All too often, the default image one retreats toward of an auteur film director, camera operator, or distinguished Hollywood writer is that of a man, but women of Hollywood are no small part of the tapestry of the industry. Everyone can rattle off their favorite movie stars, but this list is intended to shout out women who made history behind the camera, who deserve to be mentioned in the same breaths as Steven Spielberg and George Lucas by telling stories from their one-of-a-kind point of view.
Love and Basketball (2000) dir. Gina Prince-Bythewood
Before she directed huge scale blockbusters like The Woman King and streaming headliners like The Old Guard, Gina Prince-Bythewood’s debut feature, while moderately well received at the time, has blossomed with reassessment and cult praise into arguably the singular defining film of the turn of the century. Love and Basketball chronicles Quincy “Q” McCall and Monica, neighbors who mature into lovers over their mutual adoration of the sport of basketball that’s matched only by their passion for one another.
Every facet of the film is elegant perfection, from Omar Epps and Sanaa Lathan’s powerful performances, to the 90s hip-hop needle drops that assemble into one of the decade’s finest soundtracks, right down to the dialogue that’s written with a succinct poetry that flexes into the voice of each character and illuminates their flawed and compelling humanity. Above all else, Love and Basketball (released less than halfway into the year 2000 and taking place over many years) feels like an authentic tour of the 90s as an era, a time longed for but so rarely replicated in aesthetic and tone with as much effortless beauty and grace as seen in this film. The filming locale of Southern California nearly leaps off the frame and is sure to leave any cinephile that’d fancy themselves more of an ‘indoor cat’ anxious to step onto the basketball court and experience even half of the exhilaration the characters of this film illustrate.
Buy your copy of Love and Basketball here.
Bottoms (2023) dir. Emma Seligman
It’s rare to endure a single day of film discourse where the absence of full-fledged comedies that once flooded the box office isn’t a major point of contention and bereavement for experienced film goers. This has allowed new screwball comedies to take advantage of a broader walkway with less competition, to garner a small but devoted fanbase, a movement that resulted in the continued cult engagement of Bottoms. Although a high school comedy, this movie is far more Fight Club than 'band camp', telling the story of PJ and Josie, who hatch a hair brained scheme to teach self-defense classes to the other girls on their school campus, with the ulterior motive to get closer to the cheerleaders of their affections.
The film’s humor is fast paced and unscrupulous, given foundation by Seligman’s script and direction but truly given a heartbeat by its lead performers, Rachel Sennott (I Love LA) and Ayo Edebiri (The Bear), who channel their years of real life friendship into the exuberant improv and chemistry that’s sure to remind anyone of their own high school bestie, the sort you’d tackle any high or low with against your better judgement. Bottoms is zany and peerlessly fun with the energy of a prime-time animated series, but it still lands a story with a great deal of authentic heart as well as razor sharp satire on high school sisterhood and the media that decorates the experience.
Buy your copy of Bottoms here.
Point Break (1991) dir. Kathryn Bigelow
As hard as it may be to imagine bestowed with the award-winning director of The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, there was no shortage of critics and junkets that were anxious to poke fun at Kathryn Bigelow when her career was in its infancy, some galled at the notion of a woman directing an action movie. Against the expectations of these myopic masses, Point Break became a pop culture icon instantly, the iconography of masked bank robbers with a penchant for surfing remaining unmistakable decades later, as is the genius of the filmmaking and the ingenuity required to make such a bizarre premise for a film a reality.
This story of cops going undercover to ingratiate themselves to territorial surfer criminals could only rise to the occasion with a cast that could commit to the lunacy necessary to commit to these characters--a melodramatically straight laced Keanu Reeves is Johnny Utah, opposite his eccentric superior Angelo Pappas (a feverishly fun Gary Busey) and Patrick Swayze as the leader of the “Dead Presidents” band of thieves, a role in which the late actor exemplifies his talent for instilling pathos and motivation into wild stunts, even under a latex Ronald Regan mask. Point Break is a manic, popcorn-movie delight of chases and shoot outs, one that Bigelow marshalled with filming techniques she personally perfected to keep pace with her fleet footed performers during wild foot race scenes, sky diving and surfing sequences with high-quality cameras, an ingenuity rewarded by her own filmmaking immortality.
Buy your copy of Point Break here.
Booksmart (2019) dir. Olivia Wilde
Film fans with a distinguished taste for something grounded and decidedly stark from usual summer blockbusters were taken by storm by Olivia Wilde’s The Invite, a portrait of a tumultuous relationship that’s as brutally honest and vulnerably bearing as it is compassionate to its characters and audience, no matter how many toxic dinner parties they’ve put their partner through. Amidst the celebration of such a triumph of adaptation, performance, and tight, intimate staging, it would be a shame to, at the same time, forget Wilde’s feature directorial debut, Booksmart, a film about two soon-to-be high school graduates Molly and Amy (the effortlessly endearing Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever) who realize in their unfettered focus on the academic, they’ve never once attended a party and resolve to do so the night before their graduation.
Much like Bottoms described above, it feels universal to have had a friendship like Molly and Amy’s, and perhaps just as much so to have been in both girls’ position in one experienced friendship or another. Molly is a mover and shaker with big ideas, and Amy is practical and obsequious to her surroundings. The two complete each other, at the risk of letting their respective cups overflow with the qualities of their respective companion, leading to road bumps in their relationship that won’t leave a dry eye in the house just as frequently as their endearing chemistry leaves one in stitches laughing. Some may find it quaint to look back at a time when leaving high school felt like such a herculean transition, but the emotionality illustrated in this film leaves no mystery as to the stakes of attending this party and seeing our heroes kiss their crushes. Above all else, this movie is as empathetic as it is hilarious, poised to show audiences that the girl you perceived as the mean queen bee deserves just as much grace and understanding as the put-upon geeks, a notion I think audiences of every high school experience will find cathartic.
Buy your copy of Booksmart here.
The People’s Joker (2022) dir. Vera Drew
Outside of being, on its own, a remarkably entertaining and one-of-a-kind film, The People’s Joker is a piece of history within the genre of parody and culture of film festivals. The film screened for the first time at the Toronto International Film Festival, only for its disposition as a direct spoof of DC Comics and Batman characters to quickly flag the attention of Warner Brothers. The company ordered a cease-and-desist to stifle further screenings of Vera Drew’s artistic triumph, a legal pressure so troubling that some of the film’s actors asked to have their voices removed from animated segments, fearing the baggage too much to bear. For two years, Drew explored legal ramifications and parameters to assure her safety and the amplification of her voice, allowing the People’s Joker to experience a wide release at long last. Audiences could finally experience the memorably surreal fantasia that chronicles Drew’s autobiographical narrative, navigating show business and comedy while exploring her identity as a trans woman. This is all cloaked by another layer of meta and lampoon, as Drew equates her transition, the empowerment of gender euphoria, and the tokenization the trans community must endure to the identity of the Joker, a supervillain known to entertain and provoke thought and philosophy in a way that The People’s Joker does in a fashion more bold and daring than any other version of the character.
Even if one set aside the exceptional behind-the-scenes underdog story of how The People’s Joker reached its richly deserved masses and a devoted cult following, there is truly no other film that’s comparable to this one in tone, ethos, or style. Partially necessitated by its production occurring during the COVID-19 pandemic, but just as much so a product of Vera Drew’s wild imagination, the film takes crazy swerves from green screen set and costumed performers to fully hand drawn animation and intentionally conspicuous CGI characters. This frenzied blend of visions makes a style out of the film’s substance, the ideal that artistic individuality and a truly authentic product is often begotten by a need to innovate, something a studio funded, filthy rich Batman-type could never understand. The People’s Joker is a shout from the rooftops in the name of full-hearted originality that’s true to oneself, making it easy to root for this particular ‘villain’.
Buy your copy of The People’s Joker here.
The Assistant (2019) dir. Kitty Green
A recommendation that’s not for the faint of heart; Kitty Green’s The Assistant is a portrait of Jane (played by the always captivating Julia Garner) who works as the assistant to a powerful Hollywood executive. No small part of this movie consists of making copies, organizing scripts, and tidying breakrooms, but a harrowing underbelly lies beneath the explicit text of the story at hand, as Jane endures transgressions that have become all too relevant to the experiences of women in any office, related to show business or otherwise.
The disquieting quality of this film stems from Jane’s ostensible familiarity with her own mistreatment and the systemic injustice around her. She is belittled by her superiors and can only watch helplessly as they engage in extortion, coercion, and victimization of those they have power over, and as nightmarish as the subject matter approaches, the framing and tone of the film treats these events as another day at the office, and lifts a mirror to the viewer to consider how close to reality that should be (and often is) in corners of life one may dread looking in the eye too long. A film of this nature that takes big swings with an abrasive tone and heavy messaging is no easy task without the correct moving parts and a deeply earnest point of view, but director Kitty Green levies balance and restraint over a measured runtime, perfectly marshalling Julia Garner, whose strengths in illustrating suffocated repression and thoughtful provocation tie the project together perfectly.
Buy your copy of The Assistant here.
Real Women Have Curves (2002) dir. Patricia Cardoso
Two decades before her long overdue Oscar nomination for her supporting role in Barbie, America Ferrera teamed up with director Patricia Cardoso to make history, as their creative collaboration Real Women Have Curves would be the first film Latina-directed film to be chosen for preservation by the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry. The reason for this choice becomes apparent as the story of Ana unfolds, a spirited academic and second-generation immigrant to a family from Mexico, who has to choose between her dream school across the country and her role caring for her family who lean on her for labor of the practical and emotional variety.
Juggling societal pressures of the financial, physically affectionate, and familial, Cardoso’s direction helps these universal hurdles feel specific to the narratives of this film’s characters, as well as tangible to any audience whether they’ve been in Ana’s shoes or not. As heavy as the subject matter can appear, the film overall is triumphant in a bittersweet fashion. No choice made by the characters is easy, because life so rarely is, and yet Ferrera's infectious performance makes it easy to smile along with her as she reaches for the stars. For all of the endearing aesthetic decorum that places this film firmly in the early 2000s, the subjects of generational trauma and body positivity are just as relevant today as they ever were, and well worth the attention of a new generation of viewers.
Buy your copy of Real Women Have Curves here.
Clueless (1995) dir. Amy Heckerling
The contingent of films that adapt classic literature through the lens of contemporary teenage culture is a celebrated circle potentially worthy of a list-icle unto itself. Standing tall among beloved works within this ideal such as 10 Things I Hate About You and She’s the Man is another film chosen for permanent preservation by the Library of Congress, Amy Heckerling’s Clueless, which turns Jane Austen’s titular socialite Emma into Cher Horowitz, a character decorated by Heckerling and played by Alicia Silverstone to such perfection that the character remains iconic, continuing to inspire and be directly invoked by super bowl commercials, Halloween costumes, and music videos over thirty years after the film’s premiere.
What’s made Cher, and by extension Clueless itself so enduring over the years is how it illustrates a dream life for many and how human foibles still act as obstacles for Cher. The main character of this film has a digitally enhanced walk-in closet, the capacity to negotiate her grades to her father's high expectations, and a social standing to die for. There’s no small amount of joy to be gleaned vicariously from Cher as a character this way, but it doesn’t change the fact that she can be insecure, reluctant, and prone to overthinking her relationships, flaws any human would still have if they won the lottery and started living like Cher. This is all to say nothing to Heckerling’s genius script, brimming head-to-toe with laugh out loud moments and 90s slang that’s popularized by the impeccable line delivery of an all star cast. Paul Rudd, Brittany Murphy and Dan Hedaya fill out a powerful ensemble alongside Silverstone, who come together to make this film a classic of the highest fashion.
Buy your copy of Clueless here.
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