This sparked from a conversation I recently had with someone who said they haven’t seen any strong roles for women in a while.

I feel like this year has seen a lot of (mostly under appreciated) films by and about women. And middled aged women in smaller films that are just about life.

I just rented Frances Ha and honestly, expected to dislike it. Directed by Noah Baumbach and co written by Baumbach and Greta Getwig. I read a lot of comparisons to Happy Go Lucky in which the main character, described as “colorful”, just annoyed me. Getwig’s character instead made me like her. I didn’t feel envious of her but she wasn’t such an underdog I felt like I needed to fight for her. It was more of a movie that was just nice to let happen to me. I was entertained and enchanted. The resolution was nice, in that a lot of the possiblities she come to at the end were already there for her (and there was a nice balance where you didn’t feel angry about like you do in some movies). The character just wasn’t ready to embrace them at the beginning. I was on the fence about this one, but glad I came around. B&W, which I think added to the French New Wave feel. I’m looking forward to their next collaboration.

Saw a sneak preview of August: Osage County at the Houston Cinema Arts Festival and had the privilege of hearing Tracey Letts talk about how he makes the the transition for stage play to screen play. This movie is full of strong solid performances. Julia Roberts shinned in this like nothing I have seen her in before. Meryl Streep was amazing. Strong performances by a subtle Juliane Nicholson, Juliette Lewis, Margot Martindale and Misty Upham helped round out this spectrum of personalities. Incredible performances, laughs and cries. Any one seeing this movie should plan on nothing else for the night. It wore me out emotionally with it’s ups and downs.

Nicole Holofcener’s Enough Said was an insightful, funny, slightly sad look at a middle aged woman, divorced, kid going off to college. Julia Louis-Dreyus, you want to be befriend her. She makes so many missteps, but they are honest, in the vein of not wanting to hurt anyone, that you can’t help but forgive her. Toni Collette and Catherine Keener also support along with a great performance by James Gandolfini.

Stacie Passon wrote and directed Concussion, what I think Apple wrongly summarizes, as an “Erotic examination of a lesbian housewife who becomes a high end escort…”. shouldn’t be written off as just about the sex, it’s more about the need for the main character to fill the missing void in her life that just happens to be sex. It could be almost anything in it’s place. Robin Weigert gives a terrific performance of Abby, a woman in a not horrible situation, but one she feels where something is missing, something that many people can relate to who are in that type of long term relationship. Most people won’t go to the steps she does, but it almost feels natural for her. She approaches the escorting as something she can control. Slightly open ended ending seems to fit nicely with this movie. I thought this movie showed a lot of promise for a first time writer/director.

Sarah Polley’s Stories We Tell is one that I still think of often, months after seeing it in the theater. Polley examines her own family’s history using interviews with her siblings, father and family friends, to help unravel a mystery about her mother. Interviews interwoven with footage of (spoiler) – (possibly) her family is done in such a genius way, you are sitting on the edge of your seat wondering what the answer is. Amazing that the movie is able to achieve that, since at the end of the day, Polley’s parentage does not matter to the viewer one way or the other. One of the best movies I have seen in a long time. Polley is certainly a gifted story teller who keeps developing with every movie.