scene from German writer-director Eva Trobisch 's third feature, ' Home Stories ' (' Etwas ganz Besonderes '). Still courtesy of  Pandora Film Verleih (Germany). For her third feature, Etwas ganz Besonderes (English title: Home Stories ) German writer-director Eva Trobisch focuses on a fractured family gathered to support sixteen-year-old Lea (Frida Hornemann) who has been selected to progress in an ‘X Factor’ style television music talent contest. The English title refers to the segment of the show that illustrates the contestant’s background, intended to make them relatable. These shows aren’t just about the voice. They intend to hook the audience with the competitor’s journey. But Trobisch doesn’t remake Little Miss Sunshine for the German market. Her film is emphatically not a comedy. Rather it explores unspoken tens...
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