Following on the BFI season Girlfriends, I wanted to talk about two directors and their work that stood out for me. I have written at length about the sesaon which can be read on VultureHound HERE.
Katt Shea wrote and directed 'Poison Ivy' which starred Drew Barrymore as a mysterious teen taken in by social outcast friend Slyvie. Ivy worms her way into the family, seducing Slyvie's father and befriending her sickly mother. A (slightly) erotic thriller with an uneasy feeling throughout, doesn't leave you with a bad taste in your mouth, but actually makes you wish Katt Shea had continued to make more films. The film wasn't a box offic hit but became a somewhat cult hit on video, spawning cheap sequels. Shea made other film but none that elevated her. She has a style and looking at the films she made after 'Poison Ivy', she became pigeon holed in what she made. Her last few credits as director included the sequel, Carrie: The Rage and TV film, Sanctuary.
Another director I wanted to talk about it is Lesli Linka Glatter, director of a favourite film of mine in my younger years, 'Now and Then'. Glatter is a successful director working mainly in TV, having made only two feature films (not including a TV movies). The nostalgia film about friendships and the events over one summer was released in 1995. This features was followed by 'The Proposition' in 1998, both films recieved negative reviews.
Negative reviews seem to plague female directors far more than their male peers. It seems such a waste of talent that women like Glatter and Shea aren't given the platform to make more films. Who cares about the bad reviewews, both 'Poison Ivy' and 'Now and Then' have cult status (more the former than the latter, but I love the latter) but its a shame that its takes years for films to be appreciated by an audience wanting to celebrate women's work and not by everyone at the time of release.