19 Most Anticipated of 2019 Part 1: 11-19
19 films directed by women that will debut in 2019. PART ONE HERE.
Little Joe dir. Jessica Hausner
Even though her last film, Amour Fou, wasn’t released that long ago it feels like I’ve been waiting forever for a new Hausner film. Her latest Little Joe follows a group of scientists experimenting with a plant who begin to suspect that the plant is capable of altering the minds of those who interact with it. Or is it all just paranoia?
Miranda July Heist Film dir. Miranda July
It’s a Miranda July film! Her first one in 8 years! July has an incredibly unique, hilarious and poignant way of writing and directing. Details on this are scarce beyond the fact that it’s about a heist with Evan Rachel Wood and Gina Rodriguez starring. But what more do you need? Whatever this turns out to be I’ll be there watching.
Portrait of the Young Girl on Fire dir. Céline Sciamma
It’s a Céline Sciamma film! Enough said! No but really, Sciamma has built up her reputation through a thematic trilogy of contemporary films examining what it means to be a girl in France. Her 4th film is a period piece about a young woman having her bridal portrait painted who falls in love with the artist, who is also a woman. As a bonus the film reunites Sciamma with her long term partner actress Adèle Haenel who also has appeared in two previous Sciamma films.
The Rhythm Section dir. Reed Morano
I love action movies but most of them are written and directed by men for men and end up being casually racist, sexist or both. So I always have high hopes when a woman director takes the reins on an action flick. Blake Lively stars as a woman out for revenge after her family is intentionally targeted and murdered. What really attracted me to this is director Reed Morano. I loved the world building she did for The Handmaid’s Tale, but I was even more impressed with her moody post apocalyptic film, I Think We’re Alone Now which was one of my favourite films of 2018. I can’t wait to see how she handles ACTION.
Queen & Slim dir. Melina Matsoukas
Matsoukas is one of those directors that have been circling around studio projects for years. An award winning music video and TV director she is finally making her debut with Queen & Slim, a love on the run type film about the titular characters who are forced into hiding after they kill a cop in self defence. This is a film just loaded with prestige talent including not only Matsoukas herself but Lena Waithe who co-wrote the script and Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith who will star.
Spinster dir. Andrea Dorfman
I’ve long been a fan of Dorfman whose films are a perfect tonal blend of quirk, humour and biting social commentary. Her next film, Spinster follows a woman who is dumped by her boyfriend just as she’s about to turn 40 forcing her to face the fact that she might not end up with a perfect fairytale romance after all.
The Souvenir (Part 1) dir. Joanna Hogg
Somehow over the years I have turned into a Hogg stan. There’s something about her naturalistic minimalist films that I just thoroughly love. The Souvenir was on my most anticipated list of 2018, unfortunately it was not released that year, but it already has a Sundance 2019 premiere and has been purchased by A24 assuring that sometime in 2019 I will be able to see it! Not only that but after a bit of obfuscation it’s become clear that the movie is indeed intended to be a two parter, with A24 purchasing the rights to the second film (which may be on my most anticipated films of 2020 list?)
Varda by Agnès dir. Agnès Varda
A new film by iconic French director Varda is always a cause for celebration. Fresh off the resounding success of her last film, the beautiful Oscar nominated documentary Faces, Places which she co-directed with artist JR, her latest film appears to focus on one of her most interesting and favourite documentary subjects, Agnès Varda herself.
Does everyone remember #TheStory? An epic tale tweeted out in over 140 tweets, The Story was about Zola, a stripper who went to Florida with a girl only to fall into a world of prostitution and sexual violence. It was told with enough wit and comedy to make it go viral, but the dark subject matter and dubious narration caused a lot of backlash for Zola. It’s now being turned into a movie, and like with anything that goes viral it has a lot of potential to be awful… but also the potential to be good as well. Bravo (who also co-wrote the story) has assembled a great cast including the throughly underrated Taylour Paige as the titular Zola and Riley Keough as her trafficked acquaintance. I have high hopes for this one and I hope it turns out well.
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