I don't know if you should say "has Nora Ephron made a good movie lately" but more "has Nora Ephron ever made a good movie?"

A couple of interesting directors who faded are Susan Seidelman, who made an interesting film called SMITHEREENS, which starred punk rocker Richard Hell and Elaine May's daughter, Susan Berman I think her name was. She followed that with her most famous and best film, DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN, where she managed to coax a decent performance out of that actor-manque, Madonna.

After that Seidelman's career went into free fall. She made a film called MAKING MR. RIGHT, which I actually liked, though no one else did. She also did COOKIE, a film with Peter Falk and an English actress, Emily Lloyd, who was hot for about a minute in the late 1980s. I didn't like that one.

Another female director who showed early promise was Joan Micklin Silver. She directed a terrific indie film about an alternative newspaper in Boston called BETWEEN THE LINES, which had a terrific cast that included the underrated John Heard, the always interesting Jeff Goldblum, Lindsey Crouse and a few other actors. She also directed CHILLY SCENES OF WINTER aka HEAD OVER HEALS that has a cult reputation. John Heard stars once again as does Marybeth Hurt and it revolves about a broken romance. Her most famous film may be HESTER STREET, which was very well received. But in recent years she has been quiet.

quote:

A couple of interesting directors who faded are Susan Seidelman, who made an interesting film called SMITHEREENS, which starred punk rocker Richard Hell and Elaine May's daughter, Susan Berman I think her name was.

Susan Berman is in Smithereens, but Elaine May's daughter is Jeannie Berlin, most-famously seen all sunburned in The Heartbreak Kid.

Here's my top ten films directed by women right now:

1. Cleo From 9 to 7 - Agnes Varda - 1962 (This is one of my five favorite movies overall)
2. Salaam Bombay! - Mira Nair - 1988
3. Vagabond - Agnes Varda - 1985
4. Europa, Europa - Agnieszka Holland - 1991
5. An Angel At My Table - Jane Campion - 1990
6. Awakenings - Penny Marshall - 1990
7. Morvern Callor - Lynne Ramsay - 2002
8. The Woodsmen - Nicole Kassell - 2003 (I thought this was a solid movie, but I didn't care for the ending.)
9. Lost in Translation - Sofia Coppola - 2003
tied The Virgin Suicides - Sofia Coppola - 1999

I'd be interested to see other people's lists. There's a few more of Varda's films that I'd like to see, but they're not on DVD yet. I also want to get Ratcatcher directed by Lynne Ramsay.

quote:

Originally posted by mark f:
Many male directors are past their prime, including Woody Allen. Now, that doesn't mean they CAN'T make better movies. It just means that they SEEM to be PAST their better movies.

Well, you might have to eat your words given the strong reviews MATCH POINT has received. Is MATCH POINT the exception to WA's recent output -- which is almost unwatchable it is so bad and out of touch -- or the start of his comeback?

quote:

Originally posted by mark f:
Well, yes, I'm pretty sure that Nora Ephron has been directing her own scripts, all the time, so maybe her material is past its prime. I don't know. Has she made a good movie lately?

A better question may be has Nora Ephron ever made a good movie?

Meanwhile, I'll throw a few names out there. Katherine Bigelow has made some good flicks, including NEAR DARK, STRANGE DAYS and even K9: THE WIDOWMAKER, which wasn't all that bad. A sleeper film that didn't get all that great reviews and was barely released was her last film -- or the last film of hers that I've seen -- called THE WEIGHT OF WATER.

Mimi Leder has done some interesting stuff. I enjoyed THE PEACEMAKER with George Clooney & Nicole Kidman, but thought DEEP IMPACT was kind of clunky.

While Ms. Bigelow & Ms. Leder work in a big budget vein, Lisa Cholodenko works on a smaller scale, with her films playing in art houses. Her two films -- or the two films of hers I've seen -- have been terrific. HIGH ART, set in the NYC art world, featured Ally Sheedy of all people as a junkie photographer, Radha Mitchell as her naif protegee and Patricia Clarkson, terrific as Sheedy's lover, a Fassbinder actress with a drug problem.

Cholodenko proved she wasn't a one-hit wonder with HIGH ART when she followed that up with LAUREL CANYON, set in the L.A. music world. It featured Frances McCormand as a promiscuous music producer and her straight-arrow son played by Christian Bale and his new wife, Kate Beckinsale, who gets sucked into McCormand's licentious lifestyle.

One more good distaff director is Allison Anders, Quentin Tarantino's buddy. GAS, FOOD, LODGING was the film that put Anders on the map and it received a lot of good reviews on its original release, but I wasn't as high on it as the critics. I had better luck with her sophomore effort, MI VIDA LOCA, set in the work of Latin female gangs. A real underrated movie, which Anders co-directed with Kurt Voss, was SUGAR TOWN, which was set in the world of washed-up rock musicians trying to get a recording gig and trying to stay alive by taking session gigs. SUGAR TOWN is a real underrated film and a real sleeper.

How about Sofia Coppola? She wrote the script and directed Lost in Translation. IMO it far outclasses its two companion films, Groundhog Day and Broken Flowers. The story is much more complex, sophisticated and satisfying. All three films seem to be trying to answer the question Is there any escape, even temporarily, from the fog of alienation that surrounds most of us? Broken Flowers clearly says no. The other two films offer tentative yeses, but their answers are tricky and not what they seem. Anyone want to discuss this?

quote:

Originally posted by tj:
How about Sofia Coppola?

We'll soon see. I didn't care for THE VIRGIN SUICIDES, the first film she directed, but was completely blown away by LOST IN TRANSLATION, which I think is simply magnificent. I would have given her the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director and Bill Murray would have gotten Best Actor. It indeed was Murray's finest moment.

We'll soon have another chance to evaluate Ms. Coppola as a director as her MARIE ANTOINETTE is slated for its U.S. premier at the upcoming New York Film Festival, which starts next week. MARIE is playing in that fest and will get its commercial release in October. The film debuted at Cannes to wildly mixed reviews.

I'm dying to see it though.

Posted 28 September 2006 08:09 AM
I am a year 13 media studies student and for my exam next year I have to research a particular topic, therefore i have chosen to base it on why female film directors are in the minority?. i am going to post my quetionaire, on this site and would generally apprciate any answers or information that i might recieve. Thankyou very much maria


1) why would you say that female directors are in the minority, compared to male directors?

2)if you have seen anything directed by a female director, is there anything about that film you would classify as stereotypically female?

3)do you think that female directors are associated to any typical film genre?

4)do you think its harder for female directors to be successful?

5)do you have a favourite female director? what are your reasons?

6)what do you think is the difference between male anf female directors?

7) do you think female directors will ever gain recognition for their films?

8)do you think female directors fail because of their known feminism attitude?

9)do you prefer male or female directors? and if so why?

10)do you think their should be female directors?

11)finally..
Do you feel that 'hollywood' is a 'sexist'
industry?if so and if not why? do you agree that females should be seen but not heard, unable to have the oppurtunity to become film directors?

thankyou so much if you have taken part, it will mean a lot to me!!!!!!

Maria - I don't know if I have the time to answer "so many" good questions. It would help to know a due date by when you need a response.

anytime withing the next 2 weeks would be helpful, thanks tabuno ( i do agree there are a lot of questions,qualitive results are what i have to aim for!!)

1) why would you say that female directors are in the minority, compared to male directors?

The typical male domination of society and employment that occurs most everyplace else.

2)if you have seen anything directed by a female director, is there anything about that film you would classify as stereotypically female?

Nora Ephron directed "Sleepless in Seattle" (1993); "Michael" (1996); "You've Got Mail" (1998); and "Bewitched" (2005) seem to project the mainstream classic stereotypes, especially "You've Got Mail" where Tom Hanks is the rich businessman and Meg Ryan is the helpless little shop owner.

3)do you think that female directors are associated to any typical film genre?

It is more a question of what film genre is ignored by female directors - sci fi, horror, action thrillers, crime thrillers.

4)do you think its harder for female directors to be successful?

Yes.

5)do you have a favourite female director? what are your reasons?

There isn't a female director who has a filmography sufficient enough to decide on a favorite.

6)what do you think is the difference between male anf female directors?

Supposedly, the overall all style and manner they would approach to directing.

7) do you think female directors will ever gain recognition for their films?

If they are given the opportunity to direct a good screenplay that makes a lot of money.

8)do you think female directors fail because of their known feminism attitude?

No. It's their inability to gain sufficient power to obtain the backing to produce and direct a film by the industry.

9)do you prefer male or female directors? and if so why?

I assume that female directors, in general, would have a different perspective.

10)do you think their should be female directors?

Yes.

11)finally..
Do you feel that 'hollywood' is a 'sexist'
industry?if so and if not why? do you agree that females should be seen but not heard, unable to have the oppurtunity to become film directors?

Yes, but not from the standpoint of the product that comes out of Hollywood, but the nature of the business making it impossible for female directors to get into position that they can direct films.