1997 Summary of Best Feminist Films Linda Lopez McAlister on "The Women's Show" WMNF-FM 88.5, Tampa, FL January 4, 1998 It's time again to make my annual list of the films from the past year that I found the most enjoyable/important in the realm of feminist filmmaking. The usual caveats apply: I try to see all the feminist films I can find but certainly don't catch them all, living as I do in a third-class film market. I can read a film as a feminist film even if the filmmakers didn't necessarily intend it to be such. Here's the list, in alphabetical order: CHASING AMY. Some will be put off by this film by Kevin Smith because it appears that the lesbian character "goes straight" and is thus a boys het fantasy. I don't agree. I think it shows a smart young woman, not paralyzed by essentialist notions of a rigidly fixed identity, who tries hard and seems to succeed at being her own person and making her own choices, even if they go against the grain. CITIZEN RUTH. This film, too, may rub some feminists the wrong way because it pokes some fun at pro-choice movement activists in the process of mercilessly skewering the pro-life crowd. But it is, in truth, a feminist film that really believes in a woman's right to make her own life choices even if they may not be the ones feminists would make. It's a cautionary tale about not letting the real women get lost in our political activism. Laura Dern is superb as Ruth. CONTACT. I'm a sucker for films with women scientists and intellectuals. (I even liked "Twister" last year, on that basis). This time we have Jodie Foster listening and finding voices from deep space. Based on the Carl Sagan novel, I found this an interesting and entertaining film that takes up the issues of faith and reason. EVE'S BAYOU. This film by newcomer Casi Lemmons was one of the joys of 1997. A Black family melodrama that takes place in the 1960s among a well-off Louisiana family that ranks in my mind as the best feature film yet by an African American woman filmmaker. GIRLSTOWN. This is a very contemporary film about highschool girls on the margins of their culture and their coming, in their own way, to feminism as they come to consciousness of their siutation of sexual oppression and start to resist. KAMA SUTRA. Mira Nair's newest film takes us back to 16th C. India with a tale of patriarchal domination, female friendship, and ancient understandings of love. It's lush, lavish, and beautifully made. MURDER and murder. This new film by avant garde filmmaker Yvonne Rainer was one of the great surprises of the year, since her work is often very difficult and obscure. This one is a playful and delightful semi-autobiographical tale about a lesbian in her sixties and also a major effort to depict the experience of breast cancer and mastectomy. PORTRAIT OF A LADY. Jane Campion's film version of the novel of the same name didn't do well at the box office, but I found it very compelling and especially loved the segue from the opening contemporary scene into the story proper. We literally see the reality of the social constraints of the earlier period being inscribed on the bodies of today's women. WATERMELON WOMAN. I may have to take back what I just said about Eve's Bayou being the best feature film yet by an African American woman filmmaker. Call that the best drama. The best Black lesbian comedy is surely Cheryl Dunye's fake documentary about her quest to track down a 1930s Black film star known in Hollywood credits only as "The Watermelon Woman." A real delight of a debut film. WINGS OF THE DOVE. This filming of the Henry James novel is not meant to be a feminist film, but it is such a well made film and the actors, especially Helena Bonham-Carter, do such a spectacular job of finding the emotional truth of the characters they play that it truly provides a window into the psyche of two women and the man who finds himself enmeshed in their lives. Copyright 1998 by Linda Lopez McAlister. All rights reserved. Please d not reprint or reproduce this list without the permission of the author. Linda Lopez McAlister, Chair||HMS 413 Department of Women's Studies||University of South Florida mcaliste@chuma.cas.usf.edu||Tampa, FL 33620 813-974-0982||||FAX: 813-974-0336 http://www.cas.usf.edu/womens_studies/mcalister.html