I had some really good picks for this but darn it I've gone and used them for other themes. There really should be more films with female ensemble and after the backlash of Ghostbusters has calmed down perhaps. In fact Ghostbusters would have been an excellent pick for this week...
In fact, so far its been a very female film month. All the films I've seen at the cinema so far have featured female leads and even written and directed by women, so this week's theme is 'very on the nose'.
Don't forget to check out what Wandering Through the Shelves picked, the blog that started Thursday Movie Picks.
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Honestly cannot remember picking this before and if I have, my apologies. I love Pedro Almodovar, he makes great movies and they are about women. His first international success, WOTVOANB is about Pepa, a voice over actress who has just been left by her lover. In the midst of her own personal problems, she has to console her friend who had been having a fling with a terrorist, her lover's son and his finace drop by to see her apartment and her lover's ex adds to the drama. There are a few men in the film, but this really belongs to the women of the title who are all on the verge. A pure black comedy of brilliance.
Now and Then
Called the female 'Stand By Me' by few but I remember the film as, for a brief few years, the film where Christina Ricci was tall. I loved this film when I was younger because the clothes, the tree house dream, the mini bike trip and of course the friendship. Each girl is very different yet they are a group of friends that, even after years apart, they act like no time has passed. Roberta, Samantha, Teeny and Chrissy, reunite near Chrissy's due date. They reminisce about one particular Summer when they all grew up following the events of a seance in a grave yard. Great feel good then bad then good again film.
Made in Dagenham
Originally called 'We Want Sex' after the mishap with the banner when the women of Ford Dagenham were protesting at Parliament. I wish they kept that name but no the production was forced to change. Based on the real story of the Ford Sewing Machinists strike in 1968 that led the way to the Equal Pay Act in 1970. A fantastic cast of women and great characters you love to watch. Not so sure about it being a musical but the film was better than I thought it would be.
