52 Films Directed By Women To Watch In 2020 - Page 6 of 7

“Amulet” (Director: Romola Garai)
Circa 2009, following stand out performances in “Glorious 39” and  “Atonement,” British actress Romola Garai was poised to be a breakout “It” girl. Hollywood came running, she was rumored to have a big role in Sam Raimi’s never-got-made “Spider-Man 4,” the moment passed, she never capitalized on the buzz and her life took a different path (don’t get it twisted, she did solid work, just no big up-and-comer breakout). Garai turned her attention to directing short films and now, she’s got her directorial debut, “Amulet,” premiering at Sundance. Starring Carla Juri, Alec Secareanu, Imelda Staunton, Angeliki Papoulia and slated in the Midnight section of Sundance—very interesting, this is usually reserved for horror movies or thing of the terrifying nature, “Amulet” centers on a homeless, ex-soldier in London offered a place to stay at a decaying house inhabited by a young woman and her dying mother. He begins to fall for her, but his suspicions raise when it appears something sinister is going on. Garai is also known for a lot of British, Royal Shakespeare stage and theatre work, so it’s fascinating to learn she’s directing something that may actually be a horror drama. No release date, but eyes and ears peeled for this one. 

“The Turning” (Director: Floria Sigismondi)
Italian/Canadian filmmaker Floria Sigismondi should be one of the biggest names in the world and in the ‘90s, her creepy, goth style immortalized the likes of Marilyn Manson, David Bowie, Bjork, Tricky and more (she would eventually go on to work with the Rihanna’s of the modern pop world too). A dramatic feature career took a long time to get off the ground, and eventually yielded 2010’s “Runaways” rock biopic. Sigismondi returns to her creepy horror roots with “The Turning,” a supernatural horror produced by Steven Spielberg. Starring the exceptional cast of Mackenzie Davis, Finn Wolfhard, Brooklynn Prince, and Joely Richardson, “The Turning” has been delayed for over a year and that’s not a great sign, but the ingenious filmmaker, her style and this cast inspire a lot of confidence still. Arrives January 24 – RP

“Miss Juneteenth” (Director: Channing Godfrey Peoples)
In the U.S. Dramatic Competition section at Sundance, Channing Godfrey Peoples‘ “Miss Juneteenth,” sounds like a breath of fresh air and centers on a former beauty queen and single mom who prepares her rebellious teenage daughter for the “Miss Juneteenth” pageant–something she’s not necessarily all that jazzed about.. Starring Nicole Beharie (“Shame”), Kendrick Sampson and more, the drama sounds like a great tale of identity, who we want to be, handed-down legacies, self-realization, and the complicated relationships moms and daughters, and teeenagers and parents when both are still trying to find their own self-realization. Filmmaker David Lowery executive produces too, which feels like a co-sign worth paying attention to beyond what already sounds like a breakout film just waiting to be discovered. – RP

“Worth” (Director: Sara Colangelo)
Sara Colangelo is three for three in Utah, meaning all three of her feature films have made world premieres at the Sundance Film Festival. The latest, “Worth,” is the follow-up to 2018’s absolutely terrific “The Kindergarten Teacher” with Maggie Gyllenhaal, that further demonstrated Colangelo as a skilled filmmaker with great empathic insights into desire, longing, and loss. And “Worth” sounds like a gear-shift, on the surface, a drama about the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund and putting a value on lost lives that isn’t telling a story from the lead female protagonist’s perspective. But trust in Colangelo, and the instincts that brought her to this movie. Starring Michael Keaton, Stanley Tucci and Amy Ryan, sounds like a rich exploration about the costs of the tragedy, by a deeply humanist filmmaker. – RP

“The Glorias” (Director: Julie Taymor)
Feminist icon Gloria Steinem finally gets her dramatic due in “The Glorias.” Said to be a prismatic biopic about the activist’s guidance of the revolutionary women’s movement— that sounds a little like Todd Haynes’ approach to Bob Dylan in “I’m Not There”— five glorias chart Steinem’s journey to prominence, including Alice Vikander as a younger version of the character and Julianne Moore as a 50-something. Directed by Julie Taymor, herself no stranger to ambitious, fantastical tapestries (“Frida,” “Across The Universe”), “The Glorias” also stars Bette Midler, Janelle Monáe, Timothy Hutton and Lorraine Toussaint. Presumably finding distribution later this year, the film makes its world premiere at Sundance next week. – RP

“Bergman Island” (Director: Mia Hansen-Løve)
Nearly everything French auteur Mia Hansen-Løve (“Eden,” “Things To Come”) touches turns to exquisite gold—deeply unsentimental, sometimes detached and cerebral, but always super humanist and minute. Inspired by a trip to the Faro islands with her filmmaking husband Oliver Assayas—the same islands where Swedish auteur Ingmar Bergman lived and took refuge from the press and public—sounds deeply affected by that vacation. In the drama, an American filmmaking couple retreats to the titular island for the summer to each write screenplays for their upcoming films. Reality and fiction start to blur and things presumably get emotionally messy (hopefully her trip was better). The film stars Mia Wasikowska, Vicky Krieps (“Phantom Thread”), Tim Roth, Anders Danielsen Lie (“Reprise”), and while there’s no release date yet, the Europeans love her formalist eye and intimate touch, so place your bets on a Cannes debut and cross those fingers. – RP

“The Souvenir: Part II” (Director: Joanna Hogg)
British filmmaker Joanna Hogg’s detached, formalist but psychologically reflective movies weren’t for all audiences at first. Martin Scorsese himself told Hogg that the first time he saw one of her films he kind of hated it, but was so eventually beguiled, he would become a mentor and friend (and ‘Souvenir’ exec-producer).  Warmer, ravishing and intimately delicate in shape, mood and style, the ‘Souvenir I,’  featured Honor Swinton Byrne as a surrogate for Hogg’s posh, but emotionally difficult time during film school, falling in love with a destructive heroin junkie (a revelatory Tom Burke) who eventually succumbed to his addictions. Part II is the continuation of this coming of age film, that once again stars Byrne, her mother Tilda Swinton and Richard Ayoade. Robert Pattinson was originally set to star as a boyfriend, but he had to drop out (Nolan beckoned) and instead, the film got Harris Dickinson (“Beach Rats”) Charlie Heaton (“Stranger Things”) and Joe Alwyn (“The Favourite”) as composite replacements. Not too shabby. – RP

Birds of Prey: And The Fantabulous Emancipation Of One Harley Quinn” (Director: Cathy Yan)
2020 is set to be the year of the female superhero and with female filmmakers behind the camera to boot. Indie filmmaker Cathy Yan (“Dead Pigs”) makes the very ambitious jump to the big leagues with “Birds of Prey,” a sort-of sequel to “Suicide Squad,” that pivots around the stand-out character Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie). Instead of her mostly male counterparts, ‘Prey’ teams up Quinn with a riot grrl gang of heroines, Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Huntress, Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Black Canary and Rosie Perez as Renee Montoya. Chris Messina, Ella Jay Basco, Ali Wong, and Ewan McGregor as the big bad, co-star. Yan’s work is largely unseen by mainstream (or even most indie) audiences, but her movie, which looks gonzo, playful, features narration and musical sequences, sounds like it’ll really swing for the fences when it lands in the nest on February 7, 2020.   – RP