"1994 Summary of Best Feminist Films"
                              A film review by
                            Linda Lopez McAlister
                            on "The Women's Show"
                          WMNF-FM (88.5), Tampa, FL
                               January 7, 1995

      It's time again to look over the list of films reviewed
 during the past year on this Women and Film segment of The
 Women's Show and make a list of those that stand out in my memory
 as the most interesting/enjoyable feminist films of the year.
 (Because Tampa is not one of the major film markets in the
 country, sometimes we get films months after they've been
 released in New York or LA.  They may, therefore, appear on my 1994
 list even  though their official release date may have been
 earlier).  Here they are in alphabetical order:

 The Client.   I adored Susan Sarandon's portrayal of Reggie Love,
 the fiftyish feminist attorney who's been through it all and who
 takes on the defense of an eleven year-old boy whom both the
 Mafia and the police want to savage for their own purposes in
 this fast-moving film version of the John Grisham novel.

 Go Fish.  The best little low-budget (is there any other kind?)
 lesbian romantic comedy to come along ever.  Rose Troche directs
 her band of young Chicago dykes in a funny, sophisticated, and
 real modern-day romance that anyone is bound to like and lesbians
 love.

 I Like It Like That.  Darnell Martin made her feature directorial
 debut in this film about the life of a young Puerto Rican woman
 in New York, trying to find a way to explore and use her talents,
 against considerable odds.

 Little Women.  Written, produced and directed by women, this new
 version of the Louisa May Alcott classic is able to pick up on
 the feminism implicit in the novel and bring it out more
 forcefully than ever.  A film for feminists to see and discuss
 with their daughters.

 Mi Vida Loca.  This is Allison Anders' episodic look at the lives
 of Chicana gangs in the Echo Park area of Los Angeles and it
 captures both the vibrancy of the culture and the violence and
 despair that trap them in a particularly grim variation of
 patriarchal dominance.

 Ruby in Paradise.  If ever there was a man I'd want to call a
 feminist filmmaker it is Floridian Victor Nunez in this wonderful
 exploration of a young woman's journey to find herself and create
 a life that's right for who she is, not one based on what everyone
 else wants her to be.  A beautiful film with a really fine
 performance as Ruby by Ashley Judd.

 Salmonberries. I know lots of you hated this film: Percy Adlon's
"Bagdad Cafe" moved to the frozen north of Kotzebue, Alaska, but I
 still think it has much to recommend it if you like to see films about
 women from diverse backgrounds finding a way to overcome their differ-
 ences and become friends (and I do). k.d. lang's film debut.

 The Summerhouse. I delighted in this comedy with Joan Plowright, Julie
 Walters, and Jeanne Moreau as old friends who plot to foil the
 marriate of Walther's daughter and Plowright's dull son.  They share
 with us their unvarnished thoughts about men and women after a
 lifetime of living under patriarchy and now that they're old enough
 to get to say what they really think.

 Warrior Marks.   This documentary by Pratibha Parmar and Alice
 Walker about the practice of female genital mutilation in Africa
 won't have wide mainstream distribution, but it did come to Tampa
 as part of a film festival.   It's a very respectful and powerful
 documentary about a particularly controversial form of violence
 against women.

For the WMNF Women's Show this is Linda Lopez McAlister on Women and
Film.

Linda Lopez McAlister is Professor of Women's Studies and Philosophy at
the University of South Florida in Tampa.

Copyright 1995 by Linda Lopez McAlister.  All rights reserved.