Alex and Nick have done a lot of lists on the podcast, but none have featured films by this many incredible directors. This episode is all about female-driven stories, from filmmakers such as Sofia Coppola, Greta Gerwig, Claire Denis, Lynne Ramsay, Catherine Breillat, Patty Jenkins, Julia Ducournau, Agnes Varda, Jane Campion, and more.
Follow @WAYW_Podcast on Twitter and Instagram.
Watch Alex's films at http://alexwithrow.com/
Watch Nick's films at https://www.nicholasdostal.com/
Send us mailbag questions at whatareyouwatchingpodcast@gmail.com
Alex and Nick have done a lot of lists on the podcast, but none have featured films by this many incredible directors. This episode is all about female-driven stories, from filmmakers such as Sofia Coppola, Greta Gerwig, Claire Denis, Lynne Ramsay, Catherine Breillat, Patty Jenkins, Julia Ducournau, Agnes Varda, Jane Campion, and more.
Follow @WAYW_Podcast on Twitter and Instagram.
Watch Alex's films at http://alexwithrow.com/
Watch Nick's films at https://www.nicholasdostal.com/
Send us mailbag questions at whatareyouwatchingpodcast@gmail.com
Hey, everyone, welcome to. What are you watching? I'm Alex with thrown. I'm joined by my best man Nick Dostal. How are you doing there, Lady Bird? Oh, I'm excited to be here. Oh, yeah. This is going to be a fun topic to talk about. I'm going to start this way by just being completely honest that I'm a little nervous to be talking about a topic entitled Favorite Movies by Women About Women, because you know, with each passing year, if not month, defining things by gender seems to become more and more old fashioned. But as always, I promise this episode is coming from a good place, the best of all places. We, as always, are just trying to attract more attention to, in this case, a handful of specific films for a specific reason. Because, yes, all the movies we're going to talk about today were directed by women. But you are not going to hear some of the most popular movies directed by women, because our added caveat is that these movies have to be directed by women and they have to be about women. And, you know, the most important aspect of it, of course, is that they're all just really good movies by really good directors, regardless of gender. But we thought it would be interesting to really break down a list of films with these specific criteria, and we're excited to get into it. And who better to talk about a women's movies directed by women than two dudes. Two straight white guys? Yes, yes. We're all men. I just want to say that I understand the optics of this. Like if you're just seeing the little description, the podcast, the script, I'd be like, who are these assholes? But but we are going to talk about a lot of really good movies today in hopes that you check these out or rewatch them if you've already seen them. That's all. And the reason that we are coming from this place is because is what we are exploring and curious, always curious about and especially through film is the female experience. That is what we are trying to highlight with this podcast, because the more and more that these women's stories are being told, the more it's enlightening me as just a human being as to who we all are. And that is what's awesome about all of these movies. And that leads to the first thing I want to mention right up top is that this was not the easiest podcast topic to find a plethora of movies for, and that is not because these stories haven't wanted to be told. That's Hollywood bullshit, you know, Hollywood studio nonsense. But thankfully these movies are becoming much more popular. They're getting funded more quickly. Some they're being nominated for awards. I mean, this year alone, I just saw bodies, bodies, bodies and which is a really fun new movie by Helena Ryan. And prior to the last five years or so, movies like these were hard to find again, largely because studios didn't think there was a market for female driven stories told by female filmmakers, which is nonsense. But that was reality in Hollywood for long time. So. So whether by choice or by career force, a lot of the movies we're going to mention today and a lot of the women who made them, they have also made really good movies that just happened to Star Men. And today we're going to focus on the female driven stories. Well, I wanted to bring up something to that. I'm a little because I don't know how to talk about it. And that's the world we live in. I don't really know how I know how I feel about certain aspects of it, but let's okay, okay, do it as as it all relates to the optics of gender, the film Independent Spirit Awards, which is our second favorite awards after the Oscars, maybe even our first maybe even our first year. They gave they gave not really in the last few years. But when we were growing up, that's how I learned about so many amazing indie films. They very recently announced that they are getting rid of gender acting categories and they are instead going to have the best lead performance and the best supporting performance. And the way they're going to do this is they're going to nominate ten lead performances and ten supporting performances. Now, these people can be male, female, non-binary, whatever it is, that's the intention of it. It wants to be all inclusive. So there's just two things here. And to me, they are they're fighting each other, which kind of sucks. First of all, the Oscars will head here. They're not going to do it this year. There's we're two down the line. But the pressure of this is going to mount to where I think this is going to happen eventually. So I have no problem taking gender out of it. These are the only awards where gender is a factor. It's not best male director, best female director, best female cinematographer. It's all fighting for the same awards. The one thing that I suppose I'm just going to have to accept is that that means we're only going to get two acting awards as opposed to four. We're not going to get two lead acting and two supporting acting. So that's the only thing that I'm still rattling around in my head. And maybe for social progress and social change, the amount of awards, given that a movie awards show doesn't fucking matter and it matter like inclusivity, is what matters in making everyone feel a part of the acting community, not the male acting community or the female acting community. So I'm all on board with the Socialist effect of it, but the very hard core movie nerd, movie awards show nerd aspect of me is like, Damn, I just think it's really hard for an actor of any kind to win an Oscar, and I think it's cooler to give them four chances every year as opposed to two. But maybe there's something I haven't thought about where they will still figure out how to give out to, or rather for acting awards. I don't know your take, sir. I hear everything that you're saying. My take on it is that I agree fully with this move. I think I've always wondered, even as a kid watching the Oscars, and I guess it's maybe just my predisposition to acting is that I have been on screen and been across stages with men and women of all shapes, sizes, colors, whatever you want to say. And there is no difference. There is no difference when you're trying to go after whatever the truth is in a scene, in a character I've never really quite understood why they separated it by gender. I never really agreed with it. But to your point, yes, it is fun. It's a part of the award experience because let's face it, unless you're nerds like us or you're in the industry, if you're watching the Oscars, you're only watching for the acting and the best picture. That is what and that's what I'm saying. And the Oscars way more than awards. They care about viewership and making money. Trust me, that's what they care about more than anything. So if they're going, oh, shit, like we we socially, we have to, we have to tap into this. We're going to have to make a change of some sort. But is our viewership going to plummet because we're only giving out two acting awards? I mean, I don't know. These are the things I can't answer now. Now, here is an idea that could then lead. But then we're again, we're we're also. Well, the Golden Globes did it. You could still have four acting awards if you broke up the awards into drama or comedy. Drama and comedy, which a lot of people have speculated doing. You know, there are movies that are gray. Yeah, they do not fit into drama or comedy. And maybe people would have to. And then I could see a lot of chicanery of like sleek producer trying to put, I think, kind of a dramatic performance in the comedy to try to win it and vice versa. But, you know, Oscars be Oscars. There are always going to be these politics. But I'm very interested to watch The Sphere Awards with you and see how that plays out, because, again, I don't think it's going to be this year, but I would not be surprised that when we sit down to watch the Oscars in calendar year 2024, there are gender neutral acting categories. I think that's a really strong possibility. We'll see it. Maybe it will even happen this year. Who knows? Yeah. I wonder if it's a little too. I think people are already, like, angling. We're. We're in the festival circuit. That's true. That's true. All that has come down. Yeah. And people I mean, the Oscars at this point, I say only six months away, but in Hollywood, that's nothing. And they're already angling like, who are we going to put up there for best actress? Like those talks are already happening. So yeah, I think the town would revolt if they tried now. But if they make an announcement the day after this most this upcoming Oscars upcoming be February or March, but they make an announcement and say, hey, we had a good run or, you know, like the 100th ceremony is coming up, if that's the one where they're like, hey, new era, the 100th Oscars, gender neutral because they're coming up on that, you know, milestone. But worst we'll see. It's something that's going to be ongoing. I'm interested to hear people's takes on this that they respond to us on Twitter at WW Underscore podcast. As you should. Yes, as you should. Okay. Let's get into these movies, though, because that's enough of a preamble. And let's talk about some of our favorite movies by women. About women. Again, these are just our personal favorites. Please don't take any list we do here as a comprehensive thing. We're not going to list like 200 movies directed by women about women. Like I don't think there's any like obscure movie from like 1925 on here, people walking around. So I'm saying those movies do exist. It's just not going to be that all encompassing. But we're going to get started here with one that we talked about very recently on the movies That Make US Cry episode. But yes, other than it makes you cry, it can make you incredibly sad. Tell me why Penny Marshall's 1992, A League of Their Own, is one of your favorite movies of this kind because. It's just an awesome movie. It really is. And I want to just stop right there. Yeah, like that's it. Moving to the entire podcast. You like good movie. I like it. Yes, it is indeed. Still awesome. Like we're at the 30 year mark for this 1990, 2022 and this thing has not slowed down. I watched this. This is on repeat as a kid on TV. It was just on. You'd catch it here. Watch last hour, you'd catch this part. It was always on. And it's something that my parents showed me and it's something that parents are going to be showing their kids for general Oceans. I watched this movie constantly as a child, and I rewatched it recently for this episode and it just still holds up. There's really no like fault about it. It's it's immensely entertaining. I think it's actually growing in popularity lately. Yeah, I agree. They even screened this earlier this summer at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. That's awesome that that particular venue does not put out movies unless there's they need to draw in a sold out. Crowd to have a demand. Yes. So, you know, this movie kind of it touches on a lot of things about women. It's not only is it about, you know, the story of women's baseball when that was happening during World War Two and the fight to get it to happen and all of that. But so you've got that part of it. You've got that revolutionary aspect of it for women, but it's also about two sisters exactly. As to in a very honest portrayal of sisters, too, like that is a big sister, little sister dynamic to the bone. Like you've got the one who's always, quote unquote pretty, the one that all the boys like. And you've got this little spitfire in in Kit and played by Lori Petty. I know. She's so great. She is she pretty much kind of ruled the nineties, you know, in her. She did a. Great job in the nineties. She really, really, really did. And I just remember kind of watching that movie as a kid. You know, I grew up as an only child, so I didn't have brothers or sisters, but I was always attracted to stories in movies that had that. And so being so close to my mom and she has a sister, I would sort of always kind of like, imagine that this was the two of them, even though they couldn't be further away. But it was is how I'm relating. It's how I'm seeing the world in that vein. I grew up with a sibling I didn't like and he didn't like me. So I was always as a kid, seeing movies about siblings, like getting along and everything was hunky dory and I was not relating to that. So when I saw something like this, I really appreciated it. For that reason, I'm like, okay, it's true. Like not all siblings get along for any number of reasons. Also, one final my final point about this movie, no Oscar nominations is like. Really what the. Hindsight like I mean no score any of those women for supporting or lead like it's I thought it got one in there somewhere and just none was I was like, oh that's weird. But it shows the bias of the academy, really. I'm very, very glad to see that it's, you know, 30 years later, it's actually finding a younger and brand new audience because as it should. I think it always will. And yes, as it should. As it should. So that was your fun kind of sports pick. I also have a sports pick, really good indie movie from 2000 called Girlfight, directed by Karyn Kusama. She went on to direct Jennifer's body with Megan Fox and destroy Boyer with Nicole Kidman. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Nuts. That was crazy on this list. That movie is crazy. Nicole Kidman is way, way different in that owning Girlfight. Girlfight is about a young boxer, Michelle Rodriguez, and she's training to become a fighter behind her father's back. And it's a really good damn movie. It's a simple film. Kusama won the best directing award at Sundance that year, and the film tied the winner. It tied with You Can Count on Me, which is fine company. Company. Yeah. A selling point for this is if you mostly know Michelle Rodriguez from the Fast and Furious franchise, she is deeply authentic and deeply dramatic here. And I have always loved her performance. So, Girlfight. You've always talked about that movie. I remember that. Something that you've been championing that movie for as long as I can remember. It always comes up in conversations when you can get it in. Yeah, because I love boxing. Like in real life I box and boxing on film is largely dominated by men and this is for sure one of the best I've ever seen about a female fighter. It's just it's one of the best boxing, one of the best indie boxing movies I've ever seen, too. It's just really good. Where does this rank, though, in terms of the like? Because I was curious asking you about boxing movies or fighting movies. Where does this rank in terms of the filmmakers, how they decide to shoot it, what kind of style? Well, this is not like ESPN, you know, pay per view boxing. Yeah. In a really small gyms. Like if you actually want to become a fighter, a boxer, and you're actually have an interest in it and you're, you know, like a late teenager or a young teenager, this is a very accurate description of it. You're going to be in those stinky, sweaty gyms. So it's you know, they didn't have a lot of money to make it, but it leads to like a fight that is very well shot, very well done. And again, Michelle Rodriguez, this is the first thing I saw her in. And I believe she got her role in the first Fast and Furious because of this. You know, I kind of broke these out into sections. I thought it'd be fun to move to. It's sort of like coming of age theme that I don't have any notes for this. We're going to breeze over this because I mean, how many times we talked about Clueless on this podcast, it. It has to be up there with it. I think it's in the top three. I think we've. Referenced talking about it a lot more time to do it on purpose. Yeah, just fits. It fits in. We did favorite episodes that I tried if I were doing it here, I don't even know how many times it's come up. Oh, favorite L.A. movies? Yeah, it's a great L.A. movie. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's so Amy Heckerling, 1995. Great movie about women. I mean, this is like one of the Mount Rushmore nineties films. Like, It Just is this is what it was like to live in the nineties. I didn't live in Beverly Hills, but I imagine it was a lot like that. One of my favorite moments because because that movie does not really get to very grounded reality too much. Sure, sure. But when it does, it does. And one of my favorite lines is when Cher and and Ty are talking and they get into a fight. For we did this all our 95. Yeah. Yeah. They just started die laughing by the verge. Yes. That is like yeah that is a real moment. Like, they're cutting deep there. It's a. Real moment. Everywhere in l.a. Takes 20 minutes. Cher, get in here. Clueless. Yes, we yes, we recommend it very highly, as always. Moving on. Lisa Cholodenko Really good director. I would say the most popular movie she's made that fits into the category we're talking about today is The Kids Are All Right with Julianne Moore and Annette Bening. But my favorite of her films is her first film, High Art. And this is this movie's about a career woman, Radha mitchell, who I've always really liked her. And she's in a happy relationship with a guy and on a chance encounter, she meets her neighbor, played by Ally Sheedy. And the two develop a romance that is very new for the main character. She's like, What is going on here? I didn't expect this to happen. It's a very smart film. Patricia Clarkson plays a heroin addict. So, you know, it's just like classic American nineties, indie cinema, highly recommend high art. Yeah, I remember. I forgot who I was listening to. There was I think it might have been Greta Gerwig and she was talking about this movie and she really, really liked that. Have you seen Laurel Canyon, The Woman? Oh, and Frances McDormand love Laurel Canyon. That was the movie she made after that. Oh, that's why this director's name sounds familiar. Yeah, I was thinking of like the kids are all right, but I was like, I know it from something else. Laurel Canyon, as honestly that might be my favorite film of hers in general. But again, we're talking about specific type movies today for a reason, but Laurel Canyon, it's like fucking weird. So really cool. Yeah. Really, really cool way you if you want to see a very weird Kate Beckinsale and Frances McDormand and Christian Bale watch Laurel Canyon that's like this is a I don't mean I don't mean weird in a bad way not weird abstract like the decisions people are making are L.A. weirdness. That's all. Yeah, it's a crazy cast. You wouldn't think that that casts. It's sort of like these picked, like these names out of a hat. Yeah, and it works. It works a few times today we're going to break out movies by directors, and we're just going to have a nice little section because they have made a few movies about women. And first, we're going to do it with none other than Sofia Coppola. And she has a few who belong here. You know, the Virgin Suicides. Every time I watch it, I cannot believe it's her first film. Like I know forget nepotism, forget any behind the scenes help she may have had from her multiple Oscar winning director father. It's just it's a fantastic and confident debut film. Are mad movie buffs here? What are you watching? Know that we love Sofia. She's just on another level for me. The fact that the Virgin Suicides is her first movie. It's a great. We should do this for a positive of one day. Like best best debut movies are top ten favorite. Oh, I've I've wanted to do that for a while and then an even one I wrote one on my blog is years ago, but I it was basically like an essay top ten debut films that could be the director's best film. Oh, so like 12 Angry Men, like, is that Sidney Lumet's best? I don't think it is, but I think there's an argument for it. You know, argument boys in the hood chances. Galton or even just like best debut films is a really, really cool topic because some people have come in hot. Yeah, absolutely. But then you go on to like Marie Antoinette, which the thing I, you know, this main 26, the thing I like most about this movie then and now is its unrelenting dedication to its tone. It never breaks. It's just like, no, we're setting the bar at pop bubblegum sentiment and we're staying there. And I love it. Like most of us know how Marie Antoinette's life ended and the simplicity in which Sofia and Kirsten Dunst handle that is, which is to say almost avoiding it entirely. It's just it's incredible. And again, talking about Oscars, like, I'm glad this movie won the Oscar for best costume design. But like no production design nomination. Like, I know what that. Cinematography editing, it's just it's weird. It's weird that this was just kind of ignored in that way, but. Oh, well. And she's having fun. That's the that's the coolest thing about that is like what she's interested in and what she's after and the way she uses her power. It's rebellious. It's it's a very, very cool way to see a woman in power is Marie Antoinette. And then that was going to wrap up the Sofia conversation. And right before we recorded, you said, why not add The Beguiled here, too, which I so that's why we're going to do this now. I honestly think that's a movie. I would classify that movie as a male story, and it's from primarily a males point of view, stuck in this situation against a bunch of women. But I'm really kind of grasping at straws here. I think it fits here very well, but I don't know. I just didn't think about it as a movie about women, even though it has like what, four or five incredible performances by women in it. But yeah. And to me, this movie's all about the women's experience because you've got all different types like you've got, and they all have different tactics the way they use it, and they're all truthful. They're, they're all kind of specific towards the women that they're playing. You've got one who's using her wiles. You've got one who is trying to use care. And these are all like, I don't know, like the way that the women are going about it. But it's funny because it's all for a man. Maybe that's just what I'm stuck on. And yeah, yeah, it's a very strong possibility that I'm stuck on the original, the Don SIEGEL one, which is all about Clint Eastwood. And it's really from his point of view. But interestingly, I just heard him say this on the podcast because he has a podcast now which everyone should listen to. But Tarantino, one of his all time favorite directors, is Don SIEGEL. Like, that's one of the directors he study the most. And he actually prefers Sofia Coppola's version, I think, in part based on what you're saying, that it does focus much more from the women's point of view. It's also just like a slightly better movie than it's remembered as being like, I don't know why this was shit on so much. I understand. Like, Oh my God, but she makes slower movies sometimes. Like, I don't know, I thought. I just thought this movie number one was fucking gorgeous. I thought it gorgeous. Absolutely stunning. Stunning. I'm glad to be talking about it, though, you know? Yeah, yeah. For whatever reason, I'm just glad it's being brought up. Yeah, I think that's why I kind of put this movie as a woman's story is because we just get to watch Colin Farrell figure out what he's going to do about all this. Yeah, but it's the women that are. They're driving everything. Even when he tries to. I think that's. I think you convinced me. Yeah. I think that's a fair one to put here. And again, I'm glad we got to talk about it. But let's move on to Nicole Holofcener. She's made a lot of movies that would fit here. Lovely and amazing. Please give. Enough said. My favorite is Friends with Money, and this is about a group of friends Jennifer Aniston, Frances McDormand, Catherine Keener and Joan Cusack, who were all well-to-do citizens of West L.A. And they all have their own separate issues. And some of the actors are playing against type here, like Jennifer Aniston and Scott Caan, art lovers in this. And it's just like a lot of fun. I have to see this movie. Oh, dude, it's so good. Like she makes I have to seasonal movies I love friends with money so yeah it came out 26. Just a huge shout out to her as a filmmaker. She was one of the co-writers of the last duel. I thought it was really smart for her in as to get the female perspective of that. And yeah, friends with money just can't can't recommend it highly enough. Jennifer Aniston never played a character like this really before or since. I mean, that is a compliment. I love everyone in it. Oh, man. You know, I think there's a this is one of those movies that I think for me, because I've seen the cover of this movie and the title and marketing wise, it screams like it's something, not what it sounds like it is. Well, so the marketing of so many of these movies, movies directed by women about women, the marketing is just this glossy boppy. Yeah, shit. Which is okay if we're doing a romantic comedy. Exactly. That's what I've seen comedies. That's okay. And some of these are comedic films. For instance, money is like a deeply dramatic movie. It has really funny moments, but it is not. I own this and the DVD cover is nothing to stop and look at it. It's just there for faces. Like smiling doesn't show that. Yep, this has doesn't show the divorce that comes into play for some people. The tough financial situations, the tough drug situations. All that's here is just it's a really good movie. I didn't expect to be doing this hard of a push for it, but I'm glad I am. Yeah, I am too, because it makes me want to see it. Well, I'm going to go in with a perfect coming of age film for me, and that's Raw, directed by Julia du Karnow from 2000. Very good, very good. Thank you. Thank you. This was her first film. It is about a young vegetarian entering veterinarian school and being put through it just like sheer and utter hazing. Hell, this movie is fucking nuts and I love it. It's like Friday night hang out movie right here. I'll tell you who it is, what I did just a few days ago, because it's on Netflix all the time. It's like the fact that this director followed this movie with Titane. It's still the most insane film I've ever seen to win the Cannes Palme d'Or. It Titane is nuts. Like if you think raw is crazy, titane goes so much farther than that. But I just love raw. I really, really like this movie. I've never seen anything like it. And as, you know, someone who's dedicated a long portion of his life to being a vegetarian fucking love. This is love. What, dude maniacs. It's like carving up it's crazy. It to me this is one of those movies that has, like, the best, like, preface for what you're about to watch. Oh, yeah. So I think we should just say we're not going to give it away, but well. The title is the way. Yeah, like it's a yeah, but you just said it like she's a vegetarian who's going to school for veterinary. Veterinary school and then becomes a cannibal. Yes. Starts experimenting with cannibalism. And this is something that I'll say that when she starts to venture into this world, it ignites something within her that nothing else has in a way that's deeply confusing, deeply pleasurable. This isn't like the easiest film to watch or every one. But I just I highly recommend this. It's I highly recommend it. This is one of my favorite movies of the year. It came out and I, I love it with all my heart. And it is, it's a female driven story too because. Oh yeah, you're talking about two female leads. Ah, in the visceral raw emotions of it are just fucking awesome to watch. Yeah. Perfect title too. I remember. I don't I wasn't even planning to mention this, but the Alamo Drafthouse near me for whatever reason, liked it. There are a lot of movies we're talking about today that just didn't have the best American theatrical distribution because they're foreign whatever. But yeah, only played it for one showtime one night, like on a Thursday at nine. So I'm like, okay, I've been wanting to see it for a while because it had done Festival screenings and I went there and there was like ten of us in there. But, you know, the ten people in a screening like that are fucking there for it. Like no one's here by accident. We're all a bunch of nutjob guys who did this and we were like losing it. There were a few scenes where I just went, Oh my God, like said out loud. And I don't do that movies. And we're like, At some point you got to try to find some humor in it if you can. You have to be. But yeah, you have to. But again, my only way to undersell the carnage of RAW is that it is a Disney movie compared to titane. Titane is fucking insane. Tangent right here. What is the obsession that we're having lately with cannibalism? Oh, it's. It's in a lot of things. Talking about this in text messages with you for months, like how the fuck is Luca Guadagnino? Like, come on, talk to me about it. Like, he makes a movie with Shallow Blade, Armie Hammer and it's really popular. Everyone likes it. Call me by your name. And then like two movies later, he does Suspiria. I think he did another one. And now he's making a movie about cannibals. Just a few months after the news of Armie Hammer having, like, Cannibal King. Yeah, cannibal. Kids. No king shaming on this part. But, you know, it's like, okay, and he's not in the movie. This is all just a coincidence. Like, okay, the movie's getting really good reviews, too. Of course. It is. Bones and all, I think it's called. But it goes there, people. I have heard that it goes there. You will watch Timothy shall them eat human meat, eat somebody. You're right, though. Can't. Oh, my God. It was on Hulu. That was a cannibal thing. Yeah. Don't ask me, man. I don't know. It fucking freaks me out. I don't want to try. I don't even need animals. You think I will draw a human? I don't know that. I would do. It. It's. I know you would find it crazy. There is something like cannibal movies. It used to be rare. It's like, Oh, yeah. Lam says one scene alive with Ethan Hawke, like, goes, Yeah, cannibal movie. And that's like, yeah, maybe Raul started this. Maybe people are like, Oh, Raul's really popular. Let's start Cannibal Cinema. Yeah, that's what it's becoming. Because the only movie that I could think of that was even, like, raw was ravenous. And that is an awesome movie. But that also got a similar type of dark comedy like there's because raw is is gross in is crazy as it is it is very funny. I suppose you have to let that humor in for yourself. But yeah, you have to be willing to accept it. That's where you're going. But even like, Oh God, what the fuck was the name of that movie? Bone Tomahawk. Did you see that movie? Oh, damn, I yeah. It like it was a slow brew, but it led to some crazy things where cannibalism is involved. It led to some shit. All right. Well, speaking of catching on over here. Yes. Speaking of cannibalism, what what's this transition? I don't know, because it was a natural transition. No matter what we went into, it would be good. Speaking of Timothy Shalvey, how about that? Oh, there we go. There you go. There you go. You you take this one. It is the great Greta Gerwig. Yes. She is one of my favorite artists that is out there today. And we are going to be talking right now about her debut movie, which is Ladybird. I think my favorite aspect of this movie is the relationship between Shawshank Ronin and Bond and Jackie and Laurie Metcalf. Laurie Metcalf, Yeah, the mother and daughter. That is what I think is the triumph of this movie. Yeah. It really gets into that dynamic in ways that I think this is what I always like to say is like when I get to see whether it's a league of their own with sisters or something like this with mother and daughter, I'm getting a really, really specific and personal look and to how women actually are with each other. Which is a good thing for people like you and I. Yes, yeah, yeah. I love seeing this. Like, I crave it, actually, because, like, we don't see it enough. We know and I feel like with this this new evolution now that we're getting now in cinema where women are being told these stories, there seems to be like a feeling from the creators, the artists, that we're finally here, we're finally getting to do this. We're not fucking around. We're just going to talk about our experience with each other and that is, I think Greta Gerwig is she's huge because when this movie came out, the push for her and female directors is didn't start at all. But it certainly became a thing with her. But it was yeah, it was a huge part of the cultural hey, we're like you said, we're done with this fucking around and we're not fucking anymore. We're going to tell our stories, goddamn it. And that's. Yeah, Lady Bird was a huge and helped start the wave. Yep, yep. Good. Yeah. Well said. That's my favorite aspect of the movie, too. Think it's a very honest portrayal of a teenage daughter and a mom who just don't really get along. But then sometimes they do. It's really sweet. Yeah. Like, oh, well. And then, I mean, little women would sit here too, because that's a movie all about women. I am just so extremely excited for Barbie. Oh, man. I think it's going to. I think it could be one of her, if not her best movie, because I think she's just going to go there and I think it's going to be insane and over-the-top. This can be. The best movie ever made. Now we're going to change gears completely and go to some real life stories that these movies just cut right down to it. You first, we have Boys Don't Cry, released in 1999 by Kimberly Peirce. Then a few years later, you get one of the most brutal movies I've ever seen, certainly one of the most brutal biopics I've ever seen. Monster, directed by Patty Jenkins, released in 2003 starring Charlize Theron. Boys Don't Cry is about Brandon Teena, who Hilary Swank justly won an Oscar for playing here. It's an unrelenting movie. Both of these movies are unrelenting. They're just two of the most brutal but honest biopics I've ever seen. Like Chloe Sevigny and Peter Sarsgaard are so good in Boys Don't Cry, such a grungy movie. And then, of course, Monster. Charlize Theron also won an Oscar for that. And she's playing serial killer Aileen Wuornos. This is like it's committed as acting. It's it's just fully dedicated, very difficult film to rewatch. This is Roger Ebert's favorite movie of 2003. He said perhaps that Charlize Theron gave the best performance in the history of film like said that in his review and he held that. Wow. He maintained that position for a long time. I mean, he really, really felt strongly about that. And then one final kind of a shitty note, but both of these women were also put in, quote unquote, directors jail after this, like, welcome to Hollywood. It's just, you know, Peirce made her next movie Stop Loss in 2008, and then Jenkins made her next film in 2017, a little movie called Wonder Woman. Weird that it took that long for her to make another movie. But boys don't cry and monster just those things still hit so, so hard. I have. I've seen monster. I have not seen boys don't cry. Boys don't cry. Actually, like, I've always been scared to watch that movie because yeah, I. Yeah, yeah it gets there. Like if you've read about it, you know where it's going and it's, it's not even something where I'm like, Oh, well, they had to do that for the story. And it was handled tastefully. Like her point is to not handle it tastefully. Her point is to show how awful it was. And in the era we're living in now and all this social change we've had, it was a movie in 1999 talking like really ahead of its time in terms of trans rights, trans issues. And it's so it's so refreshing to go back and watch it now and be like, Oh, she had the pulse on this way before society did, and I appreciate that answers just like, damn so intense. Oh, yeah. Monster's just crazy. But, you know, thinking about what? That if that's the best performance, it's one of those performances that, like, it lives on its own. Like, I really always felt that way. It doesn't even feel like it's like part of a movie. Like, that's not even a known movie. It it feels like this own separate thing. It's like, Yeah, oh, we, of course, we have to award this the Oscar. Like, it was just a no brainer in every respect. It's so good. It's my God. And I wonder if part of the reason is because I have nothing but good things to say about it. But because of the there's always like this idea that like when you when you put on makeup like that for an actor, it's just that much of like a it almost feels like a different thing. Mm hmm. I don't know if that makes any type of sense. Well, it. Feels like something that some actors can be hiding behind, and they're like, Oh, I can just hide behind this and do my own thing. But like, I mean, I own this DVD and I've watched the special features of it. Like I've seen Charlize Theron do, like interviews. She's a very nice person and very willing to talk about stuff. They decided to do these interviews, you know, like the making of Monster, like during the actual making of the movie. And she is doing the interviews damn near in character like she she does not want to be sitting there doing these and she looks terrible. Like I don't even think she's makeup on. She just has like the clothes she gained all that weight. But yeah, it transcends makeup. It transcends like weight gain. It's just nothing she did before. And, you know, a few things she did since, but nothing she did before prepared us for that. Like, where did that come from? Yeah, she's incredible. And Christina Ricci, too. Yeah, she really is. Christina Ricci is like the quiet hero of the movie, because a lot of the emotion of the movie rests on her. And she's she's very, very good in it. I got a few more heavy hitters here. We're getting right. We're getting right into it. Here's my bone double feature. That's bone something called Sicilian Rail. These are two movies directed by Deborah. First, we have Down to the Bone in 2004 and this features Veer Farmiga's best performance. I don't know if I'd seen her in anything before this got her the role in The Departed because Scorsese he saw this and was like, What the hell? So this is a stark and honest depiction of a mother struggling with her addiction to cocaine. And she lives in a small town in New York. She can't find work. Things happen with her kids, like when her kids are around, they can hear her always snorting loudly through bathroom doors. It's a tough movie. It's a difficult movie to find, but it it gets right down to the bone. And I have always wanted to talk with you about this one, so I really would like to see it someday because it just this is it, Wolf, of Wall Street cocaine addiction. This is like she's like opening bags and looking at any sort of residue she can try to, like, fill it. It's it's a it's a tough movie, but a very honest portrayal of drug addiction that because it's so difficult to find you at like you can't even rent this on YouTube. I forgot. I hate that. I thankfully bought a DVD and like 2005. So I have that. But it just sucks that some of these movies are so difficult to find, but that's how it really goes. There really knows what it's doing. I really, really like it. I was glad to rewatch it. It's been a while. I would love I'd love to see that just for Vera because she's so good. Love her work. And then the other Debra Granik Bone movie is Winter's Bone from 2010. And this to me contains Jennifer Lawrence is best performance. It's about a young woman trying to find her drug dealing father in the Ozarks. And this is it definitely has more polish to it than down to the bone. But they're the exact same sentiment. Like, you know, you're just you're sitting there with Jennifer Lawrence. She's trying to, like, raise her siblings. And what do they do? They just, like, kill a rabbit and you're like, oh, fuck, okay, that just happened. Which it like actually did. I almost want to speculate that her most well-known movie now is Leave No Trace, which came out somewhat recently. It doesn't really fit in this list, but I like I like that movie a lot, too. But down to the Bone, Winter's Bone, two really good movies that I think contain the best work of two popular actors, Vera Farmiga and Jennifer Lawrence. Yeah, I would have to agree. I think Winter's Bone is my favorite Jennifer Lawrence performance to date. I'm still a fan of hers. I'm very curious to see the direction her career goes. Hey, she made Mother. I will always be a fan of hers. That is the last thing that I ever thought she would have done. And that movie like I'm going to I'm doing doing the Aronofsky thing because of the whale, which is something, you know, we'll be talking about as we get down the line. So happy for Brendan Fraser when we get down the line. You know that movie coming out. But man, this is this next one's really tough 13 directed by Catherine was released in 2003. This movie was co-written by 15 year old costar Nikki Reed and a lot of the movie's based on her real life that she was experiencing when she was 13. It's a life she had just been living. And this is it's one of the Frankie's depictions of teenage angst that I've ever seen. Evan Rachel Wood, Nikki Reed, Holly Hunter. Wow. You seen this one? Oh, yeah. I actually had the DVD when I was a kid, and I didn't know what to make of it when I was watching it. Yeah, so fucking brutal. Like, just all the way right up until the end. You're like, Oh my God. This was one of those movies I remember going to Best Buy and getting this DVD because I had this idea at the time that I wanted to be a film guy, like I wanted to start watching some weird shit and so I picked this one out and then I watched it and I was like, I think this might be too weird for me. So I've always had this relationship to this movie of, of that where it was like a premature Yeah. Get like I wasn't ready for what this was, but it's unsettling and disturbing to think that this is like like very true reality. Yes, exactly. That is even, I'm sure, today, 19 years later. Of course it is. I mean, we have euphoria now. Which euphoria? Euphoria is like, you know, much more polished cousin of 13. Like there are a lot of similarities between the two in terms of their theme. Okay. So those are some some those are more like well known. We're going to move now to a bit of an obscure movie section because while movies like this haven't been as popular in America until very recently, movies are. This kind of been more popular and easier to make abroad, I would say. And that's for any number of reasons. But we're going to get kicked right off here with probably about as obscure of a movie as we could get. One, you've actually talked about all this podcast before, but tell me again on why people should check this out. Good luck with the title. Here we go. I got it. Jaw deal more vol trois queda comes all zero, we zero, Brooks said or two, but more commonly referred to is John Dillman. Yeah, it's much easier. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's much easier. Chantelle Akerman 1975. Yeah, take it away. What's why should people watch this if they did? I think this. Yeah, if you dare. So, so this is a three hour and 20 minute movie about a woman who all we are doing is watching the course of three days of watching her live, her very monotonous, mundane. It's not so mundane, but the movie presents itself as such. Mm hmm. I like this movie a lot because for whatever reason, I'm obsessed with watching people's routines. Oh, yeah. I find it exceedingly fascinating to watch a day in the life of any character. I don't care who they are. I find it interesting when you watch that type of stuff and this movie is all of that. It's only that I remember as a kid, I watched my grandmother. She lived, you know, in my lifetime a very, very old fashioned life of a woman. She woke up in the morning walk, the dogs started making breakfast, cleaned, spent the whole day kind of doing the exact same thing until it was time to make dinner. And that was how it was. And I remember there were times where I would watch her and this is what I like about this movie a lot is the camera angle. It's not meant to be positioned from the angle of a child, but it does have a lower point of view. It's very neutral and observant. Yeah. And I would I would always try and catch my grandmother when she wasn't looking and because sometimes she'd be singing to herself and she had a beautiful voice, sometimes I would catch her with these sighs, like she would stop what she was doing and have like a full body sigh. And I always remembered that. And sometimes she would eat potato chips, which is always something that I thought was funny. Again, this is kind of like why I like this movie so much, because it's in those silences that my grandmother had that I was curious, even as a kid, like, I don't think I had the maturity, the time to be like, what's all that about? Yeah, yeah, sure. As an adult now I do. And this movie really kind of gets into the headspace if you allow it to, of this woman in her apartment with her life. It's a very, very purposeful and intention filled movie for sure. But if you let it, it is one of the most compelling things you'll ever see on film. Yeah, it doesn't land with nothing. It has intention. It has purpose. There's a lot of intention, by the way. It is shot by how long scenes are held, how long shots are held. You know, I think one of the most famous things people talk about, if you don't want to spoil anything, is the meatloaf scene, which you see her hair and making meatloaf pretty much damn near in real time. But as a kid, you don't have the context, the emotional context to wonder why your grandmother is sighing like that. Yeah. Yeah. What is that? Is that a sigh of contentment? A sigh of monotony here. Chantal Akerman did have that emotional intelligence, and she wants to show a woman like that this woman isn't even grandmother age, you know, but she wants to show the plight of a woman living her life. And again, we've seen so many of these stories by men, but I love that she made it a challenge. This is one of the most notorious pieces of art house cinema ever because of its length and because it is patience testing. But I don't know if you're a fan of arthouse cinema and a fan of movies of this kind. It definitely lands at a place where I felt happy. Having watched it, I was like, Good. I'm glad I checked that off and watch it. And I've seen it twice. You know, that's a big commitment. But yeah. It's a huge and Chantal Akerman, the director, is probably one of the most important women filmmakers that have ever lived. She really is like her entire workers, all very female driven stories. Yes, absolutely. Thankfully, a lot of the directors we're going to mention in this obscure movie section are extremely important female directors who yes, this body of work like Agnes Varda and a film of hers. I love Cleo from 5 to 7 released in 1962. Great piece of French New Wave cinema. This is going to be a little reductive the way I describe this, but it's essentially, essentially a movie set in real time in which a woman who's a bit of a hypochondriac and very superstitious is awaiting the results of her biopsy. You know, does she have cancer? Is this the end? What do you do with that time in between big life moments like getting the test from the doctor, big life moment, getting the results, big life moment. What happens in the 2 hours in between that? One of my favorite pieces of French New Wave cinema. It's a really good movie. That's not all what the movie's about. There's a lot more to it, but this is like a criterion. Staple. I really, really use this movie. Oh, have you seen it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, I didn't. I was going to say kind of similar to what we were talking about in our Kieslowski episode is like there's certain things that only film can do and this is one of them in that way. Like, like in the title Cleo from 5 to 7 those 2 hours, how do you communicate 2 hours of emotion in story? You can only do that in a movie. And Agnes Verita really, really shows us something that especially at that time period and still today, that you don't see. So yeah, this is actually my favorite from her. So it still might be mine still might. But right before we fired up the mix, I watched Vagabond by Agnes Varda, which is another like Criterion Staple made in the eighties that I never seen. And I knew I wanted to watch more movies by her that were about women because she's made movies, you know, that have men involved in all that stuff. Vagabond is you would absolutely love this. It's about the movie. This is not a spoiler. The movie starts with the death of a young drifter who's just, like frozen to death in a ditch. And then the entire movie is filled with flashbacks and vignettes of who this person was. So we go back in time and just see her walking from place to place, meeting person to person. She's not the nicest of people, but when I was watching this, I'm like, whether Sean Penn watched and studied this for Into the Wild, I don't know. But definitely people involved with that movie did because we're just watching this woman, you know, walk around. And it was it's a really interesting way to to frame a movie, to start with the death like that and then go back and see how she got there and the events that led to it. It's a really, really good movie that I highly recommend. Nice. And one caveat I want to say to that, because if you're if you are a Criterion fan, but or maybe maybe because I'm guilty of this too, you have that app and you're like, Oh, can I handle Criterion Movie today? Like, I don't know that much about this. Like, do I really want to go there? I typed in Vagabond and what was really cool is writer director Rebecca miller, who also happens to be married to Daniel Day-Lewis, had like a cool like three and a half minute, why she loves it and why people should check it out. There were no spoilers. She talked a lot about the cinematography and I went, Oh fuck, I'm sold. That was great. So just you can watch those or you know, they have people like introduce the movie or they do those sections from the filmmakers Love and. Adventures in movie. That's what it is. Yeah, Adventures in movie going. And those are like really cool. Just really quick bite samples of like, here's why I like this movie. And if you like the reasons why I'm describing it, you're going to like it too. And they usually give you like references of, if you like X movie, x movie, you'll probably like it. And there's no better recommendations. And people on Criterion, like the way they sell those movies, it's always accurate. Like, you know, there's probably some four gentlemen and they're going to be like, Yeah, it's really fucking long, but, you know, it's, it'll be worth it at the end. It's like, yeah, it's an accurate description. So. So they're exactly like you. Oh, well, I mean, I try, I have. I tried, I tried to curate my tastes. Like if we do a shame podcast, I know that that movie just isn't for everyone. A lot of movies are mentioned today, just aren't for everyone. But I will always give it to you straight. I'm not going to fool you into checking out a movie because I want you to see it. I want you to know what you're getting yourself into. Sometimes. Sometimes I recommend movies to friends who text me them that I know my friends very, very well, and I know their tastes and I know what they can tolerate. Sometimes they sit down with their wives or with their children and they put these movies on and I get shit the next day. What do you what what are you thinking? And I'm like, That was for you. So if you want a recommendation from me, our main man, John Kline, like brother. I love you. But like we did, I didn't mean for you to show your wife shame like I did. I didn't mean. For it to go there. I'm glad you did. But I was not surprised at her reaction at all. So, you know, my movie recommendations are always for the individual specific person. That's all the next movie. Okay. Speaking of this, this is a recommendation for everyone. Just like stop the presses. This is probably my favorite movie we're talking about today. We have both mentioned it in depth on the podcast, but it is Wanda directed by Barbara Loden, released in 1970. This is a movie about a woman who, as plot descriptions are so silly for this. I guess it's like, so you can't. Yeah, it's a woman who essentially loses everything very quickly, husband kid's job, but she does this almost pathetically, like, with a shrug. And then she just sets out to find a new life for herself in rural Pennsylvania. So, I mean, the movie definitely goes other places in that it takes on plots that you don't really expect it to, storylines you don't expect it to in all the best ways. But this is definitely like one of my favorite, if not my favorite movie I'm going to mention today. And if you love cinema, you can blind by this criterion and you will be happy. I love Wanda so much. Yeah. And again, like the biggest piece of this movie is that it was directed by its star, Barbara Loden. Written and directed in 1970. Yep, yep. Written and directed by and like. This is a very like this is a woman story, but it's not pretty. It's not flattering. It's not showing women in a good light. It's not a it's. Not very redeemable character. Yeah, she's. Just not exactly. And that's what's so cool. It's like Inside Llewyn Davis of like movies made by women, about women where you're and, you know, we're just we're so pre-wired to go, Oh, I'm going to my main character. I'm going to like them. And then as you're watching it, like, oh, she's kind of she's kind of crappy. It makes it interesting. Yeah. And I think with a lot of these movies that we're talking about is because the way that a lot of these women characters are is that they're not being shown in their best light because, quite frankly, no one is perfect. No, these are just human. Human characters. And I feel like for a very long time, women have not been able to show that. They just had to be. Exactly. Yeah. All right. I'm going to go in a bit of a rant right now. We're just going to go with it. Oh, boy. I watched Austin Powers the first one. Okay. I like that movie. I think it's a very it's my type of humor and we finally get to the middle part where Austin Powers is going through this montage because he's had sex with a lot of vagina. As one does. As one does. Now, the thing that I'm realizing is that the movie is manipulating us into feeling sorry for our male character here because he's not able to understand a very, very immature thing. Everything that Elizabeth Hurley's character says to him throughout the entirety of that movie is simple, true, and completely reasonable. This was the structure of male driven stories forever. The woman was always the prize. She was always the voice of reason that the guy couldn't understand. And then eventually, at the end of this movie, she comes around and they're together. He didn't earn it, right? He didn't. Do anything. That was just the way it went. That is the narrative that has been sold to us about women's characters. Generally speaking, I'm not saying that this is how they all are, but this was what we got for decades. Wanda is a really great example of the antithesis of that in every single way. Welcome to the what are you watching podcast. The only podcast in the world where we compare Wanda to Austin Powers international best yeah that's a good point that's a good point you're making is it's just 100% real invalid in broad comedies. Think about the fucking sports movie. How are wives? Oh my good. Friends in the sports. Yeah, that's why I wanted to bring up Girlfight because the sports movie The Lead is a woman. But like and that's something that is still going on in some bigger movies. Yeah, it just. It's so weird. It's honestly not weird. It's because all these movies were made and financed by men. I mean, not the movies today, but by and large, those movies. So they're all just from a male point of view. I mean, in addition now we're getting I'm like, I'm walking on walking a fine line here. Trust me. Trust me. But there's a we could do a similar list about this for a race and that's a little trickier. Yeah, but like favorite, you know, directors of color who've made movies about people of color. And that is something that is I'm also extremely happy is happening more and more and more because as Spike Lee has said from as long as I've been watching Spike Lee movies like these biopics about black people, like we don't want to see these side characters like, you know, Amistad. I don't need to see Matthew McConaughey. It's like, you know, like, let's focus on what this is actually about. Like glory don't really need to see Matthew Broderick like and yeah, he's being Spike Lee when he says that stuff. But I get that. So it's all just to say that like we like the way these trends are going now. But it's so odd to watch some of my favorite older movies. I'm not even talking older, older. I'm talking like movies from the nineties where just the way people of color are talked to are dealt with. And it's so normal. The slurs that are thrown against them and they just laugh and take it. And it's it's just so normalized. This is something to me that it's like always stuck out. But when, you know, when you're married, a person of color, it's something that has been brought to my attention a lot more and how prevalent that is. And then and the same thing goes with gender dynamics to how I'm glad these things are changing. I really, really am because I never just wanted to see movies by white people about white people. And moreover, the older I get, I'm just not as interested in seeing like, I don't know, a movie, a really dramatic, hardcore movie about slavery directed by white person. It just doesn't interest me as much, you know, Django Unchained. Cool. You're doing like some comic pulp thing with that. I get that. But yeah, we're off on it here. But this is good. This is what I wanted this podcast to be like. We got to talk about this stuff. You know, again, I understand the optics of who you and I are. May not it may be a little off putting, but we're all coming from a good place, I promise. You know, we actually planned this podcast out like a little while ago because I wanted to some I wanted to time to fill some of my gaps. And I did have gaps. Like I have seen Jane Campion's films. I would have considered myself like an admirer of her films because I had seen the piano, I had seen Bright Star, I had seen the one that she won her Oscar for. But I got to go back and watch her first film, Sweetie. And this is definitely tied with the piano is my favorite movie of hers. It's not like deeply intense and dramatic, has a very crazy, dysfunctional tone because it's about a dysfunctional Australian family. I really enjoyed the pace and the tone, but it also gets real like we're talking about like it knows how to have like an intense conversation that's cutting very, very deep. And Campion is a champion of films of this kind. She's made so many great movies about women, sweetie and Angel at My Table, which I just watch for the first time the piano, the portrait of a Lady, Bright Star. And I think all of those movies are better than the movie, she won her Oscar for. That's all. You know, you don't say. You don't say, yeah, I'm going to do it. Don't don't do my Cumberbatch impression. You keep pushing me. Yeah, yeah. The piano's a fucking great movie. Like, it really is. You know, Holly Hunter is a mute. She doesn't speak in it, and she won the Oscar. Anna Paquin is her young daughter. She won an Oscar for it. Harvey Keitel's in it. Sam Neill is great. Like, it's it's a really good movie. It's just very good. All right. I think only something like she could have made, like, with her sentiment. Very, very well done. The piano, another director I had a chance to catch up on because I hadn't seen as many of her films as I would love was Claire, Danny, and my favorite one that I want to point out here is White Material Made in 2009. Claire Danes is a beloved French filmmaker. She's responsible for a number of iconic films. This is my favorite as it relates to female driven content, because she's made she's made a lot of good movies that just are about men. And, you know, of course that's okay. Let the Sunshine In with Juliette Binoche is another film of hers that I love that would fit here. But in white material Isabella Hubert is one of my God. I love her so much. She plays a coffee plantation owner in Africa trying to keep the plantation operational during a civil war. It is an intense film, but really glad I finally like to sat down and went no, watch some Claire Disney movies and that was not a bad time at all. That was that. That was my big Claire Disney movie because of Barry Jenkins. Oh, I've. Seen white material. I have seen white material. Yeah. It's the only. It's the only Claire Danes movie has seen outside of high life. Yeah. Barry Jenkins once again on The Adventures in Movie, going on the Criterion Channel. That's right. If I'm not mistaken, a big part of his film school was he got to work with Claire Disney, or he was somehow involved as like an assistant director or something, a student of sorts to her. He was brought up running and helping run the Telluride Film Festival, which is, I understand is yeah. Run by women. So I think so he I've learned a lot about female filmmakers, ironically enough from him because even in his, you know, like award speeches, he's referenced some of the best female filmmakers ever. And I'm like, fuck. I go check out more of their work. Yeah. Yeah. And so, and he this was his movie that he talked about. He's like, Yeah, you got to see white material. So I watched it and I was blown away. What did you think of her performance in it? Because I know you love her, too. Like she's there's certain actors that I just like I don't even have expectations for because or I do, they're the ultimate expectation. I just expect simply flat out that I'm just going to get something great. Yeah, you're just going to deliver. They just are. And that's exactly how it was. Yes. She's kind of like manic and like a lot of energy, a lot of, like, ranting and stuff. I've a lot of stuff. I've seen her and, you know, I go to like the piano teacher where she's like, there still very calm. Oh, man. Yeah, I just. I love her. It's because she was constantly in a state of defense. Yeah. Like, I think that was what was the most interesting thing to me is like was watching somebody basically have to defend for lack of a better term, but like an area of land like that, you can't physically protect it. So you have to do whatever else you can. And that's kind of I think that was the thing about that movie that always that struck out to me was watching someone on defense the entire time, basically. Yeah, what she is and what material the whole time. Yeah. So again, we're still in the obscure movie section, but there is a director whose name is Catherine Breillat. I'm sorry if I'm not saying that right. She has made a whole lot of movies that pertain to this subject, but they are all tricky films to tolerate. She is another champion of female driven stories and there are so many to choose from. Romance, which features unstimulated sex scenes between actors who hated each other in real life. Sex is comedy, which is a movie about two actors who hate each other in real life trying to film an unstimulated sex scene. So she made the last mistress and she made this great movie with Isabella Huber called Abuse of Weakness, which is like an autobiography about how a guy hustled Catherine Boulay out of all this money right after she'd had a stroke. He was, like, pretending to be your caregiver, but just screwed her out of money. So she makes very challenging movies. My favorite movie of hers, maybe her most challenging, is a film called Fat Girl from 2001. And this is this is a completely unflinching, shocking film about two wildly different sisters discovering their sexual identities one summer and it's 90 minutes long. It's in French. If you watch it, you do not forget it. And it is a very good movie, not for the faint of heart, but I saw this in college and was like, Oh, I mean, even up until its final like frame, you're like, Oh my God, the whole movie, is it unrelenting? But there are scenes. It just I again only a woman could have made this movie this way. Fat girl, highly recommended. I want to see why it's so good. You sold it. You sold it to me. So next up for me, really nice, gentle film, complete pivot from something like Fat Girl to Whale Rider, directed by Niki Caro from 2003. She also did North Country with Charlize Theron. But Whale Rider is just a really beautiful film about a young girl, Keisha Castle-Hughes, who was nominated for an Oscar for this, and she wants to become the chief of her Mary tribe. But that's a role that's reserved for men. So you really have 12, 13 year old girl trying to integrate into a very male dominated tribe's society. Cliff Curtis, who we love, he's great in the supporting part here. Just really highly recommend whale Rider if you haven't seen it. Here's another good cell. Most of us know Melanie Laurent as an actress, Inglourious Basterds, beginners. She is also an incredible, talented director. She's made a number of movies. She made a fucking brutal movie called Galveston in 2018 starring Elle Fanning and Ben Foster. It's based on a Nick Palazzo novel. He wrote True Detective, you know, first season movies, rough, rough. She directed that. She directed it. I don't know why this isn't more of a bigger part of the marketing. I guess they the people marketing these movies don't think like they're really badass heroine of Inglourious Basterds. Like that's not a selling point to check out the movie she directed, which to me it is. It's like, this is really cool. My favorite film of hers is a French film called Breathe from 2014. And this is Whoa. This is like my third favorite film of 2014. It's about two French girls who become hard partying friends and they are initially close and things get out of hand. That's what I'll say. This has this thing has an ending that is like it still stays in my head. I've only seen this movie twice and I haven't seen it since like 2015. I'm really, really a fan of getting that ending right, like literally up until the last frame so that you're left with like this feeling of holy shit, not somewhere they like, you know, cut outside and you have like couple of minutes to decompress. Like, I like those too, don't get me wrong, but the movie that just fucking punches you right at the end and you're like, Shit, that's breathe in this movie. Yes. This movie Rocks is some of the best acting I've seen from young women this century so far. It's just great. And it was big in France. It did well. This is usually a pretty easy movie to find. I'm just I'm doing a hard sell for it, mostly because you would really like it. Like this is how I've. Yeah, I've known women who have gotten into friendships based on aspects that this friendship is based on. And It didn't go as bad as it does in this movie, but it can go bad because we're all human beings. Hard sell today. Hard selling. All right. But if we've got one that's going to the hardest of all sells. But I think it might be it's this is my personal favorite so that that I would want to make go for it and sell it. All right. So I will say now it's fun. We're going to break out into some sections like specifically directors who have made a number of movies that fit this theme, but at least two. And that's how we're going to break it down. I was going to say, I don't think we need to talk about we need to talk about. Kevin Oh, really? I wouldn't say this is a movie about women. I just because it's got the lead and we're having her experience with it, I don't know if I'd put it in there. It's not well here unless. You want subsidiary. Let's get to there. It's like the beguiled thing. All right, well, okay, I'll start. So, have you seen more of in color then? This is my surprise. Okay, this is. What I was going to tell you. But see you ready to talk about. We totally botched the introduction. It's like we decided. We totally botched. It. Okay, we need to talk about Kevin does fit here. I'll get to that and why. All right. Okay. So board color, you watch it. Surprising me. Great. Great. I've been telling you for, like, 20 fucking years to let down a 20 year old. Tell you it's been out for 20 years. It's been Alfred's six years to watch it. All right, let me set it up. Let me set it up. Lynne Ramsay, amazing Scottish filmmaker. She has made some amazing movies that feature women, some incredible movies with Joaquin Phenix. You were never really here, which is nuts. Green collar stars. Samantha morton, who's who plays a woman whose boyfriend dies by suicide. And just right there, right there in the living room floor and not knowing how to deal with it like physically, like what do I do with this body or emotionally? Like, what do I do about this? She just leaves in there. You just sit there until you know, she can't live in there anymore. And there's way more to the movie in that way. More than the movie. But what a movie. What a performance. And this is one of the like top three most influential films on my short film Earrings. Like, I watched this thing on Repeat Who love this, but you just watch it. So tell me about it. Oh, my God. I cannot say enough good things about this movie. It was I was fucking floored by it. And, you know, and it was crazy. I never saw this movie. And yet in this the very beginning, there was so much there I go in it. Yeah, well, that's because it's because of you say like I was framing stuff like Morvern collage, just a huge, huge part of my filmmaking DNA like a huge part of it. Yeah, I can see that. But even in the aspects of their ego that weren't you like when she's finding the the the suicide letter you know basically little things of what it says and and just little things like that. Yeah I don't know. Whenever I see shit like that that clearly I was not influenced by because I had not seen that movie going into there I go. But then I see other filmmakers reflecting the same thing. I'm like, That's so cool, that's so fucking cool. But outside of that selfish, indulgent reason to like more of in color, I couldn't take my eyes away from it. It was, yeah, it's such interesting headspace to be in and what she's going through and the movie never tries to explain it. And you're left because I want people to see it. So I don't want to say too much, but I think just knowing that whatever she does as the audience, you're always split. You're in a constant state of, how do I feel about this? Because she's not dealing with it. No. And the choices that she then on to make are being done in some type of response to not dealing with this situation. And we're just left observing. It's fucking brilliant. It's really fucking great. And imagine if you watched all my recommendations when I fucking recommended them to you. How much more fulfilled your life would be. They just come to me when they do. What can I say? And no. I'm very glad you watch it. Where did you check it out? It was free on to be. It. You're right. You're right. Like a lot of these actually, some of these really obscure ones, like that's the only place you could find it. I'm like, hey, to be here I come. Hey, Pluto, here I come. I love those apps. I love them so much. They've some of the weirdest shit on there that is not available anywhere. And if I have to sit through like 415 second commercials, I don't give a shit. I'll do it. What I also want to say is wrap up this conversation because we could a whole entire thing on this movie probably. I love the dynamic with the friendship with the other girl. Yeah, that me is what makes this a movie about women is watching their friendship regardless of the circumstances of what's going on. That's why I love this movie so much, because it wouldn't make sense. The role was flipped, like it just wouldn't. And that's why the gender dynamics in my film earrings are the way they are. Because it wouldn't make sense. Yeah, I thought it was much more compelling to have a female lead character as opposed to a man for a lot of the reasons this movie points out. All right. Let me get to we need to talk about Kevin. Yeah. Because I hear your point. I think with respect, it sounds like you're maybe stuck on the the plural of this of women. This isn't we need to talk about Kevin. It's not a movie about women, but it is one of the best movies I've ever seen about a one woman responding to a horrific tragedy. And that's why I like it, because whole movie is her point of view. And this is like, yes, we talked about this movie a lot on this podcast. I hadn't seen it in a while. I watched this two nights and I forgot even from that opening scene, I'm like, Oh, you have to give in. You have to give in right away, because this isn't even like just like you were never really here. It's not even something I would call a real it's certainly not a traditional movie, but it's more like a mosaic memory piece than like a conventional film. And has it shifting narrative this shifting structure that I think is really profound. But yeah, this isn't a movie like about women, but it is about have you seen a lot of movies about men responding to tragedy, trying to deal with something, trying to figure it all out? And I've seen a lot of those movies about women too, but they are just usually directed by men, so it's cool to see. Yeah, that's the only reason why I wanted to flag it, it's not necessarily about a group of women, but it's definitely like just a great movie about the point of view from a woman who's gone through this who really just like, hasn't had a good time in life in about eight years. Ever since her first child was born, life was good before then. She's dancing, smoking in the street. She's running around doing all this fun, independent stuff meets a good guy. And then the demon child is born and life just goes poorly for everyone involved after. That, you know, and I have to. I have to. You've you've completely switched me because you're 100% right, because it's not about women, but also the same time it is about it is a very, very specific look into a woman's relationship to being a mother. Yeah, because. You never jump to John C Reilly. You never jump to his point of view, to the point where, like, I watched that movie a few days ago, I was fucking pissed at that guy. He's just like, It's fine. It's fine. Of course he didn't do that. It's an accident. He's just like riding off. It's all, you know, it's all good. It's all good. And he doesn't understand how important this is. And, you know, maybe Kevin's taking it easy on you for a reason, but he's torturing for a reason. And the fact that none of that's there and we don't get any of his perspective, I just love that because again, go back to the traditional sports movie. We never know what the hell those women are thinking. Yeah, their function is to complain to the male lead, which we're I think most of us are pretty damn tired of at this point. So this is just the opposite that I love that. And I love seeing that honestly, too, in movies today, I actually really like the reverse. Yes, me too. I do not have a problem now when I'm watching a female driven lead performance and the male performance that's like exciting is. Oh, I love it. Yeah, exactly. It's, it's it's refreshing. Just to be on is refreshing. It absolutely is. All right. Let's move on to another one. You know, we've saved some big names here for the end. Kelly Reichardt. We're going to do a little Kelly Reichardt session. She's made a ton of great movies. She is a director with a style and a pace that is completely unique and her own I'll go first because just chronologically, my favorite of hers is Wendy and Lucy. Michelle Williams plays a she's a woman with zero money. She's got a broken car and a loyal dog who loves her. That's about it. You know, Reichardt's movies aren't about plot. They're all about character, circumstance. This is my favorite of hers. But she has a few movies we could talk about today, including certain women from 2016, which you're going to guide us on right now? Yes, right now. You want me to. Okay. It's my time. It was that confusing? I thought I thought you were going to say a little bit more. Nope. Go for it. I like it. That was a baton. It was passed off to you, and then you just stop. Fucking run it. Oh, am I. Am I supposed to hold another hand? Oh, no, it's this one. Okay. No, but you were going live for like what? Like a couple of months ago for like the first time, I think. Yeah, a couple months ago. This was my first movie that I looked at a lot of the different. I wrote down a bunch of movies that were directed by women, which. Okay, let's just talk about that really quick. Sure. In researching this pod, it was damn near impossible to actually really find a lot of these movies like when you Google. Yeah, that's how I started this conversation. That how it was. It was difficult. That's one of the reasons why it took so long to research. Yes, but yeah, it's not in Google best movies directed by women. You'll get The Hurt Locker Point Break. You'll get movies. That's stuff. Yeah Yep. That's not what we were going for. But yeah, keep going on that. Yeah. So when that really became a thing, was trying to actually search for movies because we had to, which is why we're doing this is because we shouldn't have had to have done that. Exactly. I came across this and I remember this was a movie that always wanted to see when it was out because I mean, you got Laura Dern, you've got Michelle Williams and you got Kristen Stewart. There you go. I mean, I'm sold and I never saw it. And when I sat down to watch this, I. I really loved this movie. This movie really blew me away. It's again, it's probably not for everyone it's very slow. Very. It's extremely. Slow. That's her style. Yeah. Yeah. And I am someone that just appreciates slow but slow when it's good, like it to be. It has to be full. If it's not full, then you are just watching something like a John Zaillian. Like that's the slowest movie I could ever imagine. But everything is is full within the frame and an emotional headspace that we're dealing with. And I felt like that about this this movie. Another reason I like this is that these were all short stories taken from the same author of Male Malloy. And she's a female writer, a short story novelist. I'm obsessed with short story novelists. I love short stories. Same here. So that was another appealing thing to me is like, Oh, these are all a full length feature broken up in three different movies, little movies that have nothing to do with one another. Right? I really like that. Do you have a favorite? Yeah. Kristen Stewart. Same. Same her way. Her and Lily Gladstone are, like, playing off each other is. It's really something only Reichardt could capture. Very, very unique. Yeah, that was my favorite. And my other favorite component of this movie, which is I think a lot of directors don't know how to do this, is that I felt that small town that they lived in, it all takes place in the same town that's. Yeah, that's. A little bit outside of it. Yeah. That, that's the thread. You really feel what that town is like. The sparseness, the color, the wind, the coldness. Like when Kristen Stewart talks about how far she has to drive to make these. So she's like a night school substitute teacher and she can't hack the drive. That's it, though. Like, that's that's the reality. It's a very small town story. And I just I was completely absorbed by it all I. Can and I could show you some movies way slower than Jean Talman. If you want to let me know, let me know anytime you want to watch Andy Warhol sleep, which is his friend sleeping for like 5 hours. That's it. Or Empire. Just a shot of the Empire State Building for like 8 hours. I'll show you those anytime you want, my friend. Anytime. Have I see them? I have. Why fucking though? I guess it's because I said I good empire. I think it's one of Steve McQueen's top ten films of all time. He put that on a list at some point. Steve McQueen, the director, and I was like, You're fucking lunatic. You know, my favorite films bequeath I Love You Make More Movies, Celine, Salma, We Love Her. So much. Water Lilies, Girlhood. She is a filmmaker who's made a lot of great movies about women. Our favorite are her two most recent films, both of which were a little screwed by American distribution. They both came out in that weird, like, Oscar limbo time where. They were eligible for Oscars without fully being released in America yet. So by the time we see them in March or April, their Oscar chances have passed. But we're like, This is why I got a lot of questions. For example, why isn't Portrait of a Lady on Fire nominated for anything? And I'm like, because it qualified last year when it wasn't in American theaters, but Now that we can all see it, we're like, Why did this happen? But it happened to that movie and her most recent one Petite Moment, which is both of these movies are just like as good. As modern filmmaking gets to me, I want you to take the lead on Portrait of a Lady on Fire. But this thing is stunning. I couldn't get enough of what I was seeing in every frame right? The cinematography of this movie was just breathtakingly, stunningly beautiful. Claire Matherne shooting on an eight K color palette. It looks fucking incredible. I've never really seen blues or greens that look like this. Nothing like stunning. Stunning. And I just fell in love with both of the women. I fell in love with both of their wants. I just kind of like fell into everything that this movie laid out for for this audience. And then that ending is just one of the it's one of so yeah. Yeah. Well, so okay. So like in the vein of me selling it to you straight, like Portrait of Lady on Fire, it's like an 18th century set to our lesbian drama. That's. There it is. There's your logline. Yeah, it's. It's not that. However, if that if you're a certain type of moviegoer, you're like, Cool, I'll check that out then. Selling point over. If you're a certain type of moviegoer who goes, that's that's not for me at all. I find it very difficult to believe that if you actually sit down for an hour and 45 minutes and you watch and you pay attention and you reach the last 15 minutes of this movie, I can't think of any human who wouldn't be moved by it. It is so fucking moving and again, talking about wowing them at the end. Like that's what made that movie so popular, I think, because even if you're chugging along and you're like, Yeah, I get it, I get it, man. The way this thing ends, it's just a nail. It's like it's perfect. It's absolutely it's perfect. Similar to petite moment when that which is now we're at a 72 minute long movie. So short it's more like a tone poem. And for that reason, I don't really like describing what the movie's about. I just want people to watch it. It's rated PG. It's basically like the length of your average Netflix TV episode of television, and it's just stunningly beautiful. In the end, literally, the final word of the movie, and then it just cuts. And I was like, I just gasped and like sat there my hand over my heart going like, Oh, wow, this is there's still a lot of beauty to be found in cinema. I don't know if it's going to be in English. I don't know if it's going to be made by a man. I don't know. But it is out there. It can be found. And these are two of the most genuinely beautiful movies I've seen recently. Petite Mama, like really, really rocked me to my core. That's technically a 2021 release. I Don't give a shit. I'm calling it the 2022 release, and that will be in my top five of the year. I'll mind to it. As of right now, it's cemented in my top three. It's number two, right behind vortex. Honestly, it really is. I loved it. A-plus for me, a fucking plus. I love. A-plus. You know, I thought about it in it and I realized because we said in our last episode on Kozlowski when it came to the movie Red, that he communicates certain mysticism in ways on film that. I just rarely find other filmmakers can communicate. This is an exception. She does. Yeah, she absolutely does. There is something about this movie that she throws out there that is so beautiful and poetic and it's just beautiful. Beautiful. But the moment is like fun because I once in the theater and then I've rented it because it's available to like stream, you have to rent. But it's the same thing I do every time I watch Persona by Bergman. It's just back to back. Like I carve out time to do double viewings, and I always do that. So I did that with Oscar because it's 72 minutes. Times two is not that long of a time. Persona's 80 minutes, 80 minutes times two. It's like it's just not that long and going boom. And then right again because it's not, you know, it has a has a shifty structure that I really, really love. It's going to be brought up again because we're going to get to the end of the year and it's still going to be in conversation. It's going to reach clueless level reference. Maybe that's different reach clueless level viewership. And like everyone was just talking about people that never happen, they'll never have. And that's the core of our conversation. We're almost done here and there are there are movies that you may be thinking about that we may not have mentioned. We're not doesn't mean we don't like them. It just means podcast episodes have to be a certain length. There is name. There's a very, very big name that has intentionally been completely left out of the conversation here. And that is my favorite filmmaker who happens to be a woman, the great Andrea Arnold, whose work I am forever indebted to so much. I think you would even agree with me on some points that these films mean a great deal to you so much that she's getting her own episode. So our next so our next directors break down. Our next episode is on the great Andrea Arnold Because I'm just going to this is really, really high level but milk dog and wasp are three shorts, Red Road, fish tank, American Honey. Those are six of the best movies I've ever seen about women, no matter who made them. I love all of these movies. So yeah, we're going to break it out. We're going to talk about it. I cannot I'm so excited, so excited to talk about Andrea Arnold Oh, my God. I fucked that. Oh, when I said way earlier, I said Barry Jenkins like he one of his Moonlight Awards like to Andrea Arnold, who was in the crowd for American Honey because American Honey and Moonlight were the same year. And it's like it's a really, really good moment. And he's like, talking to her from the stage. It's just really, really nice. But that's like, that's the core of our conversation. We're on to honorable mentions. I have a few that I don't think the podcast should end without mentioning these, but there's things like The Night Porter, May 1974. This is about it. It's about a concentration camp survivor and her Nazi having a chance meeting years later. Whoa. Wow. Smooth. Yeah. Smooth. Talk May 1985 Joyce Chopra. This features a 30 long dialog seduction scene between Treat Williams trying to seduce a very underage Laura Dern. It's like a baby doll, like definitely a modern update of baby doll. It's so good. Love, baby, it's smooth talk. Yeah. No. Desperately Seeking Susan starring Madonna. We mentioned her. That's one worth mentioning. Sherry Baby with Maggie Gyllenhaal. Have you ever said, Oh, hell yeah. That's a really good movie. That's a really it's a really good movie. Yeah. Directed by Laurie Cutler. I Never. I haven't seen that one in a while. And that just really, really hits Meadowland directed by Reed Morano great solid offer. That's a really, really intense movie as well that about the loss of a child that I would recommend. Starring your. Favorite. I was going to I was holding out her name for for a little later I'll see I didn't know do who the star of that movie was I love. Oh I seen that movie. Oh, you have? Did you like it? She's good in it. She is good and she is good in it. Yes. Yes. She's kind of the reason to watch it, I thought. But I didn't know. It's directed by a woman. Yeah, yeah. And and shot by woman two Great. DP Real quick before we get to that person, zero 30 Like, kind of feels worth mentioning, but it's too much of a cheat for me. I just, I wanted to mention Kathryn Bigelow and go, you know, we, we know you, we see you, we love you. But in terms of our theme today, she didn't have really didn't really have a lot of movies that fit. But we've had an influx of these movies lately, things like hustlers Nomadland, The Souvenir, The Lost Daughter, Happiest Season, Little Woods, a great indie with Tessa Thompson that I loved, the Novice, which is a great indie, I love Passing came out last year. Women Talking is going to be coming out later this year. It's hitting festivals now directed by Sarah Polley. Oh my God, that is going to be an intense movie. That's a true story about a bunch of women who were Hellboy given anesthetic every night to where they would just be passed out and not remember. And they were being raped in their sleep. Like right after night after night you go, Oh, God, Jessie Rooney Mara. Oh, directed by Sarah Polley. It's it has come out early reviews are kind of what I expected, which is Sarah Polley's great director. This is a really good movie, an intense watch, I would say. Wow. Yeah, I would say, too. And then, of course, another one we have here is Booksmart, directed by the star of Meadowland, Olivia Wilde. Are we excited for. Don't worry, darling, like a lot of me do. You know, I cannot recall the last time I have heard so controversy about a movie like I genuinely can't. Every week it's a different disaster. Fire. It's like, what the fuck happened to this? How did they let it get so far out of control? But don't worry, darling, I guess will fit here. It's a it's a movie, at least about a woman. I don't know if it's about women, but what happened? This has got to be one of the most fascinating inside baseball, whatever you want to call it, juicy gossip stories about a movie that I can remember in a very long time. Very long time. I cannot remember this amount of drama for years now. None of us know what's true or not. Whatever the rumor mill is circling, I think the movie's actually going to do well because it's controversial and controversy always sells. This is the main thing that people or that I'm interested in talking about right now is how well will the movie do based on all this? Traditionally, in my opinion, it can have a good, strong opening weekend by all those of us who are curious. But then if the numbers drop off the following weekend because the movie is not good, which is what I'm hearing, I'm going, I'm giving it a fair chance. I'm going I love you. I really love Florence Pugh. It's so interesting to me that she's not even I won't even make eye contact at festivals with the director of this film. Just who knows what's going on. But I'm going to see it. I'm not going to go in expecting to shit on it, go in with an open mind, but it is being pretty widely accepted. This is just a miss and the movie doesn't work. Florence Pugh's performance works a little bit, but. I heard she's great. People who are excited to see a movie based on controversy. They'll go see it, but if the movie sucks, they're not going to go to their friends and be like, Oh, you got to go see this movie, all this drama. The movie has to fucking be good. Like it has to be good for me too. So I'm going to go opening weekend. It's playing here tomorrow for like a sneak preview that I'm considering going to. So I might do that like I'm going to see no matter what. But for me to hop on this podcast and go, you know what? Like drama, be drama. This should happen. Sometimes it fold it over. It's actually really good movie. I'll say that. But I'm also going to say, like, if if it just didn't work and part of me, I don't know, there's there's a lot about the Hollywood machine that is hidden from us. But you and I, with the little insight we have into it, like some of this stuff, I wonder how much, frankly, is just being spun and spun to try to garner controversy. Yes. To try to get people to see it because the people who made it. No, it's not that good. I wonder if that's what is kind of happening here. I don't think Florence Pugh is doing that. I it just kind of seems like some of the people responsible for the film are all about the controversy right now. And I don't know why you want that heat because it's a lot of fucking I mean, you got people maybe spitting on people at, like, premieres, like, what the fuck is going on? Like, it's so weird. It's so weird. It's it's so bizarre that I it's piqued my curiosity and and it'll be very interesting to see. Yeah, I'm going to stay away. I'm going to go I'm going to see it. We'll talk about it. I don't know for a episode on it, but we'll, we'll tag it out. It's like a what do you. Well I'm not going to recommend it maybe. Yeah but fun episode to talk about we really appreciate everyone listening to this. We've talked about a number of good movies today, no matter what the theme is, all these movies we endorse, we recommend, we get to recommend one more. So what are you watching? Who goes first? Me or you? Of course, we all know what the answer is going to fucking be to me. It's always me, always me, every time. So. All right, let's hear it. What are you watching for? The new listeners is how we end every episode. I don't want to do it. That's what I'm doing. So every episode and it is a wild card, we recommend one movie. It can be a movie we've discussed already today. That's lazy. That's what Nick tends to do. A lot. It can be so it could be a movie that has nothing to do with anything, something that we're literally watching or just watched. It can be a theme. It can be anything we want to go first. Nick Dostal. I want to recommend this one movie that's in theme with this whole entire podcast episode is a movie from 1973 directed by Claudia Weil called Girlfriends. Have you ever seen this? I know I haven't. Is the first it was on HBO, Max and that's how I saw it, because it was on when I was doing my research. It was one of those movies that I had then, like, okay, it's a movie directed by a woman about women. I've really enjoyed it and I really enjoyed it for its time period. It it feels like it may have been the first movie in America to actually tackle what it's like to be a woman to women, particularly one though in their early twenties, living in New York and just trying to make it kind of very Frances Ha type. I like it very much. Seems like that is a giant reference for. This it moves through time in a way that you and I are fans of where it doesn't explain it. We just love that. Understand through dialog that such and such has happened. Next, next, next. Watching two women's friendship change over the of time and in life. I actually really, really liked it. I thought it was a very, very good movie and one that I really wanted to recommend on this episode. Man, that's a that's a deep cut. I wasn't expecting to go there. I'm kind of looking it up now. Claudio. Well, seems to be the director. It looks like that was her first movie and she only made one other movie. That's weird. There's a ton of TV, movie and television credits. She directed an episode of Girls in 2013. Fuck, I don't know anything about this. I'm going to go watch it. I mean, it's only 90 minutes long. Yes. Good job. Yeah. I haven't seen every fucking movie. I never say that. I've seen every movie. You're out there trying to find shit that I haven't seen. That's easy. I'm just saying it's not. I will have always seen more than that. You. Yeah, that's true. But then all they have is to go again. It go against the only fight I can never win is what you haven't. See the difference between you and I. A core difference is that I'm going to watch Movie tonight and I'll be ready to talk about it. Whereas I recommend stuff to you and you're like, Oh yeah, I'll get to that. 2028 okay. The next one I'm going to do could have put it in the very recent section, along with all those other great new movies that have come out. There is a fantastic one hour 17 long anxiety attack of a movie called Shiver Baby that came out in 2020, directed by Emma Siegelman, starring Rachel Zehner, who is one of the stars of Bodies, Bodies Body. She was my favorite aspect of bodies, bodies, bodies. It's about a girl who has to go to a Jewish funeral service. Her parents and a sugar daddy she is associating with may or may not randomly show up. And it's just great. It's like almost set in real time. Her performance fucking hysterical. So as far as this new trend that we're getting, like Shiva Baby exists because this trend is taking off because like you know Andrea Arnold's releasing American Honey like nomadland all this stuff. It's so good that these movies are able to be made at a faster clip now in a more common clip, but I just really enjoyed Shiva Baby. I didn't see it the year it came out. I heard a lot of good things and it is totally worth it. And my thing is like our 17 minutes, like, come on. Like even if you don't like it, it's not done. It's like, you know, you start it, then it's done fine. You'd like it, though. It's crazy. I know, I know. Because I saw the trailer for, you know, the movie you're talking about. And I was like I was like, I need to see this. This looks amazing. Oh, so good. We talked about a lot of good movies today. This is like a longer episode. I'm really glad we did this. We tackle it. Stay tuned for Andrea Arnold. We have thoughts. We have all good thoughts. Some of these movies changed my life. We did talk about an interesting theme today favorite movies by women, about women. If we miss them or if we mention one that you love, please let us know on Twitter or Instagram at W AIW Underscore Podcast. And as always, thank you for listening and happy watching. Hey everyone, thanks again for listening. You can watch my films and read my movie blog at Alex dot com. Nicholas Dose Dotcom is where you can find all of Nick's film work. Send us mailbag questions at What are you watching? Podcast at Gmail dot com or find us on Twitter at W AIW Underscore podcast. Sorry I lied. Andrea Arnold's going to have to wait a week because next time we're going to do a deep dove on Andrew Dominick's blond. We're going to talk Marilyn Monroe controversy and even. Don't worry, darling Stay tuned. Thriller like nurse. Oh, Christ the trailer is selling out as this year. Go to the French. How do I do this? Oh, Julia. Julia, do cano taco know is what I would probably say. Tucano. Okay, I got a few more heavy hitters here. We're just. We're getting right down to the bone, so to speak, which is so lame.