Trailblazer Appreciation: Nora Ephron

Most people have heard the term "triple threat" on reality shows where someone is aspiring to be a singer/dancer/fashion model or whatever combination of things they can do on camera. Nora Ephron (1941 - 2012) was a journalist, essayist, novelist, screenwriter, director, producer, and a playwright. 

From the early 1980's to her passing in 2012, she worked in the film industry making iconic films. Her work in film lead her to be nominated for Academy Awards and Golden Raspberries alike. 

Nora Ephron's distinctive voice explores the many roles and lives of women. The only other screenwriter that comes to mind for connecting to such a distinctive audience is John Hughes. The thing that makes her work illustrious is not her desire to tell "women's stories" but rather that she tells compelling stories about women. Women exist in her movie world, which lets face is, doesn't exist in the worlds of many prolific screenwriters and film directors. 

From the game changing When Harry Met Sally (1989) to the stunningly beautiful Julie & Julia (2009) so many of Nora's films are hallmarks in the landscape of movie history. She made the romantic comedy something to be appreciated. 

Nora's directorial debut with This is My Life (1992) is the film that made Lena Dunham want to become a writer. 

Other memorable works include Heartburn (1986) (Our review here), You've Got Mail (1998), and Sleepless in Seattle(1993). 

Part of her legacy is that Nora was someone people wanted to be around. After her passing in 2012 the general feeling of shock and sadness has become memorialized in essays of her opinionated, fun loving, nature, and undeniable kindness. She was encouraging and spirited, inspiring friends and fans to go forward with their lives, and take chances.  

If there is one thing to be said about Nora Ephron it's that she showed her love and passion for life in everything she did. Something we should all learn from her and strive to achieve in ourselves. 

Review #22: The Other Woman

Release Date: April 25, 2014
Writer: Melissa Stack
Director: Nick Cassavetes

Logline: After discovering her boyfriend is married, Carly soon meets the wife he's been cheating on. And when yet another affair is discovered, all three women team up to plot mutual revenge on the three-timing SOB.

Bechdel Test: Embarrassingly only passes 2 out of 3 tests.

Review

To get this out of the way: I did not hate this movie. It was perfect for a quiet Saturday morning and I would totally watch again if I stumbled across it playing on TBS. Leslie Mann was great, there was an awesome closet hang out scene and I’m still obsessed with the line “Martha Stewart did prison like a boss.” I'm also ecstatic that a film with 3 female leads is doing well at the box office.

That being said, this film was a disappointment. You would think a movie with three female leads would pass the Bechdel Test with flying colours but The Other Woman only passed 2 of the 3 tests. Not one conversation was about something other than a man. Of course, you could dissect every conversation into individual sentences and give it a pass based on that - but every sentence that was about a random subject was immediately followed by one about a man. In a movie that is being marketed as a female-friendship/woman-empowerment story, that’s not good enough.

I went in thinking that this was going to be my modern day First Wives Club, instead I got a movie about one dimensional women who value personal gain above all else.  When you put the two films in comparison, it’s even more evident how much more The Other Woman could have done.

In The First Wives Club, there are entire scenes where the women never even mention a man.  They talk about things that are truly unique to their own personal journeys outside of their relationships; their careers, fear of aging and their past. They are brutally honest with each other and that vulnerability makes their friendship genuine and real. The movie begins with them together and ends with them together - at its core it’s truly a movie about their relationships with each other.

Kate Upton, Cameron Diaz and Leslie Mann
in The Other Woman

The friendships in TOW feel forced and shallow.  It's great that they all hang out and drink together but what else is holding them together besides their common experiences with Nick? The movie begins with them on separate paths and ends with them having separate successes.  One gets a career boost, one gets married, and one gets knocked up by Lady Gaga's boyfriend.  After all this female bonding, they still find their ultimate happiness in men or approval from men.

This film isn’t really a female friendship movie -it’s a typical romcom that happens to have women being friends in it. If you're just looking for a light movie with a ton of physical comedy and way too many boob shots, that's okay. If you're looking for a film that presents complex female characters and genuine friendship between women, look elsewhere. 

Portrayal of Women: It’s hard to understand why TOW failed so miserably in establishing really great female characters when FWC did exactly that more than 15 years ago with a similar premise.  Where is the progress in our romantic comedies?

We basically don’t know anything about the women in TOW except for what their relationship to Mark is.  Sure, Carly (Diaz) is a lawyer but did she struggle to get her job, does she like it, is she good at it? Kate (Mann) says she gave up her life for Mark, what does that look like? Did she have a career, did she have ambitions, what does she even do every day?  All we know about Amber is that she looks pretty not bad in a bikini. Enlightening.

They fit into the same basic stereotypes that the women of FWC did - ambitious bitch, brainless beauty, and spazzy nice girl.  Unfortunately, they don't transcend these stereotypes like the women of FWC did. Instead they play right into them until they are magically "fixed" at the end.

One thing that did really bother me is the stupidity of both Mann and Upton's characters.  The only character that gets to be smart is Diaz', and of course, her brains leave no capacity to be anything other than a bitch.  I don't want to laugh at girls being stupid anymore and I don't want to be expected to assume smart girls are bitchy either.

Sisterhood Moment: That drunken closet scene was pretty killer.  Nothing says "let's be besties" more than wine induced hair braiding.

First Wives Club

Rating: 2 mission impossible theme songs and half a great dane

I will leave you with the suggestion to check out The First Wives Club, if you haven't before.  This closing shot has more heart than The Other Woman's entire plot could even hope to have (click here).

IMDb - The Other Woman (6.5)
Wikipedia - The Other Woman
Rotten Tomatoes - The Other Woman (25%)

What to see in theaters this week

Do you want to see:

 A female lead?
-The Other Woman

-Hateship Loveship (available on Itunes)

-Divergent

Directed by a woman?

-Hateship Loveship

Written or co-written by a woman?

-The Other Woman
-Divergent

-Rio 2

2 Female Directors in the running for the Palme d'Or

Film Festivals are these magical places where random movies, good or bad, are screened for awards and money and even better, buzz. At the pinnacle of movie buzz is the Canne Film Festival.

We often talk about Sundance Film Festival because Sundance has been a huge supporter of diversity, and in particular women writers and directors. Go Sundance!

Cannes is a little different, focusing less on independent movies, and more on international prestige. It's where movies go to find distribution, and BIG movies go to find awards. Past Palme d'Or (Best Film) winners include Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, and Michael Moore.

I like to think of the Palme d'Or as not being the best movie of the year, but definitely as the most talked about. You may not have seen The Tree of Life (Winner, 2011) but you probably heard about it that year. It is the representation of in-the-moment cinema.

Since the inception of the Palme d'Or award in 1975 only one female director has ever won, in 1993 Jane Campion for The Piano. It might be worth noting that last year in 2013, Blue is the Warmest Color won the award and for the first time in Canne history, the two lead actresses were also awarded the Palme d'Or as a special prize.

In the 2014 selection, it was specifically mentioned that of the 49 films selected, 15 featured female directors.
A huge increase from the past few years where Canne has specifically been the target of criticism over the issue. 2 of the female directed films are currently still in the competition for the Palme d'Or.

Good luck to Naomi Kawase for Still the Water as well as Alice Rohrwacher for Le Meraviglie.

HuffPo: Cannes Film Festival Doubles Female Directors To Compete For Palme d'Or

I also wanted to point out that 3 Canadian films were also announced, and as Canadian screenwriters that's a big deal for us. A Canadian film has never won the Palme d'Or.

Review #21: Pitch Perfect

Release Date: September 28th, 2012
Writer: Kay Cannon, Mickey Rapkin (Novel)
Director: Jason Moore

Logline: Beca, a freshman at Barden University, is cajoled into joining The Bellas, her school's all-girls singing group. Injecting some much needed energy into their repertoire, The Bellas take on their male rivals in a campus competition. (Source IMDb).
Music, Comedy, 112 min.
Bechdel Test: Laughably passes. Easiest pass yet. Look at all those ladies on that poster. The guy's probably wouldn't pass if they didn't talk about magic and John Mayer so much.

Review

Pitch Perfect is one of my favorite movies from this past year. It doesn't hurt that my bloggess Alyssa and I saw it in theaters with our blogsister Keels and we mega-bonded over it.

From a technical point of view, Pitch Perfect has a lot of great things going for it. It was extremely well written, with many in-depth characters, many storylines, and great characterization. Kay Cannon has a well trained sense of comedy where almost every sentimental moment is immediately undercut by a brutally funny joke. This is something that takes Pitch Perfect out of the twee-ville romanticism that it straddles into and straight up brilliant comedy. This was also one of the first movies I can remember reviewing where I don't have to say they should have edited out 30 minutes. These editors on this deserve Oscars for editing such a tight, perfectly paced story. Of course, we are talking about a movie where a bunch of girls try to win an a cappella singing competition. It’s not like it has the twists and turns of Inception. This is a straight forward a+b=c type movie. But that doesn't mean it’s all a throwaway. It’s still extremely well made, in my opinion.

Let’s just talk about this cast for a minute.

Rebel Wilson’s character, Fat Amy, would have been played really dumpy and depressing by anyone else. With Rebel's authentic Australian accent, whip smart one liners, and the girl power attitude of making her hot and with a harem of boyfriends in the pool, she became Rebel's iconic character. When people see Rebel Wilson in a movie, they want her to be Fat Amy.

Pitch Perfect also changed Anna Kendrick’s career with a single song. No, I'm not talking about "Cups". I’m talking about the 17 year old #1 hit "No Diggity". The moment she busted out Blackstreet in the trailer was the moment this became a movie worth seeing. That song changed it from being Glee: The Movie to it’s own fresh entity. This movie was going to go full prep and under cut it with some street cred.

Speaking of street cred, whoever cast Adam Devine is brilliant. Pulling someone like Adam Devine of Workaholics fame in a movie that could easily be overly preppy, and gives this film an edge. I’m crazy impressed that he sings and dances and keeps up, since this is the age of “we'll cut around that.” He’s also hysterically funny having some memorable moments sparring with Rebel.

We also need to talk about Ester Dean playing Cynthia Rose for a minute. This is the first movie she’s acted in, because by trade she’s a songwriter. Selena Gomez “Come and Get It”, Beyonce “Countdown”, Kelly Clarkson “Mr. Know It All”, Katy Perry “Firework” All Ester Dean songs. Even more impressive, she sings her own song in the movie. During the riff off Cynthia Rose and Stacie bust out “S&M” by Rihanna, except… That’s a song Ester Dean wrote for Rihanna. So yeah, she kills it. Everyone killed it.

To wrap this thing up, there's a lot I love about this film if that's not plainly obviously already. It's packed with side splitting comedy, a lot of really charming characters, and none of the songs are particularly grating. It's going down in movie history with Mean Girls and Clueless as being one of those movies that embraces our culture but represents it in a timeless way. It's an all time fav.


Portrayal of Women: Let’s also talk about the fact that even though Fat Amy makes and takes a lot of jokes about her weight and appearance, Cynthia Rose does not. Nobody else on the team does. They are women of all shapes, sizes, and appearances and they all are able to contribute equally as a team. Sure the skinny white ladies might have been up front, but it’s nice to see diversity that simply exists without having to be called out. Everyone has flaws, everyone has quirks, and thats how it should be.

Sisterhood Moment: Probably that time I cried during the finals. Shhh.


Rating: All 5 members of The Breakfest Club out of 5.



IMDb - Pitch Perfect (7.3)
Wikipedia - Pitch Perfect
Rotten Tomatoes - Pitch Perfect (81%)

What to see in theatres this week

Do you want to see:

 A female lead?

-Cas & Dylan (Limited Release)

-Hateship Loveship (available on Itunes)

-Veronica Mars

-Divergent

Directed by a woman?

-Frozen

-Hateship Loveship

Written or co-written by a woman?

-Cas & Dylan

-Divergent

-Rio 2

Review #20: Divergent

Release Date: March 21, 2014
Writer: Evan Daugherty, Vanessa Taylor, Veronica Roth (novel)
Director: Neil Burger

Logline: In a world divided by factions based on virtues, Tris learns she's Divergent and won't fit in. When she discovers a plot to destroy Divergents, Tris and the mysterious Four must find out what makes Divergents dangerous before it's too late. (Source IMDb)
Action Adventure, 139 min.
Bechdel Test: Passed all three tests.

Review

Remember when Sarah reviewed Frozen and she mentioned that I hate cartoons? I also hate anything set before 1920 or in some kind of utopian futuristic society.  That being said, I surprisingly enjoyed Divergent.

Is it the best movie I've seen this year? No. Would I watch it again? Probably not. But it was good for a it's-Saturday-night-and-I-feel-like-I-should-leave-the-house viewing.  Plus, the main guy is super good looking and there's a multitude of female characters.

The one thing I felt this movie lacked was a genuine development of relationships.  Because it was more plot driven than character driven, I never felt any empathy for the characters.  I didn't feel like rejoicing in the celebrations or crying in the devastations, I just accepted it as it came and that was that.

The characters themselves even seemed to have this same borderline apathetic response to their surrounding situations.  Deaths were barely mourned and friendships were hardly formed. I understand that delving deeper into the emotions of the these relationships and situations would have slowed down the plot but it still means I'll rate this a bit lower than I might have otherwise.

Final thoughts: This isn't the best movie but it's fun and you should probably see it if you want to stay culturally relevant.

PS. I wish more than anything that I had Shailene's hair.

Portrayal of Women: Tris, played by Shailene Woodley, is our heroine who must save herself and her fellow Divergents from being killed. She's brave, confident and kind, but she is also sometimes unsure of herself.  What  I appreciated about her is that she was able to push past her uncertainty due to her own determination to succeed.

She definitely had support from others, but ultimately, she was saving herself instead of waiting for someone else to come to her rescue.  This is especially apparent in her relationship with Four.  They develop more of a partnership as opposed to the classic "guy saves girl" dynamic.

The supporting cast is a good balance of male and female characters.  A woman even gets to be the villain!

Sisterhood Moment: The sisterhood moment I chose is actually the absence of a classic trope. When Tris stays over at Four's and returns the next day wearing his sweater, there is absolutely no teasing or jealousy from the other girls.

I expected the other girls to slut shame her but there was absolutely none of that.  That was an unexpected but welcome surprise.

Rating: 2 pregnant Kate Winslets and a life sized poster of Theo James for my wall

IMDb - Divergent (7.6)
Wikipedia - Divergent
Rotten Tomatoes - Divergent (40%)