Coming not long after the lyrical, spare but haunting Celine Sciamma film, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, which set a very high bar, Ammonite directed by Francis Lee and starring the more well known actors Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan, could not help but be compared in this newish mini genre of period lesbian filmmaking by the sea. And yet it stands firmly on its own.
Mary (Winslet) is an intense, determined, quietly raging sea fossil hunter who lives with her aging mother in the harsh seaside town of Lyme Regis having been canonized with an early ichthyosaur discovery enshrined in the British museum.(The script is loosely based on the true life story of paleontologist Mary Anning) The life of the spinster who has dedicated herself to her self taught work, alas now mostly touristic to make ends meet, is upended when the young, wealthy Charlotte is entrusted to her care by her neglectful husband. Ostensibly to teach her something of the trade while taking the sea air, Mary becomes a full time caretaker when she falls ill. Therein ensues the at first tentative, then wildly passionate, hermetic love affair between the two.
Though there aren't surprises in the narrative, the acting and the respectful filmmaking are indeed sublime, and my question about the money-shot lovemaking scene arises not for its delicious eroticism but for its 21st century abandonment.
Winslet, who has slowly transformed from beautiful leading lady into a character actress (see also the 2019 Blackbird) is entirely believable and Ronan continues to find her way to a very diverse, substantial career. The film is welcome as a serious, elegant, sensual counterpoint to world events, a lockdown of another kind.
Little Women for Adults
Little Women’s time shifts make it a narrative challenge at the outset but if you are patient with filmmaker Greta Gerwig, the characters of Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy become rich and rewarding individuals each grappling with the pleasures and pains of being young females. This new version breaks the fourth wall and has many of the hallmarks of auto fiction. For me Little Women was less about wanting to be Jo-although I did aspire to make my mark culturally and as a young woman (at the time as a performer)-and more about wanting a sister and the wholly different warm energy of lots of close females. I hope this G rated film will still find its way to adults who will find much to dig into. Oscars? I don’t know. But now , yes, finally I do want to be Jo, finding a way to write the things closest to my heart without fear of commercial validation.
Queen and Slim is newest wave Bonnie and Clyde
How to describe the film Queen and Slim? Somehow Get Out meets Bonnie and Clyde doesn't do this black-is-beautiful-love-on-the-run-from-the-law story by tv writer Lena Waithe directed by music video director Melina Matsoukas, justice. A traffic stop gone wrong places the couple (Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner Smith) in the close confines of a series of vehicles that turns their Tinder first date into a crescendo of vulnerability and true love. Commenting on the many wrongful deaths of black citizens while simultaneously showcasing an unusually vibrant and eccentric couple is a hat trick which the creative team pulls off in style and substance. Where this will fall in awards season is less important than that it is a female-driven release from a major studio--a rare exception in content and talent.