I've read somewhere that now it's a good time to have a daughter. She can decide on her future, make her conscious professional and personal choices, and add so much to the society. Still some countries perceive having a daughter as a waste of resources: abortions of unborn girls are common as families welcome boys. Boys: the future, the business resources, the fathers, the succession of the family name. You are lucky if you weren't born in these places. You can also consider yourself lucky if you weren't born in times when being a woman was almost a curse. What if your only duty was to get married and bear children, without which you'd be considered worthless? What if having a boy was your only path to privilege? What if your adult life started as being nothing more than the third wife? Enjoy.
We all secretly dream that our marriages will last forever, that our golden anniversary will be celebrated among family members and friends, our children will look up to us, our grandchildren will put us on the pedestal and treat us as an example. Ideals are hard to follow and a lot wake up somewhere in the middle of a relationship, bored, loveless, exhausted and fed up with the state of affairs. And this is the time when even the most innocent and conservative might fall passionately in love. Why the consequences for a love affair are still tragic for women and men go unpunished for the same exact sin? Don't we all have the right for a happy ending between high expectations and the cruel intentions of our beloved? Why society is your biggest enemy in terms of judgment and hypocrisy?
About 150 years ago Leo Tolstoy wrote Anna Karenina, adapted frequently for film and theatre. I present you with two recent film adaptations, one with Sophie Marceau (1997) the other with Keira Knightley (2012). Will the future one be as universal as these two or will there be a positive change for women and times will make the concept outdated?
In the beehive of personalities, predispositions, skills, and interests, we have chosen a vocation. Or maybe this vocation has chosen us. And when it is clear that even as a child you have a tendency to become a great football player, a priest or an actress, coming from a slightly less designer-oriented background may make your personal development in the world of fashion more difficult. God doesn't want our opinion when S/He blesses a single individual with her/his finger filling them with talent, creativity, and craft. Deep down every single deed of that person pushes them closer and closer to the final act of a genius mind and millions of minds moved. This is more or less what happened to an awkward boy Lee Alexander McQueen who became a fashion legend, creator, provocateur and DJ of muses: fashion, technology, history, beauty, ugliness, strength, and weakness. God's ways are beyond our comprehension, McQueen.
You cannot really control your emotions when you've been struck by the worst possible tragedy. You don't think sensibly and you are unwilling to forget those who wronged you. But how can you cope when everyone seems to forget what tragedy happened to you, and you start to lose hope? One creative idea can cause the whole town to be engaged in your little revenge against the inefficiency of the police and world of injustice. What can three billboards with one message do to a small-town mentality and how wide can rage spread inflicted by pain and suffering? One mother against the world, unforgettable, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.
Imagine that you live in a bubble of happiness. You don't have to work, you float on the flying carpet of luxury among designer goods, jewelry, parties and equally successful and wealthy friends. You share the fairy tale fate of Cinderella, who finally found her Godmother and Prince Charming with castle and gold. Quite unfortunately, nothing is given forever and you might soon be left with nothing. How to build your life anew after a traumatic experience and why going mad is actually an option? The hard lesson of life for every seemingly fortunate woman who had her rose-tinted glasses shattered to pieces. Blue Jasmine.
Behind every family, there is a facade of the censored version presented to family and coworkers, and there's the real life of grudges, hatred, and humiliation. Picture perfect usually works only in pictures. Why is it so difficult to deal with the frustration of a failed career, a failed marriage, and a failed life when you are getting older? Why the middle-age crisis is a laughable theory once it doesn't concern you, and why it's never too late to turn your life upside down? The exposure of American hypocrisy, a screwed-up family: a loveless marriage, a middle-age crisis, a romance, neglected children and coming to terms with the passing of time. It all can be poked fun at when we are teens but becomes a bitter-sweet irony of our own lives when we reach adulthood. American Beauty.
Imagine that there is a stranger, walking unexpectedly into your life, opening old wounds but also helping them to heal. Imagine that your heart can once again find a purpose after a tragic loss and there is a feeling budding like a flower, growing on the water of your blood, willing to stay afloat. Imagine times in silence after a huge storm of pain, loss, and rain of weapons, decimating your friends, lovers, and neighbors. Imagine fathers mourning their sons on both sides of the barricade, blaming each other equally for the same exact patriotism. Imagine a lie which also becomes your lie. And imagine what it is like to live as a woman in the middle of it all. War, loss, love, and a secret in a subtle game of colors. Franz.
Schools for girls seem to follow a very similar pattern. Institutions are run by women who have long forgotten that they were girls themselves. There are inspiring and friendly teachers and teachers who want to follow the rules of conduct. Girls want to have fun, dream about a great love story, are passionate about poetry and music. In this environment of innocence and beauty, some unexplained higher power has it easy to stretch its greedy arms and play. It makes people disappear and causes mass loss of consciousness. Two different epochs, two mysterious events and unexplained forces. Unsuspecting students are thrown into the consequences of loss, death, and grief. What a difference it makes to be a student back in the beginning of the twentieth century and now. Can you find a reasonable explanation for all things beyond the reason? Picnic at Hanging Rock/The Falling.
Those who survived catastrophes always highlight what a lottery they won, how fortunate they were rescued from plane crashes, dangling from the highest tree during floods or tsunamis, how blessed surviving on urine under the debris of earthquakes. There is something special about your fate if your life was sheltered from tragedies others couldn't escape. There's a sense of being selected. But how would you feel if you were the last person alive? If all of a sudden there was no one there but you? Would it be a blessing or would it be a course? Would it allow you to live freely, start a civilization and peacefully wait to your last days? Or would it burden you with the stigma of being the last living being with no sense of purpose? In the beautiful landscapes of Iceland, there happened to be a pair who faced such a dilemma. Bokeh.
Don't you have a feeling that we got lost somewhere in between the McDonald's burger, coffee machine, Nike shoes and a whole lot of labels? Can't you sense that the meaning of life faded during the fever of commercialization? Aren't we stuck in repetitive jobs, earning money which we spend on unnecessary things, and don't we deprive our lives of freedom, equality, wisdom, and sense? Wouldn't you rather lead a different life where it doesn't matter what clothes you wear, what coffee you drink and what cosmetics you put on your face? Wouldn't you rather choose a life in which education, survival, resourcefulness and the ability of creative thinking win the battle with brand loyalty, customer service and dress code? Why the choice between comfortable life and corporation, and art school and poverty line forces us to be in the wrong place and to fall into the trap of a fake, manufactured destination?
What if there was one big family who outwitted the system and created something unique? Captain Fantastic. Entirely brilliant.
Do you want to be taken to an adventure where love has no age limits, where flying is a pursuit of desire, metaphor and catching the unachievable? Do you want to witness a romance which breaks the boundaries of conventions? Do you want to experience a difficult relationship where the roles of mother and daughter seem to be misplaced? And, finally, do you want to fly the flight of freedom, both sexual and artistic with the soundtrack by Goran Bregović and Iggy Pop? If so, dream the dream of Arizona Dream. Enjoy.
I love it when people loosen the strings of imagination and let themselves be carried by creativity. The outcome might be amazing. If you want to learn what is important in life, what makes us human, what our lives look like from a perspective of someone who lost contact with the reality of literally being alive. If you want to be taken to an exciting journey of two people exploring friendship, fear, love, sex and all basic emotions in life. If you want to see a fable which your mind's eye and your strangest dreams couldn't ever produce, you should take a chance with this film. There is the magic of imagination which takes us to the level of Swiss Army Man. And you really forget Harry Potter, as some actors can apparently escape the box. Enjoy.
When five sisters live in a Turkish house under the supervision of a conservative grandmother and an abusive uncle, the process of growing-up might be problematic. Having in mind Coppola's Virgin Suicides, we are yet again able to see how limitation and imprisonment can influence the lives of young women. Sisterhood is a bond which is difficult to be broken. Growing up in a family lacking compassion and understanding, following strict rules of tradition, can lead to one or two tragedies. Mustang.
Education is the key to success, they say. Even though the majority of subjects are either too boring or too difficult, or completely unnecessary in life. But if you had no access to education, if it was too expensive or due to your sex, religion or background - forbidden, you would appreciate its every stage. The beauty is in the process. Sometimes it's about students that become your lifelong friends and supporters, sometimes it's about subjects which prove to be the passion of your life and the reason you wake up every morning. And very often it's about teachers, who appreciate you when no one seems to do this, who inspire you for the rest of your life and who show you possibilities which will make you happy, even though the world seems to be against you. Appreciate your teachers. The best ones, not the ones who make your schooldays insufferable.
Family. Tensions. Friendships. Jealousy. Support. Acceptance. Disillusionment. Our family situation is rarely simple and straightforward. There are siblings who used to hate each other and now they prove to be each others' greatest support in times of life trials. There are mothers who are too demanding for their daughters and there are daughters who push themselves too hard to prove that they're worth their mothers' love. Relationships come and go but your family members might prove your greatest support. While love, understanding, and acceptance are hard, the above showed by your family can be unconditional.
One night stand. Happens to so many. In some cases, it ends up in an unwanted pregnancy. In others, the outcome is a tricky venereal disease. Sometimes it leads to a romance. Occasionally it's the trigger for a long-lasting relationship. In the majority of cases, it's something you quickly forget like a blackout party, boring birthday celebration or a drunk evening at home. In 1890 such one night stand could lead to a way different outcome, especially if it connected people from different social classes. Enjoy.
I remember when I saw it for the first time, expecting it to be a teen drama with a twist. I was shocked. Since then I watched it many times, not with the intention of tormenting myself with the consolation of final death, as I'm against suicide in any form (think about people who you're living behind), but as a kaleidoscope of women. Five sisters growing in the same house, eating the same food, raised by the same parents. Completely different young women, with dreams, wishes, and experiences. Making the same crucial decision when those dreams are taken from them by their seemingly beloved. A worth watch.