Daily archives:May 25, 2015
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9 years ago
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This week: two very different movies from female directors, who are (sadly) still an extreme minority, even in independent film. I Believe in Unicorns and Gemma Bovery both open on Friday, May 29th.
Leah Meyerhoff’s first feature, which she both wrote and directed, is the semi-autobiographical I Believe in Unicorns, a simple yet visually inventive film about a sensitive teen’s first love (and sex) affair. Davina (played by the wonderfully soulful Natalia Dyer) lives with and cares for her disabled mom (played by Meyerhoff’s actual mother, Toni), whose husband abandoned her many years before. We all know -- or were -- girls like Davina: creative, whimsical, deep-thinking types who live largely in their imaginations. Davina collects unicorn toys, dresses inventively and takes searching self-portraits with a Polaroid camera. One day she spots Sterling (Peter Vack) skateboarding with his pals and becomes smitten with the sexy, slightly older teen, who is clearly a Bad Boy. (Though the moody, kinetic Sterling might seem a bit goofy to us, he is devastating bait to a 16-year-old.)
He becomes equally charmed by her and they soon become a couple, but not without some glitches; after their first sexual encounter backstage at a punk club, he becomes distant much to her distress, but she pursues him almost aggressively. It's unusual and somewhat refreshing to see a teenage girl's desires portrayed so matter of factly and Dyer is great at showing how the inexperienced Davina i[...]
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