2020 Belonged to Female Filmmakers

  However hard to believe, we’re reaching the end of 2020, and while this year has provided no shortage of entertainment in the form of existential dread, constant CNN updates, and a bit too many tiktoks. TV has continued to roll out week after week and the war of the streaming services is in full swing. One thing we have been lacking in, however, is movies. Since March, theaters have been shut down, and studios have pulled their major releases from the calendar. If this year had been normal, at this point we’d have been treated to A Quiet Place II, Black Widow, In the Heights, the French Dispatch, and countless others. However, we’ve made do with the ones who managed to get out in the first three months of the year and everything Netflix has saved for us, with a naive ability to look forward to everything coming to HBO Max in the next year. Somehow, in this dry spell of a year for content, some smaller gems got attention that would usually be offered to big theater blockbusters, which were overwhelmingly helmed by female filmmakers. Though I hesitate to sugarcoat the awful time that this year has been, this is perhaps one shining moment, and here are just a few of my favorites.

Miss Americana

   Lana Wilson

     Netflix

Netflix dropped this Taylor Swift documentary in January, long before Taylor Swift made 2020 undoubtedly her year with her surprise sister albums Folklore and Evermore. Miss Americana follows the pop superstar through the various roles of a modern musician, from writing and creating music to performing onstage. More than just a career-following musician doc, the underscoring story of the film is of a woman finding the power of her voice, as she talks about the decision to use her platform to speak about politics and stands up for herself against those who have taken advantage of her throughout her entire career. It is intimate and vulnerable, with clear trust between Taylor and director Lana Wilson. The most important feature of a documentary, often overshadowed by catching flashy historic moments on camera or happening to be in the right place at the right time, is trust. It elevates the film from a well produced instagram story reel to a critically acclaimed film. Though January 2020 feels like a completely different world than December 2020, Miss Americana set off the year in a promising push. 

The Half of It

   Alice Tu

     Netflix

Alice Tu’s The Half of It arrived on Netflix in the beginning of May, when quarantine entered its second month and people began to get truly restless, and sourdough and online school no longer provided ample company. Due to the platform it premiered on, the Half of It understandably lumped into the land of Netflix teen rom-coms ruled by To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and the Kissing Booth, with soft color grading, ambiguous suburb setting, and less than subtle declarations of love. However, as it’s trailer proudly proclaims, the Half of It is not a romance. And perhaps less than its leads would like, this is true. The story follows high schoolers Ellie and Paul as Ellie attempts to help Paul win over Aster, whom Ellie secretly also has a crush on. 

Emma

   Autumn de Wilde

     HBO Max

Autumn de Wilde’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic got what you might call the short end of the stick, being released in theaters barely two weeks before the coronavirus shut everything down. It was also part of the first wave of studios experimenting with direct to video release, with it being available to rent for $19.99 for a 48 hour period. The result was the first of the quarantine theater experience, and the last for quite a while, as other studios attempted to figure out if this attempt would work. All this attention around its release clouded the lush, bright, and delightfully witty Emma, starring Anya Taylor-Joy, who would make headlines once again, eight months later in quarantine with The Queen’s Gambit. 

John Lewis: Good Trouble

   Dawn Porter

     HBO Max

This movie seemed to come out at just the right moment. Early July, deep into a summer of intense racial reckoning, protests, and questioning of what it means to be black or white in America. Dawn Porter’s touching portrait of young activist turned long-serving congressman John Lewis followed the journey of a man who fought his entire life for voting rights, but also of a man who was kind and funny and repeated the same story perhaps one too many times. The film was made that much more poignant when less than a week after its release, John Lewis passed away. Throughout the film, many politicians are featured speaking of their admiration for him in such a genuine way, and when John Lewis himself speaks there is a clear trust between the subject and the director that makes the film personal and yet deeply relevant.

Boys State

   Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss

     Apple TV+

           Somehow a documentary about boys forming a government on their own in Texas managed to be the top horror movie of the year, the best satire, the most life-affirming, and the most deeply chilling. Impeccably composed and painfully relevant, the film picks out its main characters and follows them through this deeply weird tradition that seems to answer the question, "how to politicians become like this?" It's biting, raw, and deeply entertaining, so long as you don't think of how they will occupy the future of America.

Never Rarely Sometimes Always

   Eliza Hittman

     HBO Max

           A soft, meditative, absolutely heartbreaking film that managed to get swept up in the craziness of theaters shutting down, which never received its proper release. This film follows a teenage girl and her cousin as they travel to New York in order to get an abortion. It's quiet picture doesn't tell you any more than you need to know. You don't know anything about the characters lives before or after except what is revealed naturally throughout the course of the movie. It's a haunting lesson in empathy that allows its audience both to breathe and to worry.

First Cow

   Kelly Reichardt

     Available to Rent for $4.99

        And last but certainly not least, my runaway favorite of the year, the wonderfully sweet and charming First Cow, which follows two men in the Oregon territory stealing milk from a precious cow so they can make and sell baked goods. It's precious and beautiful, but it's also poignant commentary on the American Dream, who gets it, and what it takes to get there. It speaks about kindness and friendship and capitalism in all the right ways, and the cow is really cute.