52 Films by Women Vol 6. 3. BLACK WIDOW (Director: Cate Shortland)
Contains spoilers When Marvel Studios was developing the standalone movie Black Widow , they reached out to a number of women directors because they wanted the film to better represent ‘the female perspective’. Amongst those invited for an informal interview (and subject to a non-disclosure agreement) was Argentine auteur Lucrecia Martel, whose last film, Zama , a critique of colonialism, is very far from commercial fare. ‘Don’t worry about the action scenes,’ she was told, ‘we’ll get somebody else to do those.’ ‘Actually, I’d like to direct the action scenes,’ replied Martel. Unsurprisingly, she didn’t get the gig. Instead, Marvel Studios hired Cate Shortland, whose most recent film, Berlin Syndrome , about the kidnapping of an Australian tourist, was at least in the thriller genre. Shortland is skilled in maintaining a degree of tension. However, superhero movies are not known for their heart-stopping suspense, rather the flair or power that the hero displays in defeating the...