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Good recent films directed by women?

posted 9 months ago by BrandNewPoster (10996)
29 replies | jump to latest

What are some recent films (within the past 20 years) directed by women that you would recommend? Some of the ones I would recommend:

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. (2023)
CODA (2021)
Cuties (2020)
The Edge of Seventeen (2016)
The Fallout (2021)
Girl Flu. (2016)
Lady Bird (2017)
Mustang (2015)
Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020)
The Nightingale (2018)
Nomadland (2020)
Petite Maman (2021)
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
Promising Young Woman (2020)
Selma (2014)
System Crasher (2019)
Tomboy (2011)
Wadjda (2012)
We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)
Women Talking (2022)
Zero Dark Thirty (2012)

[–] AndyKing1967 (39861) 9 months ago

V for Vendetta (2005).

[–] BrandNewPoster (10996) 9 months ago

That's a good movie, but it was directed by James McTeigue, who I believe is a man.

[–] AndyKing1967 (39861) 9 months ago

Apologies, the Wachowskis did the screenplay.

[–] BrandNewPoster (10996) 9 months ago

How many of the films I listed have you seen?

[–] AndyKing1967 (39861) 9 months ago

Erm…one.

[–] BrandNewPoster (10996) 9 months ago

Which one?

[–] AndyKing1967 (39861) 9 months ago

Zero Dark Thirty.

[–] parkerbot (10728) 9 months ago

Don't like this game.

Good director is a good director, who cares about their sex.

[–] ShogunofYonkers (78604) 9 months ago

Kathryn Bigelow directed Zero Dark Thirty and Hurt Locker in the last two decades. She deserves way more work. She has a ‘manly’ way of directing. I think she understands male characters very well.

[–] [deleted] 9 months ago

She's my favorite woman director. I too have noted that her movies feel no different than those directed by men, there are quite a few movies directed by women where you can tell it was directed by a woman if that makes sense, even when it's hard to pinpoint what it is that gives it away. I think it's a combination of women often directing movies more character focused (relationship and friendship wise, more romance of course), less 'male gazey' and often less intense action or violence. Their movies often feel tamer and softer.

When you couple Bigelow's non-feminine directing tendencies with the fact she's genuinely a great director, it's a winning combo.

[–] ShogunofYonkers (78604) 9 months ago

Agreed.
It’s hard to pinpoint but she just gets the male perspective, all of the ugliness and foolish behavior and the whole stupid tough guy thing.

Bigelow gets it all right.

[–] sslssg (35194) 9 months ago

I think my favourite of her's is Strange Days.

[–] ShogunofYonkers (78604) 9 months ago

We should rewatch Strange Days for movie night, that was a good movie and a cool cast.

[–] sslssg (35194) 9 months ago

It wasn't streaming anywhere the last time I looked.

[–] BrandNewPoster (10996) 9 months ago

I agree.

[–] mikethemartian (7003) 9 months ago

Definitely not new but “The Hitch-Hiker” (1953) directed by Ida Lupino and starring William Talsman is excellent.

[–] BrandNewPoster (10996) 9 months ago

I agree. It was well acted and suspenseful.

[–] sslssg (35194) 9 months ago

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. (2023)
Past Lives (2023)
La cour de Babel (2013)
Adult Adoption(2022)
Turning Red (2022)
Away from Her (2006)
Slaxx (2020)
The Voices (2014)

I'm sure there are a bunch more, but these are just some that I thought of.

[–] BrandNewPoster (10996) 9 months ago

I haven't seen La cour de Babel or Adult Adoption, but the others are all good.

[–] sslssg (35194) 9 months ago

I think you might like Adult Adoption. It's weird, quirky, and a little bittersweet, like a lot of Canadian films. Karen Knox also directed We Forgot to Break Up (2024), which I haven't seen yet, but I've heard it's good.

[–] BrandNewPoster (10996) 9 months ago

I'll have to check it out.

[–] BrandNewPoster (10996) 9 months ago

You were right. I just finished watching Adult Adoption. I thought Ellie Moon was wonderful and the rest of the cast were good too. The film has a quirky charm to it and some beautiful, empathetic moments. 8/10 is my rating.

[–] sslssg (35194) 9 months ago

I'm glad you liked it!

[–] BrandNewPoster (10996) 9 months ago

Thanks for the recommendation.

[–] Vastuntitled (5699) 9 months ago

I Think We're Alone Now (2018) - Reed Morano

I think Morano’s primary trade is cinematography, but I liked her direction here, which I’m sure was aided by her keen eye. Not perfect and the pacing felt like a slog at times, but with the apocalyptic vision displayed here the overall flow works. Superb efforts from Peter Dinklage and a good turn by Elle Fanning. Only four roles here; the other credits go to Paul Giamatti and Charlotte Gainsbourg.

[–] BrandNewPoster (10996) 9 months ago

I haven't seen that one yet, but it sounds good.

[–] Vastuntitled (5699) 9 months ago

Thought of another…

How to Please a Woman (2022) -Renee Webster

Australian film billed as a drama, which I find interesting because I just thought it was funny with quite of few hilarious moments. Maybe more of a dramedy. With a title like that you’d think it’s an exercise in pandering: a woman starts a house-cleaning business and who would be the perfect employees for this role reversal? But I thought it was totally tongue-firmly-planted-on-ass-cheek humor with a dash of heart and, yes, crudity. Cheeky, heart, crudity and good dialogue, count me in….

[–] Kowalski (79132) 9 months ago

ANNA KENDRICK'S DIRECTORIAL DEBUT COMES OUT THIS YEAR....WOMAN OF THE YEAR....IT'S GONNA ROCK!

[–] Melton (5601) 9 months ago

Only one I’ve seen there is Zero Dark Thirty - it was OK but it’s over a decade old now.

I bet the rest are shit.