One woman forges a path for female comics, a widow starts anew by opening her own business and one daughter goes to trial for killing her family. No matter the situation, strong women have found their place on screen this weekend recommendations from Up To Date's indie, foreign and documentary Film Critics. Celebrate the weekend by being cinematically reminded of all that women can accomplish.
Steve Walker
"Love, Gilda," not rated
- Gilda Radner, the comedic supernova who burned bright only to depart before her time, is profiled in this bittersweet documentary about her improv roots, her beloved Saturday Night Live characters and her battle with ovarian cancer.
"Lizzie," R
- Director Craig William Macneill's compelling take on the axe murders of Lizzie Boden's father and step-mother has a feminist slant, proposing that the oppression of women in the late 1800s may have been a contributing factor.
"The Wife," R
- Upon the receipt of a Nobel Prize for Literature, an esteemed novelist is revealed to have been overly dependent on the talents of his spouse, played by Glenn Close in a performance that goes from slow boil to broiling.
Cynthia Haines
"The Bookshop," PG
- In this adaptation of the Penelope Fitzgerald novel, Emily Mortimer portrays an entrepreneurial widow whose new bookshop introduces a bit of progressivism to a reluctant, conservative English town.
"Operation Finale," PG-13
- History, horror and romance are intertwined in this story of a daring, top-secret mission to capture one of the last escaped Nazis. Fifteen years after the end of World War II, Israel's intelligence agency hunts down Adolf Eichman, the mastermind behind the Final Solution.
"The Wife," R
- Men may have the recognition, but they don't always have the talent. Glenn Close offers a brilliant performance of a pushed-aside wife and writer, whose unfailing support for her husband's work has come at a cost.
