Guest blog: What a year for women's films!

This is a guest blog written by my wife, Elizabeth Rosado. 

Oh boy, 2016 was truly a rollercoaster of a year – the highs include Adam Howard and I getting married at the Museum of the Moving Image and welcoming a new niece into our family. As for the lows, well, we all know what happened on November 9^th.

Even though that highest glass ceiling remains unbroken, women are still making progress, and one silver-lining to 2016 can be found by looking to Hollywood.  2016 had quite a crop of woman-centric films that were both critical and commercial successes.  Below is a list of my favorites – if you haven’t seen these, do yourself a favor and check them out.

SIDEBAR: It’s pretty obvious that Adam and I watch A LOT of movies, but there’s always something that slips by. So I’ll caveat the list below by noting that I haven’t seen Elle (Isabelle Huppert just won a Golden Globe for her lead performance), Nocturnal Creatures (starring Amy Adams, who I think has a unique talent for making characters subtly complicated), or Moana (whose heroine has been described as “Disney’s most unapologetically feminist princess yet”).  Without further ado, here are my top 10 lady movies of 2016!

1. The Fits. Odds are you haven’t heard of this movie, which is a shame because it is a beautiful and touching film. It’s a “coming of age” story that centers on a young tomboy, Toni, finding her place in a tight-knit dance troupe. While most male-focused “coming of age” movies are about finding a path to independence, Toni’s journey is about finding her place in a community. The film also captures the ways in which women “learn” to be women – how we absorb the trappings of femininity (the ways we dress, the ways we move our bodies) by observing and replicating. The Fits is also visually compelling  - a dance movie with a documentary feel – and I’m excited to see what director, Anna Rose Holmer, does next!

      2. Zootopia. Yes, Zootopia is a “kids movie”, but it carries a message that grown-ups need now more than ever – to “[embrace] diversity, even when there are people in the world who want to divide us by using fear”. Its lead character, Judy, is a rookie bunny cop who won’t let anything stand in her way, not her size and certainly not her gender. But what I found particularly refreshing is that Judy is not a perfect character – for all of her ambition and pluck, she also makes mistakes, and learns from them. A great role model for young girls and boys.

      
     3.  The Neon Demon. I might get some heat for including this one on the list – some feminist did not care for the film – but the deceptively simple story (young woman movies to LA to become a model and gets chewed up by the industry – literally) is just the first of many layers.  It’s a morality tale, both about our culture’s obsession with beauty (and the very narrow definition of beauty that women are expected to conform to) and about the ways in which women are often pitted against each other. Elle Fanning delivers a note-perfect performance as the lead character – she begins as an innocent, but when she eventually buys into the beauty-industry bullshit, it leads to her corruption and demise. This movie has lots of style, but lots of substance too.

      4.  The Handmaiden. Ummmmm, this movie is sexy AF. Some might think the girl-on-girl action is salacious and gratuitous, but I liked that the two main characters (one a young con-woman and the other a seemingly naïve heiress) relished in their sexuality and sensuality, taking ownership over their bodies as they also take control of their lives. This movie took twists and turns that I didn’t see coming, and also had a healthy dose of humor. It’s long (almost 2.5 hours) and has subtitles, but I hope that doesn’t keep you from giving this movie a shot. Just don’t watch it with your parents – those sex scenes are no joke.
         
      5. Rogue One. How did Princess Leia get the plans to the Death Star? Turns out it was a rag-tag team of heroes, who rally around Jyn Erso as she leads them on a mission of certain-death. I was moved to tears to see a heroine that was depicted as a leader, one who could command loyalty and devotion from her (male) followers. My nieces are big Star Wars fans, so I’m glad that Jyn gives them an example of a woman as a leader. Because if you can’t see it, you can’t become it.

6. Arrival. Amy Adams is quickly becoming one of my favorite actresses. Her choices are interesting and diverse – I can’t think of a single Adam’s performance that was bad or boring. In Arrival, a surprisingly philosophical “alien invasion” movie, Adams’ character saves the day, not by rushing in with guns blazing, but by finding common ground and understanding.  It’s a hopeful movie, one that presents humanity as it could be – tolerant and open-minded. I hope we keep holding ourselves up to those ideals.

      7. 20^th Century Women.  Annette Bening is a revelation in this movie. Her performance - as a single mom who creates a makeshift family of quirky characters – is natural, unselfconscious and “lived-in” and she deserves all of the nominations this awards season. All of them. Greta Gerwig and Elle Fanning also get meaty roles as fully-fleshed, complicated women. These women are not “shrinking violets” or “damsels in distress” or any other trope that women actors are so often confined to.  They have struggles and behave “badly” but also exude warmth and charisma. These are the kinds of women we all see in our own lives – real women.
       
         8. Hidden Figures. I’m so excited that a film led by three women of color is a box office success. Since Hollywood follows the money, I hope this means we’ll see more movies like this in the future. The truly inspiring story of a team of African-American women who played vital roles at NASA, the movie is funny and touching, without ever crossing the line into hokiness or sentimentality. It doesn’t shy away from the sexism and racial barriers that these women overcame, and really highlights how passivity in the face of discrimination can be just as bad as the discrimination itself. But it never stops being entertaining either - a very hard feat to pull-off.

      9. Jackie. I have to admit that I’ve never fully bought in to the “Jackie O cult”, but this movie went a long way to helping me understand it. While I can’t vouch for the factual accuracy of movie, the film portrays Jackie as a woman with an astute (and shrewd) understanding of how to build a legacy. She knew that image was everything  - not just the Chanel suits or the perfect hair, but the image of the presidency as royalty, our very own Camelot. The film focuses on the days after JFKs assassination, as Jackie plans the details of the funeral and lays the groundwork for enshrining her husband’s legacy.  It captures a woman who endured a great tragedy and trauma with grace and grit. And Natalie Portman is Jackie – she nails the looks, the voice, the mannerisms. A truly transformative performance.
 
     10. Ghostbusters. Okay, okay – this wasn’t exactly a critical or commercial blockbuster. And many ask why a remake of the beloved Ghostbusters was necessary. But this movie was a noble endeavor – why can't the Ghostbusters be an all-lady team? The movie was so-so, but I was delighted to see young girls dressed up as Ghostbusters. It may not have been the greatest of barriers, but it was nice to see this one knocked down. 

I hope 2017 continues this trend of female-led movies that dare to present multi-faceted, complicated and fascinating women. Our stories deserve to be told.