6 facets of mother-daughter relationships (movies 19–24/29)
Movies directed by women
(19) “Cafe Funiculi Funicula” by Ayuko Tsukahara (Japan, 2018)
First Feature
Excellent script
Foreign films sometimes confront us with reactions or expressions that seem strange to us. For example, as a European, I find the reaction of ‘shame’ in American movies — when a man is shocked when he unintendedly sees female nudity — extremely hypocritical, even though I’ve seen it so many times…) Anyway, very little of this in this Japanese movie (except at one moment, with the cat…)
A fantasy dealing with mature subjects!
IMDB 6,3
Original title: Kohi ga Samenai Uchi Ni
Cast: Kasumi Arimura, Motoki Fukami,
Director: Ayuko Tsukahara
Writer: Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Music by Masaru Yokoyama
Cinematography by Norimichi Kasamatsu
Film Editing by Ryûji Miyajima
(20) “Proxima” by Alice Winocour (France, 2019)
Top gender content
A movie with double insight: an insider look at the training and the routine an astronaut has to follow before leaving earth; a take on how difficult it is for a female astronaut to combine her expected motherly role and the high intensity of a training set in a structure thought and made for men. The end credits make us discover all these ‘mothers’ who went on space missions.
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,0
Metascore 7,5
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience —
IMDB 6,3
Average critics 7,3
Average public 6,3
Cast: Eva Green, Zélie Boulant, Matt Dillon
Director: Alice Winocour
Writers: Alice Winocour, Jean-Stéphane Bron
Music by Ryuichi Sakamoto
Cinematography by Georges Lechaptois
Film Editing by Julien Lacheray
(21) “Ava” by Léa Mysius (France, 2017)
First feature
Excellent minority presence and message
This subversive coming-of-age story shows how impermeable to social norms a young girl can be.
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,9
Metascore —
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,4
IMDB 6,7
Average critics 7,9
Average public 7,1
Cast: Noée Abita, Laure Calamy, Juan Cano
Director: Léa Mysius
Writers: Léa Mysius, Paul Guilhaume
Music by Florencia Di Concilio
Cinematography by Paul Guilhaume
Film Editing by Pierre Deschamps
(22) “Little Forest” by Soon-rye Yim (South Korea, 2018)
Excellent direction
A simple story, a very enjoyable movie
A milder movie in its political commitment than the previous “South Bound,” still the social angle is very similar in this story of a young woman — and her former classmate — who leaves the city to realize who she is.
This movie marks the social contrast between the city where others determine who you are and the countryside where there’s only you to do so. It also reinforces the original standpoint on the family that the precedent movie “South Bound” brought forward, in which the parents build for themselves an independent way of life, and stick to it even when their kids suffer from it. However, when they finally understand their parents’ choice, the children end up appreciating and valuing it.
Little Forest prolongs this theme: the mother has left her child without any apparent reason, and the child learns how to accept and honor her mother’s decision.
Rotten Tomatoes Critics —
Metascore —
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,0
IMDB 7,0
Average critics —
Average public 7,0
Cast: Tae-ri Kim, So-Ri Moon, Jun-yeol Ryu
Director: Soon-rye Yim
Writers: Seong-gu Hwang, Daisuke Igarashi (manga)
(23) “More Beautiful For Having Been Broken”
by Nicole Conn (USA, 2019)
Excellent dialogues, gender content, minority presence, and emotional charge
Some far-fetched twists take the attention away from a beautiful story.
IMDB 5,9
Cast: Zoe Ventoura, Kayla Radomski, Cale Ferrin
Director: Nicole Conn
Writer: Nicole Conn
Music by Nami Melumad
Cinematography by Seth Wessel-Estes
Film Editing by Nicole Conn, David C. Eichhorn
(24) “The Private Lives of Pippa Lee”
by Rebecca Miller (USA, 2009)
Excellent direction and gender content
The relationship between an adult and a child is the main aspect of this movie, just like that of Rebecca Miller’s preceding one. The child’s guilt is not always central but often mentioned.
Other recurring themes: a dysfunctional mother, running away, insanity along the mother line, crucial mother-daughter relationship, strangely unobtrusive role of the fathers (except in “The Ballad of Jake and Rose”)
The best Rebecca Miller movie until now / Fantastic female lead!
Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,2
Metascore 4,9
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 6,4
IMDB 6,4
Average critics 5,6
Average public 6,4
Cast: Robin Wright, Alan Arkin, Mike Binder
Director: Rebecca Miller
Writers: Rebecca Miller
Music by Michael Rohatyn
Cinematography by Declan Quinn
Film Editing by Sabine Hoffman
