Here’s to the Ladies Who Write

LORE | Cate Shortland & Robin Mukherjee

Not only was this film co-adapted by director Shortland, but it’s a film based on a novel by a woman and entirely about one young woman’s journey, both physical and emotional. A much harsher film than most coming of age stories are, Shortland and Mukherjee rely less on their writing than they do on visuals. What little dialogue they do provide however is revealing of its character and how she transforms from start to finish.

BYZANTIUM | Moira Buffini

I’m one of few defenders of Buffini’s adaptation of Jane Eyre, but her work for this film is something of an entirely different nature and easily one of the best vampire films to join the modern ranks. Buffini deftly handles action, drama, romance, and horror in the way she presents her tale, and the way she manages to actually involve the history of each of her characters through flashbacks is surprisingly top notch. Her two lead women are almost complete opposites, each one representing her own woman rather than any old stereotypes that might come along. There’s no tiresome fawning over perfect men or constant sexual exploitation like many other vampire films, and that’s something to be appreciated.

IN A WORLD | Lake Bell

I could talk on and on about how little women in comedy are appreciated, more so on the big screen than the little screen. And yet, here we have one of the most outright charming and amusing films of the year, from a woman who most would probably recognize from TV (Childrens Hospital anyone?). Of all the films listed here, In A World is arguably the realest and most important, and that’s because Lake Bell gets it. She gets that women deserve an immense voice (not only) in comedy (but the world), she gets that women have to manipulate the system to overcome sexism, and she gets that, although it’s a tiny film, small ripples make big waves.

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Again, these are just ten films that I personally found to be the top of the crop in terms of female writers or co-writers so far in the year, but there are plenty more! You’ve got so many female writers (and directors) working on films that it’d be impossible to list them all, but just for the sake of having some honorable mentions, here are some more writers and their films:

• Nicole Holofcener’s Enough Said (which I have yet to see but have heard brilliant things about)
• Amy Seimetz’s harrowing directorial feature debut Sun Don’t Shine
• The Portuguese silent film Tabu co-written by Mariana Ricardo
• The rather daring Paradise Trilogy co-written by director Seidl’s wife, Veronika Franz
• Verena Paravel’s (and co-director Lucien Castaing-Taylor) unsettling documentary Leviathan

I’d love to spread the news of more female-led, female-written, and female-directed films this year, and considering this is only a selection of my favorites, there’s bound to be plenty more out there. In the spirit of transparency, I totally left out a couple I downright disliked (Touchy Feely, Admission, and The Heat among them), but if you liked those or know of others worth mentioning, please feel free to comment and spread the wealth! There’s no better way to spread the news of cool movies than commenting about ’em, so talk about your favorites and check out any of the ones I mentioned that might interest you!