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Movie recommendations for the unhinged girl

The love witch

The Love Witch is a movie written and directed by Anna Biller about a beautiful young witch Elaine in her lavishly decorated new apartment in a new town where she hopes to find the man of her dreams using her spells and potions but they work just a bit too well. Her desperation and unfiltered passion lead her to murder and being completely unhinged. The beauty in this movie is the set design and costuming the film perfectly encaptures the style of a 70s psycho-sexual exploitation film. I think this movie is the perfect watch if you love and appreciate how a film production can elevate it and if you support both women's rights and wrongs.

Wetlands

Wetland is a German movie based on a book by Charlotte Roche and directed by David Wnendt it follows an extremely nonconformist teenage girl Helen who has a strained relationship with her parents. She spends most of her time with her best friend with whom they break social taboos after social taboos. She uses her sexuality as a form of rebellion and to break common social expectations of women. After an intimate shaving accident, Helen lands herself in hospital where she meets a male nurse Robin who will sweep her off her feet. This movie is honestly disgusting at times and will make you winch but it is accelerating to see a female character being disgusting almost existing completely outside the male gaze.

Daisies

Daisies is a Czech film directed by Vera Chytilova about two teenage girls both named Marie who decided that since the world is spoiled they would be spoiled as well. They embark on a series of elaborating pranks to disrupt the supposed peace of the world around them. This movie is wild, experimental and a joy to the history of feminist cinema that was actually banned by its government on its release. If you feel like watching two girls do whatever whenever please watch Daisies

The worst person in the world

The Worst Person in the World is a Norwegian film directed by Joachim Trier. It chronicles four years in the life of Julie, a young woman navigating the adversities of adulthood when you don’t know what you want to do with your life, leading her to take a realistic look at who she is. This movie is a lot more subdued than the other recommendations but I still think it's a perfect movie for an unhinged girl. It explores the feelings of being lost and self-destructive in a relatively simple but unique way.

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Is the Romantic comedy is still relevant?

Like many, I have spent countless endless hours watching romantic comedies. At one point they were the only sort of film I consumed (a very dark period) and also one of the many sparks of my love of film. But as I grew, changed and discovered all sorts of different films I next to completely forgot all about rom-coms only really revisiting them when I feel the need to turn my brain off and watch pretty people do things on screen. But now when I do turn one on I can't help but but notice how painfully sexist and unproductive they can be.

The romantic comedy is a very popular offshoot of the classic comedy genre. Rom-coms have been around since the time of Shakespeare's A Midsummer's night dream. The romantic comedy focuses on the romantic relationship between two characters. The movie usually follows a fairly basic structure with the characters meeting, falling for each other, facing some sort of adversity, and ultimately having a happy ending with them together. That's not to say some don’t break out of this with 500 days of summer being a perfect example. This genre of film became increasingly popular particularly among women because it was one of the only times that women were at the forefront of a movie. They were also easy, quick, and incredibly cheap to make. Allowing them to make massive profits when it came to the box office. Although romcoms did see a significant decline during the late 2000s and early 2010s we have seen a steady increase in them since the rise of streaming platforms producing their movies. On these streaming platforms, romantic comedies have managed to find an audience but that poses the question: are romantic comedies still relevant today?

Most romantic comedies tend to all have main characters that are white, cis-gendered, heterosexual, skinny, and Neurotypical. The rom-con never really showed the range and forms love could take. Rom-coms also sprinkled in this lovely layer of misogynistic undertones. Films like How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days depict women as “emotional, irrational and clingy” and that all these behaviours do is drive a man away, men of course being the complete opposite of these behaviours. Bride wars also show women in questionable ways with the leads completely turning on each other simply because of a wedding venue. Reinforcing the stereotype that marriage is a woman’s number one endgame. Even my personal favourite Bridget Jones isn’t immune to the problems laced throughout rom-coms. Bridget acted like her very healthy 136lb made her disgustingly fat or the fact she felt her whole life was a failure due to her being SINGLE of all things. There are many more examples I don't wish to get into that show how Rom-coms treat women. But does this mean we need to throw them in the bin completely?

No of course not it was an unproductive question in the first place. rom-coms can be misogynistic, but they are also changing take for example movies like To All The Boys I've Loved Before which has an asian american protagonist or Crush on Disney Plus which has a lesbian lead and follows multiple lgbtq characters (although it did get next zero marketing and only me and like three other people know it about subject for another day). The rom-com is not the same anymore just like how the landscape of film has changed. People are demanding representation and slowly we are receiving it. The rom-com is also one of the only genres that is dominated by women and tearing it down and ripping into does in some regard play into the demonization of all things enjoyed by women. Rom-coms are still relevant because love is still relevant. We just need to see it done in a way that reflects the variety of love we have and doesn't reinforce outdated stereotypes about women OR men. Rom-coms bring a lot of joy and fun that cinema needs and branding them as not relevant is moving backwards.

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Lady bird and relatability

When I first watched lady bird I didn’t quite get it but as time went by and I developed a different dynamic with the people around me especially my mother i re-watched the movie and it instantly made a difference in my viewing of it.

Ladybird is about Christine (aka ladybird) who lives in a small town in California who wants nothing more than to leave and go to college in New York City even with the disapproval of her mother.

From beautiful set design and a thoughtful story, Ladybird is one that many people love and most importantly relate to it is also why I think the movie is fantastic. The relatability of a film can make or break it with many modern films not quite fully understanding that.

Even though the plot of ladybird is quite simple it still managed to capture all of one’s attention due to the fact that you feel like you are watching scenes out of your own life, arguments with your parents, awkward first relationships, fights with friends, and wanting to move onto bigger things. All that are not necessarily special or even inventive but it all still works so well for the film. A movie does not need to be action packed, have world ending plots and flashy special effects for it to still be intriguing and attract an audience. Sometimes less is more, and people are simply looking for something they can see themselves in and recognise they have shared experiences with others, something film can help do.

The simple plot of the film allows it to explore these types of relatable situations more deeply instead of trying to shoehorn relatability in an already crowded story. It allows the story to breathe.I would love to see an uptake in relatable films that explore the mundaneness of just being a human and having human experiences.

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Ghost world and finding your self

2001 Ghost World is one of my favourite movies and I thought it would be rather fitting for my first post. It follows Enid and Rebecca during the summer after they graduate from high school and try to figure out what's next.

When I first watched Ghost World I was a much simpler and to some extent lesser version of myself. Just like Enid a young girl who has just embarked on the next stage of her life and is looking to find herself amongst all the pressures and changes going on around her I too was a young girl looking to find herself facing pressures and challenges.

After I watched it for the first time I began to idolise Enid as the perfect example of what wanted to be cynical, witty, and most importantly unapologetically herself. I was less inspired by her and more wanted to become her obsessively watching the movie over and over studying her, the way she dressed her actions, her humour, and her personality. Why be myself when I could be somebody else?

But Anyone who has seen the movie knows that Enid is not someone to be idolised, she is a flawed, irritable, and quite frankly unlikeable person She can't commit to a plan for her future she gets, jealous easily and she disregards the people that care for her.

After watching the movie and reading the comic over and over I came to realise this fact. But what I also realised is that although Enid was flawed it didn't stop being herself and I think that is something that can be admired. When trying to figure out who you are you often feel the need to become a whole new person and dispose of all your old characteristics. What Enid taught me is that that is simply not going to help me to truly be myself, to find yourself you have to speak your mind and make mistakes. I am my flawed characteristics, they are what make me, me.