December 2016 Film Preview
‘Tis the holiday movie season once more, Women and Hollywood readers! This is the time of year to escape designated family time by going to your local theater and choosing from critically-acclaimed indies, blockbusters, tearjerkers, Oscar bait, or the latest remake of “A Christmas Carol.” Despite popular opinion, movies are actually the gift that keeps on giving.
Historically, December film releases are that of the light, “feel-good” genre, but this year’s crop has a decidedly melancholy edge. The protagonists of these women-centric, written, and directed movies are at a crossroads — torn between one phase and the next — and facing uncertain futures. In light of recent events, this is something that most women can probably relate to on some level or another.
The December releases kick-off with Oscar front-runner “Jackie,” starring Natalie Portman as the titular First Lady. Out December 2, this biopic follows Jackie Kennedy during the aftermath of JFK’s assassination. In an instant, her life is turned upside down: she loses her husband, her home, and her sense of self in one fell swoop.
Also premiering December 2 is “Things to Come.” Written and directed by Mia Hansen-Løve, this film is about the content Nathalie (Isabelle Huppert) whose 25-year marriage implodes. Instead of collapsing along with it, Nathalie realizes she isn’t just losing a husband; she’s gaining freedom. Deciding what to do with it is the tricky part.
Protagonists pondering their next moves are also featured in mid-December’s releases. “All We Had, ” Katie Holmes’ feature length directorial debut out December 9, focuses on the struggles of a single mother (Holmes) and her daughter (Stefania Owen). The two women are constantly starting over, even though each new life always has new problems. The standalone “Star Wars” installment “Rogue One” centers on Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), a prisoner and the daughter of the Death Star’s architect, who reluctantly leads a rebellion against the Empire. Judging from its trailers, “Rogue One” (premiering December 16) and Erso stand out because the protagonist isn’t driven by passion, justice, or revenge: she’s facing off against Darth Vader and his ilk because she has nothing left to lose.
“Julieta,” which premieres December 21, explores the the long term effects grief has on a family. The eponymous character and her daughter grow more and more estranged after her husband’s death and — once the strained relationship finally breaks — Julieta (Emma Suarez) must come to terms with the fact that their previous bond might never be fully restored. “The Bad Kids,” a documentary out December 23, follows the students of an alternative high school, a last chance for at-risk teens. The school is led by principal Vonda Viland, who encourages and inspires students day in and day out.
Finally, there are several highly anticipated movies coming out on Christmas Day. “Hidden Figures,” co-written by Allison Schroeder, tells us a story of real women whose accomplishments went previously unseen. It is about three black women — Katherine G. Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer), and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe) — who worked at NASA in the 60s as the space program struggled to compete with Russia. They were the smartest in the room but were mostly ignored because they were black and women. But they did their job and, as the official synopsis reads, they did it while “cross[ing] gender and race lines.”
“Toni Erdmann” and “20th Century Women” will also be released December 25. Maren Ade’s comedy “Toni Erdmann” examines the evolving relationship between businesswoman Ines (Sandra Hüller) and her free spirit father, Winfried. It is one of the best reviewed and honored movies of the year. The events of “20th Century Women” take place around the same time as Jimmy Carter’s “Crisis of Confidence” speech. As Annette Bening’s protagonist realizes while watching the address, the country is on the precipice of a major change. She’s also a feminist, single mother who — without explicitly saying so — doesn’t want her son to grow up a clueless, out-of-touch man and turns to her counterculture tenants for help in raising him.
Here are all the women-centric, women-directed, and women-written films debuting in December. All descriptions are from press materials unless otherwise noted.
December 2
“Jackie”
“Jackie” is a searing and intimate portrait of one of the most important and tragic moments in American history, seen through the eyes of the iconic First Lady, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy (Natalie Portman). “Jackie” places us in her world during the days immediately following her husband’s assassination. Known for her extraordinary dignity and poise, here we see a psychological portrait of the First Lady as she struggles to maintain her husband’s legacy and the world of “Camelot” that they created and loved so well.
“Best and Most Beautiful Things” (Documentary) (Opens in NY; Opens in LA December 9)
In rural Maine, a bold and magnetic 20-year-old woman named Michelle Smith lives with her mother, Julie. Michelle is quirky and charming, legally blind and diagnosed on the autism spectrum, with big dreams and varied passions. Searching for connection, Michelle explores love and empowerment outside the limits of “normal” through a provocative sex-positive community. Michelle’s joyful story of self-discovery celebrates outcasts everywhere.
“Desert Hearts” (Re-Release) — Directed by Donna Deitch; Written by Natalie Cooper (Opens in NY)
This seminal film was the first mainstream lesbian film. Helen Shaver (who is directing lots of TV these days) plays an uptight Academic who sets up residency in 1950s Nevada in order to obtain a divorce. She meets the “free spirit” Patricia Charbonneau and to her surprise and initial horror falls hard for her. Fans are still waiting on the sequel.
“The Eyes of My Mother” (Opens in NY, LA, San Francisco, and D.C.)(Also Available on VOD)
In their secluded farmhouse, a former surgeon teaches her daughter, Francisca (Kika Magalhaes), to understand anatomy and be unfazed by death. One afternoon, a mysterious visitor shatters the idyll of Francisca’s family life, deeply traumatizing the young girl, but also awakening unique curiosities. Though she clings to her increasingly reticent father, Francisca’s loneliness and scarred nature converge years later when her longing to connect with the world around her takes on a dark form.
“Things to Come” — Written and Directed by Mia Hansen-Løve (Opens in NY and LA)
What happens when the life you’ve worked so hard to build falls apart all at once? Nathalie (Isabelle Huppert) is a philosophy teacher with a seemingly settled existence, juggling a rich life of the mind with the day-to-day demands of career and family (including frequent visits to her drama queen mother). But beginning with the bombshell revelation that her husband of 25 years is leaving her, one by one the pillars of Nathalie’s life start to crumble. For the first time in ages, she finds herself adrift, but also with a newfound sense of liberation. With nothing to hold her back, Nathalie sets out to define this new phase of her life and to rediscover herself.
“A Winter Rose”
Winter Rose (Kimberly Whalen) is a would-be singer-songwriter living on the edge. Having grown up as an orphan she trusts in nothing and no one, not even in her own power as an artist. But when she learns that her long-time inspiration, iconic songstress Rachal Love (Theresa Russell), is holding a contest to find the one singer who can rightfully take her place in the largest televised concert in history, Winter takes one last shot.
“Videofilia (and Other Viral Syndromes)” (Opens in NY; Opens in LA December 7)
A teenage misfit (Liliana Albornoz) spends her first days out of school slacking and experimenting with drugs and cyberspace. She meets Junior (Terom) online — he’s an aspiring amateur porn dealer into conspiracy theories and is also convinced that the Mayan Apocalypse is happening. Once they meet in the “real world,” a series of bizarre events unfold in this contemporary non-love story that portrays a post-modern Lima as a glitchy computer virus full of corruption, psychedelia, and ancient ruins.
December 9
“All We Had” — Directed by Katie Holmes; Co-Written by Jill Killington (Also Available on VOD)
Ruthie Carmichael (Stefania Owen) makes the best of bad circumstances, pulled along in the wake of the hard luck of her mother, Rita (Katie Holmes). From escaping a bad boyfriend to their car breaking down on the road to going broke, they continually find themselves in search of stability. When their attempt at settling in a new town hits a stumbling block, and as the shine wears off of the kind strangers who supported them when they had first arrived, even Ruthie struggles to keep it together.
“Abattoir” (Also Available on VOD)
A young reporter (Jessica Lowndes) happens upon a series of gruesome murders tied to real estate mysteries, where entire rooms have been dismantled and pulled from their foundations. The fact that those rooms were the exact settings for heinous tragedies sets her and a hardboiled cop on a search for the unimaginable. The stakes suddenly become very personal in this stylized and increasingly horrifying modern-noir.
“The Bounce Back” — Co-Written by Staci Robinson
Father, author, and relationship expert Matthew Taylor (Shemar Moore) is on a whirlwind book tour promoting his new best seller, “The Bounce Back.” He’s got it all figured out until he meets the acerbic Kristin Peralta (Nadine Velazquez), a talk show circuit therapist who’s convinced he’s nothing but a charlatan. Matthew’s life is turned upside down when he inadvertently falls for Kristin and has to face a painful truth of his past relationship.
“Office Christmas Party” — Co-Written by Laura Solon
When a CEO (Jennifer Aniston) tries to close her hard-partying brother’s branch, he (T.J. Miller) and his Chief Technical Officer (Jason Bateman) must rally their co-workers and host an epic office Christmas party in an effort to impress a potential client and close a sale that will save their jobs. “Office Christmas Party” also features Kate McKinnon, Olivia Munn, Jillian Bell, Rob Corddry, Vanessa Bayer, Randall Park, Sam Richardson, Jamie Chung, and Courtney B. Vance.
December 16
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”
The first of the Star Wars standalone films, “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” is an all-new epic adventure. In a time of conflict, a group of unlikely heroes — led by Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) — band together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire’s ultimate weapon of destruction. This key event in the Star Wars timeline brings together ordinary people who choose to do extraordinary things, and in doing so, become part of something greater than themselves.
“A Kind of Murder” — Written by Susan Boyd (Also Available on VOD)
In 1960s New York, Walter Stackhouse (Patrick Wilson) is a successful, married architect who leads a seemingly perfect life. But his fascination with an unsolved murder leads him into a spiral of chaos as he is forced to play cat-and-mouse with a clever killer and an overambitious detective, while lusting after another woman at the same time.
“The Bad Kids” (Documentary) (Opens in LA; Opens in NY December 23)
Located in an impoverished Mojave Desert community, Black Rock Continuation High School is one of California’s alternative schools. Every student here has fallen so far behind in credits that they have no hope of earning a diploma at a traditional high school; Black Rock is their last chance. “The Bad Kids” is an observational documentary that chronicles one extraordinary principal’s mission to realize the potential of these students whom the system has deemed lost causes. The film follows Principal Vonda Viland as she coaches three at-risk teens — a new father who can’t support his family, a young woman grappling with sexual abuse, and an angry young man from an unstable home — through the traumas and obstacles that rob them of their spirit and threaten their goal of a high school diploma.
December 21
“Julieta” (Opens in NY and LA)
Julieta (Emma Suarez) lives in Madrid with her daughter, Antía (Blanca Pares). They both suffer in silence over the loss of Xoan (Daniel Grao), Antía’s father and Julieta’s husband. But sometimes grief doesn’t bring people closer; it drives them apart. When Antía turns 18 she abandons her mother without a word of explanation. Julieta looks for her in every possible way, but all she discovers is how little she knows about her daughter.
December 25
“Hidden Figures” — Co-Written by Allison Schroeder (Limited Release; Opens Nationwide January 6)
“Hidden Figures” is the incredible untold story of Katherine G. Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer), and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe) — brilliant African-American women working at NASA, who served as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in history: the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit, a stunning achievement that restored the nation’s confidence, turned around the Space Race, and galvanized the world. The visionary trio crossed all gender and race lines to inspire generations to dream big.
“Toni Erdmann” — Written and Directed by Maren Ade (Opens in NY and LA)
Winfried (Peter Simonischek) doesn’t see much of his working daughter, Ines (Sandra Hüller). The suddenly student-less music teacher decides to surprise her with a visit after the death of his old dog. Practical joker Winfried loves to annoy his daughter with corny pranks. What’s worse are his little jabs at her routine lifestyle of long meetings, hotel bars, and performance reports. Father and daughter reach an impasse, and Winfried agrees to return home to Germany. Enter flashy Toni Erdmann: Winfried’s smooth-talking alter ego. Disguised in a tacky suit, weird wig, and even weirder fake teeth, Toni barges into Ines’ professional life, claiming to be her CEO’s life coach. As Toni, Winfried is bolder and doesn’t hold back, but Ines rises to the challenge. The harder they push, the closer they become. In all the madness, Ines begins to understand that her eccentric father might deserve some place in her life after all.
“20th Century Women”
During the summer of 1979, a Santa Barbara single mom and boardinghouse landlord (Annette Bening) decides the best way she can parent her teenage son (Lucas Jade Zumann) is to enlist her young tenants — a quirky punk photographer (Greta Gerwig), a mellow handyman (Billy Crudup), and her son’s shrewd best friend (Elle Fanning) — to serve as his role models in a changing world.
