This week I’m talking about the 2021 movie Our Father, where two young women go in search of their estranged uncle after their father’s death. (I’m aiming to watch an average of one movie a week in 2024.)

I chose Our Father because I’ve been wanting to watch a movie featuring Chicago actor Brian King. A trailer for this one caught my eye, though he appears in only one scene.

The Premise Of Our Father

In the days after their father’s death, two young women learn that they have an uncle who was never mentioned to them before.

Their father’s other family, which includes their half brothers and their father’s ex-wife, offer the sisters little comfort or connection.

Confused and distraught over their father’s suicide and feeling isolated and alone, the two sisters go in search of this mysterious uncle.

What I Liked

• The story gradually reveals what’s happening and why, as well as the characters’ back story, leaving viewers to put the pieces together in a way I found fascinating.
• The dialogue is the best I’ve ever heard in a movie. It has the feel of real life but never drags or includes extraneous lines. 
• All the conflict arises from the story and characters–there are no forced or faked conflicts just to move the plot along. 
• The sisters are three-dimensional characters who aren’t simply there to sort out how they connect to the men in their lives. While the sisters talk about their father, brothers, boyfriends, and uncle, they also talk about work, school, hope, the lack of hope, and what they want in their lives. And the most important relationship is the one between the two of them.
• I loved that the ways women constantly deal with and navigate around men’s feelings (particularly feelings of entitlement or inadequacy) is shown repeatedly, yet the film never feels like it is hitting viewers over the head. A few of the examples were dealt with so quickly, almost as asides, that I didn’t grasp this theme until thinking over the film later.
• The challenges of forging emotional connections and dealing with adulthood while feeling unprepared for it felt very real and raw.

What Didn’t Work As Well

• I love Chicago, which is ostensibly the setting, as the city and a few addresses are mentioned. I’m always excited to see my home city depicted in film, TV, or novels. But for whatever reason, the locations weren’t recognizable as Chicago. (It might have been filmed in part during the pandemic, and perhaps the lack of traffic threw me off.)
• There were moments of humor that felt a bit slapsticky or goofy and jarred me a bit. Overall, though, the dark humor worked well.

Four and a Half Stars (Of Five)

This is one of the best films I’ve seen in a very long time. I give Our Father 4.5 stars for very believable, compelling characters, genuine conflict that drives plot and character growth, and themes that made me think for days.

At least right now, it’s available free if you have Amazon Prime. (Click here to check it out.)

Lisa M. Lilly

P.S. To read last week’s look at the horror/comedy/coming of age film The Final Girls click here.

(As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases made through this site, but that doesn’t change prices to you.)

The post Our Father (2021) (Movie Review) appeared first on Lisa Lilly.

I chose The Final Girls because I like the actress Nina Dobrev. She plays a key role, though she’s not the lead.

The Premise Of The Final Girls

Main character Max’s mother is an actress best known for a starring role in a classic cult horror movie. Max and her mother are very close, which is easy to see in the opening scene. But tragedy strikes, and her mother is killed in a car crash when Max is still a teenager.

Three years later Max gets roped into attending an anniversary showing of Camp Bloodbath and its sequel. She’s avoided the films for a lot of reasons, including that her mom really wanted to be known for more serious roles.

Max and her friends, including a somewhat mean girl played by Nina Dobrev, get catapulted into the horror movie. They all realize they need to stay with the character who will be the “final girl” — the one who doesn’t have sex and who survives.

But this is tricky as their actions affect the plot. And it’s especially challenging for Max, who begins to see the character as her mother and really wants to spend time with her.

What I Liked

• what at first looked like just a fun satire of campy slasher movies turned out to include layered, likeable characters with story arcs beyond the horror
• the ways the film explored and critiqued horror tropes without being preachy
• real connections, conversations, and growth between the female characters (yes, it passes the Bechdel test)
• the mix of horror and comedy (how could I not love that being host of a podcast about Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

What Didn’t Work As Well

• the pace was a bit slow, though in some ways I enjoyed that as it gave time to get to know the characters 
• the first half hour or so was predictable and I almost stopped watching, thinking it would just be a spoof–as noted above, though, it turned into much more, so I’m glad I stuck with it

Three Stars (Of Five)

I give The Final Girls 3 stars for fun, character development, and some surprising twists. It’s a great watch for an evening at home. I found it on Amazon Prime.

What’s next? I’m not absolutely certain, but I’m thinking Our Father, a film about two sisters who go in search of their estranged uncle after their father dies. 

Lisa M. Lilly

P.S. Click here to read last week’s look at sci fi thriller What Happened To Monday.

The post The Final Girls (Movie Review) appeared first on Lisa Lilly.

Many people make resolutions to try to improve parts of their lives they struggle with. But often they focus on what the “should” do not what they want to do. Eat vegetables every day. Go to the gym once a week. Learn a language. The challenge comes when you miss a day or a week, then one more, and pretty soon it’s March. Sometimes all you feel, if you think of resolutions at all, is sort of bummed that you didn’t stick with it.

And here’s my confession. Having fun is something I struggle with.

Needing More Fun

It’s not that I never have a good time. But quite often that’s mixed with creativity and work. I love writing fiction. It makes me feel wonderful. I have a great time going out with my friends. But I met lots of them in my other life as a lawyer, so when we get together for fun we tend to talk work, too. Ditto with other writers and creators.

Also, for decades of my life I worked so many hours I didn’t have much time to do things just because I enjoyed them. When I did, I read books, which I’m happily doing more of now that I’m working less. But I practically forgot what it’s like to have a good amount of free time.

You can probably see why a New Year’s resolution to have fun is a good thing.

New Year’s Resolution Fun

One of my favorite things to in the years after college was to see movies. My boyfriend at the time (who is a screenwriter now) and I had little spending money. We both had arranged our lives to write as much as possible and work as few hours as possible at our day jobs.

But every Tuesday we either went to the second-run movie theater ($1.50) and saw whatever was playing or chose a movie ($1) from our local library’s videotape collection. (Yes, it was that long ago.) There, too, selection was limited. That meant we saw a lot of movies we didn’t absolutely love. But we loved taking them apart afterward as much as we did watching them.

That’s why I settled on movies for my new year’s resolution:

One movie a week in 2024. At the movie theater when I can, streaming otherwise. 

And, as long as it stays fun, I’ll share a little about them here.

The First Movie

I know this is a great resolution because I started it early. Last Friday I picked a movie from Netflix with a cool concept. It’s called What Happened To Monday. (Which you knew from the photo. That’s my Kindle Scribe, which I just got as a holiday present. I’m having fun with that, too, as you can see by my starting my movie list using its notebook feature.)

The Premise

In a future very overpopulated world, a one-child policy is put in place. Additional children are taken away and put in cryogenic sleep. But a grandfather is unwilling to see this happen to his grandchildren, who are septuplets.

He names them each for a day of the week and pretends they are one person. Monday goes out only on Monday. Tuesday on Tuesday and so forth. At home each girl has her own life and expresses herself how she chooses. But to the outside world, these girls are only one girl, one personality they create between them. This works well for decades.

Then one day Monday doesn’t return home from work to rehash the day with her siblings and her electronic tracking goes dark. The others must find out what happened to save her and themselves. But how can they without revealing their secret?

What I Liked

• I loved this premise. It’s a fascinating chance to explore identity, inner lives, and the pressures to present a certain way to society.
• No question this movie passes the Bechdel test. These women, all named, talk to one another all the time about all sorts of topics other than men.
• The early twists engaged me, and a few surprised me.
• Glenn Close (she’s the villain). I like her in any movie.

What Didn’t Work As Well

• The mystery shifted too quickly to chase and fight scenes for me, leaving too little time to explore the themes that intrigued me.
• The gore likewise was a bit too much for me (and eyeballs freak me out).
• Glenn Close’s character was too much of an evil villain. I’m more intrigued by layered villains who do evil things but with whom we can sympathize. Some groundwork was laid for understanding her point of view, but we don’t get to know her enough to feel for her.
• The ending never dealt with the overpopulation issue, which the movie did a good job of showing truly was a serious and humanity-endangering problem but then in my view brushed aside.

Three Stars (Of Five)

The 3 stars is mainly for the premise and some interesting moments and world-building. If this were a usual year where I see maybe 4 or 5 movies, I’d be disappointed I picked this one. But it’s 1 out of 52, so I felt like it was a pretty good start.

What’s next? Check back and see. Oh, and Happy New Year!

Lisa M. Lilly

P.S. If you happen to be a Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan and want to hear thoughts on the story elements of each episode, check out my Buffy and the Art of Story podcast and books here.

The post New Year’s Resolutions For Fun appeared first on Lisa Lilly.

(Find out more about 3 tests I’ll use to guide the conversation in Women, Men, and Movies or just read on.)

The Story

On an isolated island, young Rey tries to persuade unwilling Jedi Master Luke Skywalker to train her. General (and former princess) Leia struggles to lead what remains of the Resistance against the tyrannical First Order even as her son Kylo seeks to rise within it and grow his own dark power.

Quick Results

Bechdel:        P

Sexy Lamp:    P

Mako Mori:   P

Chasing Bechdel

(Does a (named) female character talk to another named female character about anything other than a man?)

The Last Jedi includes so many characters and conversations that I’ve grouped most of the ones among only male characters, or between male and female characters combined, together. Only those one-on-one conversations where the dialogue or characters are particularly significant are separated out.

I didn’t need to group female-to-female conversations because there are relatively few.

Where non-human characters are coded as one gender or the other, I’ve included them by the coded gender.

Who’s Talking To Whom

Women To Women:

Vice Admiral Holdo and Lieutenant Connix have two short conversations about:

• Passing debris (Connix is covering for Resistance Commander Dameron Poe)
• Fuel reserves and staying on course

General Leia and Vice Admiral Holdo talk once about:

• Poe
• Boarding the transports
• Who will stay behind to pilot the cruiser
• Resistance losses
• The Force

Lieutenant Connix and Commander D’acy have one conversation where Leia also chimes in. They talk about:

• Distress signals
• Lack of reinforcements
• The Resistance

Also, Commander D’acy tells a group of Resistance fighters that Vice Admiral Holdo is next in command and Holdo thanks her.

Rey and Leia have one conversation, which includes about 6 lines, about:

• Luke
• Rebuilding the rebellion

Men To Men:

Poe and Finn (both of the Resistance), talk about:

• Where Rey is
• Surviving
• The droid BB8
• Battle strategy

Luke and Kylo talk about:

• Forgiveness
• Death
• The Resistance
• The Jedi

Yoda and Luke talk about:

• Ending the Jedi legacy
• Jedi texts
• Rey
• Failure

Supreme Leader Snoke and Kylo Renn talk about:

• Hux
• Kylo’s power
• What Snoke saw in Kylo
• Kylo’s bloodline
• Kylo’s mask/helmet
• Han Solo
• Kylo being unbalanced
• Rey
• Luke still being alive
• The Jedi
• Darth Vader
• Destiny

Many other male characters talk with one another. Those characters include First Order General Hux, Captain Canady, Supreme Leader Snoke, Kylo Renn, other First Order officers, Poe, C-3PO, and Resistance fighters and officers. They talk about:

• Snuffing out the Resistance
• Battle strategy
• Resistance shields
• Snoke’s disappointment
• Rebel forces
• Battle strategy (numerous times)
• Rey
• The Supreme Leader
• Who will rule
• Luke
• Threats to one another
• Mutiny
• Ways out of a cave

Women And Men:  

Rey and Luke talk about:

• The Resistance
• Leia
• Who Rey is and her fears and dreams
• The cave
• The Jedi texts
• The First Order
• The Force
• Luke’s refusal to train another Jedi
• The island
• Kylo
• History of the Empire
• Pride
• Legends

And Rey and Kylo talk about:

• Luke
• Seeing each other in their minds
• Kylo being a monster
• Kylo’s father
• Rey’s parents
• Being alone
• Kylo’s future
• Supreme Leader Snoke

Rey also talks with Supreme Leader Snoke. Topics include:

• Darkness and light
• Kylo
• Luke
• Threats
• The Resistance

Luke and Leia have one conversation about:

• Leia’s hair
• Kylo
• Hope

Rose and Finn, both of the Resistance, talk about:

• Finn being a Resistance hero
• Escape pods
• Finn leaving the First Order
• Rose’s sister’s death
• Rey finding Finn
• Disabling tracking
• Finding a code breaker
• A casino
• How Rose grew up
• The Resistance
• Love versus hate

Vice Admiral Holdo and Poe talk about:

• Battle plans
• Poe being trigger happy
• Poe’s demotion
• Following orders
• Battle plans
• Abandoning the cruiser
• Mutiny

Chewbacca, Luke, and Rey talk about:

• The Millenium Falcon
• Han Solo
• Kylo
• The Jedi
• Whether Resistance needs Luke
• The First Order
• Why Luke isolated himself
• The fleet
• Ruling the galaxy
• Rey’s parents

Leia and Poe talk about:

• Strategy
• Returning to base or fighting on
• Poe not following orders
• Leadership
• Admiral Holdo
• Protecting the Resistance
• Strategy

Many other conversations occur between male and female characters one-on-one and in groups. Characters in those conversations include General Hux, unnamed male and female First Order characters, Poe, Rose, C-3PO, Maz, Finn, unnamed Resistance fighters, Leia, and Holdo, child jockeys, and a code breaker. Topics include:

• First Order Attacks
• Getting everyone on a transport
• Fighters
• Targets
• Bomber doors
• Battle victories
• Supreme Leader Snoke
• First Order tracking Resistance
• Battle plans
• Resistance leaders
• Leia’s condition
• The Resistance’s symbol
• Disabling tracking
• Security shields
• Battle strategy and victories
• Breaking out of prison
• Code breaking
• Rey finding Resistance fighters

Humans and non-gendered droids:

Poe and BB8 talk about:

• Strategy
• Battle moves
• Weapon systems
• Targeting
• Finn

And Luke and R2 (who I believe is referred to as “he” in other Star Wars movies, but I didn’t notice being referred to here as male or female) talk about:

• Old friends
• Not coming back to the Resistance
• Old hologram message from Leia

Conclusion

There are far more conversations in mixed male/female groups than in the other categories, and more male-to-male than female-to-female conversations. These conversations cover a broad range of topics sometimes briefly, sometimes in depth and detail.

Most of the conversations the women have with one another are about a male Resistance member, sometimes plus another topic.

Whether all the women I list above are truly “named” characters is questionable. For two of them, I needed to hunt through IMDB for names. (And it was a hunt. The actors’ photos didn’t always match very well to how they looked in the film, so I checked other websites as well.)

But Leia and Rey are both clearly named, and they do have a conversation that, in addition to being about Luke, is also about the Resistance. And Vice Admiral Holdo and Leia similarly talk about Poe, but also about important Resistance strategy and choices.

Because of that, The Last Jedi passes the Bechdel Test.

Women v. Sexy Lamps

(can a female character be replaced by a sexy lamp without affecting the plot?)

The Last Jedi includes many female characters who are key to the plot.

Rose’s ideas and determination drive an entire side plot about an attempt to disable the First Order’s tracking system. Rey’s quest to become a Jedi both intersects with and affects the main Resistance versus First Order plot and forms a key storyline of its own. Leia has less to do, but she does make or influence some significant strategy decisions, and Vice Admiral Holdo’s choices drive the battle.

I can’t think of any female character who is simply there to be carted around, saved, or look good.

Conclusion

The Last Jedi passes the Sexy Lamp Test.

Mako Mori

(does a female character have her own narrative arc that does not support a man’s story line?)

While Rose’s actions affect the main plot, I don’t see her as having a true narrative of her own. I like her as a character. She’s steadfast, determined, and resourceful throughout. But I don’t see a journey other than perhaps in her feelings for Finn.

Leia doesn’t get much screen time. I also don’t see her evolving other than perhaps in her feelings about Kyle or Luke.

Rey is a tougher call.

She seeks Luke to train as a Jedi in her own right. Much of that storyline involves Luke, as he initially refuses to train her. Their storylines support each other’s. Without her, he wouldn’t know what was happening with the Resistance or consider reconnecting with the Jedi ways. Without him, she’d be on her own to train.

Interestingly, she does quite a bit to learn on her own, suggesting to me that perhaps she doesn’t personally need Luke as much as she believes she does.

She also tries to save Kylo, connecting with him even when she doesn’t intentionally try to do so.

Rey has an internal journey, too. As we saw in The Force Awakens, she holds out hope that her parents will return for her and that her bloodline makes her a Jedi, much like Luke and Leia. Her quest for answers and how she deals with that shows growth on her part.

Conclusion

Based on Rey’s quest to become a Jedi, much of which is self-directed, and her search for family, The Last Jedi passes the Mako Mori Test.

Did I Like It

Sometimes you just want a movie to be something it’s not. Knowing Rey and Leia would play important roles in The Last Jedi, I imagined a mentoring relationship much like Luke’s with Obi-Wan Kenobi. What a chance it would have been to see these women connect. A young woman trying to understand and master the Force and searching for her family. An older woman who has developed her own power and who faced challenging revelations about her own family.

Instead, we get one short conversation between Rey and Leia.

Also, while Leia clearly matters to the Resistance, she doesn’t do much in the movie. And Rey’s interactions are almost entirely with Luke and Kylo.

According to a December 19, 2017 Chicago Tribune article, “Lucasfilm had planned for the next episode, J.J. Abrams’s 2019 release, to be ‘Leia’s film.’” Perhaps that would have been the movie I’d been hoping for.

My disappointment on this front is about my hopes, not The Last Jedi as is, so I can see why other people loved it.

In addition, though, the extended battle scenes didn’t do a lot for me. I loved the original three Star Wars films. I liked The Force Awakens, but never became that invested in the characters. Because of that, when they’re fighting it doesn’t make that much difference to me who survives and how.

The training scenes and conflicts between Rey and Luke interested me more (though I found Luke, to my dismay, a bit whiny and annoying) and were my favorite part of the movie.

The Rey/Kylo relationship also is intriguing. I liked the twists it took and what it revealed about each of them.

Coming Soon

2014 sci-fi thriller Transcendence. This film prompted me to start thinking about the Bechdel Test in the first place.

You might also like:

The Terminator: Men Talk, A Woman Fights (Women & Men in the Movies No. 5)

Avengers: Infinity War – Women Talk, Men Talk More, & Everyone Fights

Terminator 2: Sarah, Action Hero, But…

Annihilation: Five Women And The Unknown (Women, Men, and Movies No. 4)

Ex Machina: If An A.I. Were A Woman (Women, Men, and Movies No. 3)

The post Leia Says Little In The Last Jedi (Women & Men in the Movies No. 9) appeared first on Lisa Lilly.

(Find out more about 3 tests I’ll use to guide the conversation in Women, Men, and Movies or just read on.)

The Story

A young woman, Sarah Connor, must flee from and ultimately fight a cyborg from the future intent on killing her.

Chasing Bechdel

(Does a named female character talk to another named female character about anything other than a man?)

Who’s Talking To Whom

As in the discussion of Ex Machina, where I referred to an A.I. designed as female as a woman, I’ll refer to the Terminator, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, as a man.

Women To Women:

Our hero, Sarah Connor, and unnamed female restaurant coworkers talk about:

• Sarah being late
• Who will care about a bad work day in 100 years (a little foreshadowing)
• A news story about a different Sarah Connor being shot and killed

Sarah and her roommate, Ginger, talk mostly about men and cover these topics:

• Ginger’s boyfriend
• How they look before going out with their dates
• Sarah’s pet lizard
• Sarah’s date, who cancels on her
• Sarah going to a movie

Sarah talks to an unnamed female door person about:

• Using the pay phone (remember those?)
• The cover charge

Men To Men:

In the first spoken words of The Terminator, an unnamed male driver talks to himself when he sees what looks like a naked man appear in the midst of lightning.

Unnamed male punk rockers talk to each other about:

• A naked man approaching them

The Terminator talks to many unnamed male characters, including the punk rockers, a hotel guest, a gun shop clerk, a phone booth occupant, an intake officer at the police station, and a hotel clerk, about:

• The Terminator being naked
• Clothes
• The rotting smell from his room
• Guns and how they work
• The Terminator’s attitude
• Wanting to see Sarah
• “I’ll be back” (the classic line)
• The hotel address

An unnamed drunken man in an alley talks to himself, to Kyle Reese (who has come from the future to help protect Sarah), and to policemen about:

• Bright lights
• Reese stealing his pants

Policemen talk to Reese about:

• Trying to get him to stop running
• The date and year

One unnamed policeman also talks to another about Reese having his gun.

Lieutenant Ed and Detective Hal (who I don’t think ever has his name spoken), talk briefly to the press (to say No Comment) and talk to each other about:

• Two Sarah Connors being dead
• Reaching the remaining Sarah
• Using press/TV to reach out to her
• How they look
• Reese’s story

Reese and Dr. Silberman, a (male) psychologist, talk about:

• Future war
• A computer defense system
• The machines’ plan to kill Sarah
• Time travel
• The Terminator
• Reese’s mission
• That Reese can’t go back to his own time
• Weapons
• The Terminator will keep going until it kills Sarah

Max, Ginger’s boyfriend, tells the Terminator “Don’t make me bust you up.”

Reese speaks one line to the Terminator at the end to tell him to “Come on.”

Women And Men:

Sarah talks to male customers and a bartender about:

• Food orders
• Complaints about poor service
• Not touching the TV (when a news story about a second Sarah Connor’s death plays)

The Terminator talks to the first Sarah Connor he visits to confirm her name.

Max, Ginger’s boyfriend, talks to Sarah on the phone about:

• Sex (when he thinks Ginger answered)
• An apology (when he realizes it’s Sarah)

Max talks to Ginger when she gets on the phone about:

• Sex (same words he said to Sarah)

Sarah and Lt. Ed, Det. Hal, and Dr. Silberman talk about:

• Sarah being followed
• Where Sarah is
• Ginger’s death
• Whether Reese is crazy
• What Reese told her
• Reese being deluded and/or on PCP
• Trying to sleep
• Her mother
• The many cops in the police station

Sarah and Reese talked the most, including about:

• Reese’s line, another classic: “Come with me if you want to live”
• Whether she’s hurt
• Doing what Reese says
• Reese is there to protect her
• Sarah’s targeted for termination
• Cyborgs from future
• Reese being from the future
• What a terminator is and whether Reese can stop it
• Nuclear war
• The defense network and machines
• How John Connor led the resistance to the machines
• Time travel
• Reese’s injuries
• What John is like
• That Sarah’s a legend
• A message for Sarah from John
• Fighting machines in the future
• Reese’s childhood
• Explosives
• Reese’s love for Sarah
• What women are like in his time
• Dealing with emotional pain
• Continuing to fight

The Terminator and Sarah talk about:

• Where Sarah is (when he’s pretending to be her mom)
• That they love each other (when he’s pretending to be her mom)
• Sarah tells him he’s terminated

Sarah, a boy who takes her photo, and a gas station attendant talk about:

• the photo
• how much she’ll pay for it
• a storm coming

People and Machines

People talk to machines in addition to the Terminator, including Sarah talking to her and Ginger’s answering machine to ask for Ginger’s help, which tips the Terminator to where she is, and Sarah talking to a tape recorder in the end in a message to her unborn son.

Conclusion

A lizard and Sarah’s offhand mention of going to a movie save The Terminator from failing the Bechdel Test.

That the film barely passes surprised me. I’ve watched it many times. In my memory, it passed right away because of Sarah’s conversation with her coworkers about the other Sarah Connor’s death. But we never hear that coworker’s name. I also had not remembered how much of her conversation with her roommate was about men.

I also noticed on this watch how many more unnamed characters are men and how much more often men talk with other men (named or unnamed) than do women.

Still, Ginger and Sarah do talk about Pugsley, the lizard who, while male, probably doesn’t count as a man for purposes of the test. Go Pugsley.

Women v. Sexy Lamps

(can a female character be replaced by a sexy lamp without affecting the plot?)

Despite that Reese is sent to protect her, he is not the protagonist. (In a different movie, one I would never have been interested in, he probably would have been.)

Sarah’s choices for better or worse drive the story. Had she been a sexy lamp, Reese would have found her and spirited her away. When the Terminator tracked them down, Reese alone would have had to fight and the outcome would have been far different.

Our other named female character (yes there is only one other), Ginger, plays a small role. But she influences the plot.

She is sympathetic when Sarah’s date cancels and supportive when Sarah decides to go out alone. That decision means Sarah’s not there when the Terminator arrives. Also, Ginger’s struggle to survive brings the Terminator into the living room when Sarah calls, which is why he hears her talk to the answering machine.

So while Ginger doesn’t make a huge difference in the plot, I think it’s enough.

Conclusion

The Terminator passes the Sexy Lamp Test.

Mako Mori

(does a female character have her own narrative arc that does not support a man’s story line?)

Sarah goes from struggling in her work as a waitress (who says she can’t balance her checkbook) to a woman who fights first alongside Reese and then alone to defeat the Terminator.

In a way her storyline supports a man’s—specifically that of her future son, John Connor. Reese says Sarah is a legend for training John to fight and preparing him for the war. Also, the machines send the Terminator to kill her specifically to keep John from being born.

The larger point, though, is to save the world and the future, and the story revolves around Sarah.

Conclusion

Sarah has her own narrative arc that drives the movie. The Terminator passes the Mako Mori Test.

Quick Results

Bechdel:                    BP (barely passes)

Sexy Lamp:                P

Mako Mori:               P

Did I Like It

The Terminator is my favorite movie of all time. (Check out the Reel Chat podcast for an in depth, fun conversation among filmmakers about it.) I love how circumstances force Sarah into an impossible situation and she rises to the occasion. Her growth is gradual and believable.

While I was disappointed The Terminator didn’t do better on the Bechdel Test, for a 1984 action film it’s less surprising that few women talk to each other and more surprising that Sarah is the protagonist.

While initially a target/victim, she takes every step she can to protect herself.

When she sees the news story in a bar and grill, she tries to call the police. When she can’t get through, she goes out among people and later into a crowded club where she’s more likely to be safe. She follows Reese’s advice when the Terminator is pursuing, but when things are quieter she reevaluates to decide what makes sense.

She accepts the explanations the police give at first because they’re logical and more plausible than Reese’s. But when later events prove Reese is telling the truth, she throws all in with him, learning as much as she can as quickly as possible. And when she’s alone, she fights as hard as she can despite serious injuries and intense fear.

She’s a strong, sympathetic woman hero, and the story is tightly plotted and exciting.

Next Week’s Film

Terminator 2: Judgment Day. What else?

You might also like:

Annihilation: Five Women And The Unknown (Women, Men, and Movies No. 4)

Ex Machina: If An A.I. Were A Woman (Women, Men, and Movies No. 3)

The post The Terminator: Men Talk, A Woman Fights (Women & Men in the Movies No. 5) appeared first on Lisa Lilly.

(Find out more about 3 tests I’ll use to guide the conversation in Women, Men, and Movies or just read on.)

The Story

Annihilation was written and directed by Alex Garland, who also wrote and directed last week’s movie Ex Machina.

In Annihilation, Natalie Portman plays Lena, a biologist and professor grieving the disappearance/ presumed death of her husband on a secret military mission.

In an effort to help him, Lena joins a team of women going into the Shimmer, a sort of force field that surrounds a jungle-like area.

Previous attempts to penetrate it with drones, animals, or military men have failed. Inside, everything is both beautiful and dangerous.

Chasing Bechdel

(Does a (named) female character talk to another named female character about anything other than a man?)

Who’s Talking To Whom

Women To Women:

Lena’s first conversation with Dr. Ventress (played by Jennifer Jason Leigh) is mainly about Lena’s husband, Kane, but topics they cover in all conversations include:

• How Lena feels physically
• Lena’s military service and current work
• What Lena’s husband, Kane, said about the mission
• How Kane got back from the Shimmer
• Why Lena stopped contacting Kane’s unit for information
• What Lena knew about Kane’s mission
• Kane being extremely ill
• What Kane might have been exposed to
• How Lena could help Kane
• Theories about Shimmer and when and where it started
• People, animals, drones sent into Shimmer that haven’t returned
• The Shimmer’s growth and threat to the earth
• Kane dying, and Lena wanting to stay with him
• Lena not telling rest of crew about being married to Kane
• Why Ventress is going into Shimmer
• Maps and routes through Shimmer
• Why Kane volunteered for “suicide mission”
• Suicide versus self-destruction and biology versus psychology
• What the Shimmer wants

Lena and the other crew members (Anya, Kass, and Josie) talk together about:

• Their careers and why they volunteered to go into the Shimmer
• Ventress
• Previous teams
• Theories about the Shimmer
• Kane being the only one to get out
• Missing food and provisions
• Time and memory loss
• Plants, animals, and mutations in the Shimmer
• Lena’s military background
• Video left for them by previous crew (including Kane)
• Being scared
• Whether to go back when one of them is killed
• Ventress’ determination to go to lighthouse inside the Shimmer
• Radio and light waves
• The Shimmer refracting DNA
• Lena not having told the rest of the crew at the beginning that Kane is her husband

Josie and Lena also talk about:

• How long Kane was in the Shimmer
• Whether Kane was still intact when got out
• Refractions
• Their DNA/blood changing

Men To Men:

In a video Kane talks to a second person who looks like Kane about:

• Whether he is Kane anymore or ever was
• His flesh moving, and his mind feeling cut loose
• Finding Lena

Women And Men:

Lomax, an official, grills Lena about what happened in the Shimmer in scenes that wraparound and cut in between the action in the Shimmer. The two talk about:

• What Lena ate while inside, how long she was in
• What happened to the other crew members
• Why she went in
• Mutations in Shimmer, how mutations work, whether she hallucinated
• Why Lena lied to the crew about her reasons for going on
• Ventress’ reasons for going on in Shimmer
• Why Lena’s the only one who came back
• Whether the Shimmer was alien or wanted anything
• A seeming alien that mirrored Lena
• Whether the Shimmer was destroying or changing the world
• What happened at the lighthouse in the Shimmer

Lena and Dan, a colleague, talk about:

• An invitation to a garden party held by Dan and his wife
• Lena painting her bedroom
• Kane’s disappearance
• Their affair
• Kane’s work
• Lena hating herself and Dan for the affair

Lena and Kane talk about:

• His mission and his unit
• How he got back and how long he was gone
• God
• The life of cells
• What she does when he’s gone
• Loving each other
• Who he is

Conclusion

Annihilation passes, as while many of the conversations women have with other women are about Lena’s husband they also talk about a lot of other topics.

Women v. Sexy Lamps

(can a female character be replaced by a sexy lamp and the plot still works)

Both Lena and Dr. Ventress are driving forces in the story.

Ventress because she’s determined to understand the Shimmer and see it to the end; Lena because she wants to help her husband. Neither is merely an object for a man to obsess over or seek to possess.

A couple of the women on the crew felt interchangeable with one another. Even on second watching, I had a hard time tracking which was which.

But none could be replaced with a sexy lamp.

Conclusion

For all the named female characters, Annihilation passes.

Mako Mori

(does a female character have her own narrative arc that does not support a man’s story line?)

This test is tougher.

Lena displays professional and intellectual curiosity about the animals and plants in the Shimmer, yet it’s clear her main goal is to help her husband. A mix of love for and guilt about him motivate her. I also question whether Lena has a character arc, as she doesn’t seem to evolve or change.

All the same, it is her story, not a narrative arc merely supporting Kane’s story. She starts unsure what happened to her husband, decides to enter the Shimmer to find out, and perseveres despite tremendous obstacles.

In addition, Dr. Ventress has a story arc.

Ventress has studied the Shimmer and sent many crews in, only to lose almost everyone. She has a deep need to understand the Shimmer. She, too, chooses to enter and to persevere until she finds answers.

Conclusion

Annihilation passes the Mako Mori test.

Quick Results:

Bechdel:  Pass

Sexy Lamp:  Pass

Mako Mori:  Pass

Did I Like It

What I liked most and what I found less engaging flipped in my two viewings of Annihilation.

On first watch in the theater I felt a sense of wonder at everything in the Shimmer. I identified with Lena’s amazement at what she found. The suspense of what happened to the previous crews and how Kane got out kept me riveted.

The ending, though, I found dissatisfying. It seemed more like oddity for the sake of oddity. It also felt like it left off in the middle, providing no answers.

On rewatching so I could write this entry, I felt a bit bored by the very parts that had engaged me before. The suspense was gone, and unlike with last week’s movie, Ex Machina, I didn’t find more layers in the first three quarters of the movie or achieve insights I didn’t have before.

The end, though, I found more compelling.

For one thing, I felt I had a better sense of what the ending meant and how the film resolved–or at least engaged in depth with–certain questions. I also appreciated the unanswered questions more, as they seemed to fit a theme of the effects of growth, change, and evolution.

As to female characters specifically, despite that Annihilation passes all three tests, on both viewings I kept wondering whether the characters’ stories would be told differently if they were male, which drew me out of the story.

For instance, Lena states she survived the Shimmer because she had to for her husband because she “owed” him.

Why can’t she survive because she’s tough and goddamned determined to? The way the character’s drawn, I would have believed that with no problem, so making her say she had to get back because of her husband just distracted me.

Similarly, Ventress says her reason for going in is the number of teams she’s sent who have not returned. She wants to stop sitting on the sidelines and sending other people to die. Yet the film later undercuts that in a couple ways, including stressing that she has no friends or family and giving her a backstory that means she has nothing to lose. That makes her far less interesting.

The other crew members also each have a tragic backstory or psychological issue mentioned just once. I felt like the filmmakers threw in the explanations because, hey, women wouldn’t just go do something heroic because it’s the right thing to do, or because they want answers, they need to have some trauma because, well, X chromosomes.

Also, yay that on the one hand Annihilation is the flip of most movies in that it includes tons of conversations among only women and only one man-to-man section of dialogue.

But, sadly, almost half the woman-to-woman dialogue is about Lena’s husband. It’s hard to imagine a five-man crew in a similar movie would spend half the time talking about one of the crewman’s wives (despite that female characters seem to exist in most movies solely to be terrorized by one man and saved by another).

Despite my qualms, though, I found a lot more to like than not. The mix of intriguing concept, action, and psychological suspense plus Natalie Portman’s performance made it worth watching.

Next Week’s Film

Sci Fi/thriller classic and my favorite movie of all time The Terminator.

The post Annihilation: Five Women And The Unknown (Women & Men in the Movies No. 4) appeared first on Lisa Lilly.

(Find out more about 3 tests I’ll use to guide the conversation in Women, Men, and Movies or just read on.)

The Story

Will is invited to a formal dinner party at a stunning, isolated Hollywood Hills mansion he used to live in with his ex-wife.

On returning to his former home, Will struggles with memories of and guilt over his son’s death. His ex-wife Eden’s insistence that she’s now free of pain disturbs him, especially because she’s been out of touch for the last two years. Her too-understanding ex-husband and slightly off-kilter house guests raise Will’s suspicions even before they show the dinner guests an unsettling video pitch for their cult-like new way of life.

Will’s friends and his girlfriend, though, are certain he’s uncomfortable due to grief and the strangeness of seeing his ex again. Will suspects something ominous is about to occur.

Chasing Bechdel

(Does a (named) female character talk to another named female character about anything other than a man?)

Who’s Talking To Whom

Women To Women:

Will’s ex-wife, Eden, talks to several women characters almost exclusively in one or two line conversations about:

• Introducing themselves
• staying after watching the video

There are 3 longer conversations:

• Kira tells Eden to stop what she’s doing in the last quarter of the film when everything unravels (to put it mildly)
• Kira tells dinner guest Gina that she and Will hit a coyote on the drive to the mansion and Will killed it with a tire iron
• Eden and Kira talk about how Will is coping with the loss of his and Eden’s son

Men To Men:

Will talks with Eden’s new husband, David, about:

• why the husband keeps all the doors locked
• break ins and fire hazards
• letting another dinner guest leave or not
• whether The Invitation is a cult
• the wine
• Will’s apology for his seemingly odd or hostile behavior

Will talks to his three (named) male friends about:

• the way Eden and David are acting
• Will’s grief
• Ben’s sex life
• Will’s odd behavior
• the good old days of their friendship
• the business Ben and Will used to have
• Will killing the coyote
• the video pitch for The Invitation
• the pills Eden may be taking
• the weirdness of the evening
• Will not feeling safe in the house
• the friends’ take on Will’s odd behavior

Women And Men:

Named male and female characters talk to one another about:

• Eden claiming pain is optional and feeling free
• how Eden feels about her son’s death
• all the topics above and
• Eden choosing Will for The Invitation
• Claire wanting to leave
• Kira and David about leaving or staying
• how to get out of the house
• Eden’s and David’s two years in Mexico
• sex
• death (generally)
• how Pruitt’s wife died
• where missing dinner guest Troy is
• cocaine
• Eden and Will missing their son
• Eden’s goal for the evening
• Pruitt’s beliefs
• David’s beliefs

Conclusion

The Invitation passes the Bechdel Test.

Despite featuring only minimal conversations among women, the film does show multiple named female characters talking to one another, rather than women only talking to men. It’s striking how much more substance and how many more topics there are when men talk to men or women and men talk to each other, but Will is the protagonist, so there’s some justification for that.

Similarly, there’s a reason the woman are talking about Will, as everyone is talking about Will. Everyone’s worried about him.

And the characters have similar conversations about Eden. There are more about Will, but whether Will’s fears about the gathering are based on a real threat to everyone or his feelings of guilt and grief is key to the story.

As mentioned last week, the Bechdel Test is a low bar, but sadly many movies don’t pass. The failure almost always draws me out of the movie. I’m a woman and almost every day I talk with both women and men rather than interacting solely with men, as many moviemakers appear to imagine women do.

Women v. Sexy Lamps

(can the main female character be replaced by a sexy lamp without affecting the plot?)

The main female character, Eden, drives the plot. She chooses Will in particular to be part of The Invitation. She joins The Invitation and wants her friends to join her to alleviate her pain over her son’s death.

If she were replaced with a sexy lamp, none of the story would happen.

Conclusion:

The Invitation passes the Sexy Lamp test.

Mako Mori

(does a female character have her own narrative arc that is not grounded in supporting a man’s story line?)

This test is a tougher call.

The only two female characters who might have their own narrative arcs are Kira and Eden. Kira arguably becomes more proactive from the beginning of the movie when she watches Will kill the coyote to the end when she acts as much as he does to struggle for safety. But these two actions are more like bookends without any real story for Kira in between that’s separate from Will’s.

As to Eden, she grows as a character in a sense.

She begins by insisting she is free of pain and guilt. This causes Will pain, as he feels she is making their son’s life and death meaningless. At the end she apologizes to Will and admits she misses their son. This arc, though, isn’t independent of Will, as she seems deeply invested in him joining her in The Invitation and in her struggle to deal with her grief.

On the other hand, as noted, she does set the entire plot in motion, and she is key to each phase of it.

If you shift and look at the movie through her eyes it’s about her striving to achieve true freedom from pain. With a few minor shifts, it could be a story independent of Will. As written, though, I don’t think it is.

Conclusion

In my view, there’s no Mako Mori narrative arc here, but I can see an argument otherwise. Convince me.

Quick Results

Bechdel: Pass

Sexy Lamp: Pass

Mako Mori arc: Probably not

Did I Like It

Maybe because I’m not a movie critic by trade (or at all) but instead a writer who loves story, in the end what I care most about is did I enjoy the movie.

I did.

It’s creepy, unnerving, frightening, and a study of characters in close quarters facing intense conflict and heartbreaking loss. Watching it a second time to prepare for this article I caught things I’d missed before. To me, a movie that stands up to rewatching is a good one.

Next Week’s Film

A 2018 rom-com from Netflix, Set It Up. I chose it because I like Lucy Liu so much in Elementary, and she is one of the stars. I’m not usually a big fan of rom-coms. Happily, this one was far better than I expected.

The post The Invitation: Psychological Suspense & Horror In Hollywood Hills (Women & Men in the Movies No. 1) appeared first on Lisa Lilly.

One reason I love the new CBS show Extantis the relationship between main character Molly and her best friend and physician Sam (Samantha). I started watching Extant because of the mysterious pregnancy aspect. No surprise, given my love for the book Rosemary’s Babyand movie The Terminator. Extant is well acted, with compelling plot lines, and I love the Sam/Molly dynamic. Molly trusts Sam, and Sam puts herself and her career on the line for Molly. When drastic circumstances push them into conflict, they strive to understand one another through the depths of their anger and fear rather than becoming enemies or, worse, engaging in the emotional equivalent of a hair-pulling fight. Or, worse still, engaging in an actual hair-pulling fight, which I’ve never seen two women do in real life, but have seen several times on TV.

The post Extant, Transcendence, and Who’s Talking To Whom appeared first on Lisa Lilly.