Allison Anders (“Mi Vida Loca,” “Grace of My Heart”)

A Matriarchal 2023 List: These are not in any rated order. And understand these are just from the movies I’ve seen so far in 2023 and there are so very many I look forward to seeing. These put into words and images those things I felt, but couldn’t articulate or deepened my understanding and made me laugh and cry and every single one astonished me with beauty and craft and wisdom. Even the most difficult ones to watch inspired me immeasurably toward a better world. That is matriarchy at work.
“Barbie” — Director Greta Gerwig. The ultimate Mother of all films this year made me beyond happy watching it in the theater, front row, opening weekend with my granddaughter and as much as we laughed, we both cried too, 3 times each.
“Past Lives” — Director Celine Song. I watched this movie alone and cried buckets. I had no idea what to expect from this movie, and I was never ahead of the gentle evolving relationships between the characters. Absolutely beautiful film.
“You Hurt My Feelings” — Director Nicole Holofcener. I love Nicole Holofcener’s films. “These characters are not me at all.” That’s what I always think when I enter her cinematic world. And then I discover they are in fact — all of them — me. This one, watched Christmas Day with daughter Tiffany, made us both laugh so much and touched us both personally.
“The Pigeon Tunnel” — Director Errol Morris. The mother is absent. The father is unpredictable. It drives one of the greatest writers John le Carre to discover himself. And through this brilliant documentary we see that process of reckoning.
“I Am A Noise” — Directors Mira Navasky, Maeve O’Boyle, Karen O’ Connor. Madonna Joan Baez. Seen truly for the first time, her girlhood, her struggles, as well as what seemingly came easy but wasn’t – that wildly gifted talent, and her life now as she has made it. A veil lifted to herself and given to the world. Bare and beautiful.
“The Crown” and “Reservation Dogs” — We may never see the likes of these two brilliant TV series again. I pray we will, but I cannot imagine anything better. While they are so extremely opposite they are every bit as meaningful and enjoyable to me. “The Crown” created by Peter Morgan has taken the most opulent stage and elegant cast of characters and brought us from the largesse of literal palaces to the deeply personal relationships within. “Reservation Dogs” created by Sterlin Harjo has taken the most ramshackle stage with a band of ragamuffin youngsters and created royalty of spirit and soul which opens up to an expanse as big as planet earth. I am deeply grateful to have known these worlds and these characters and I’m really gonna miss them.
“Origin” — Director Ava DuVernay. One of my favorite filmmakers from her magnificent documentary “This Is The Life,” I was watching her latest socially and personally kaleidoscopic work when I had to pause for a distraction. When I came back to resume, an invitation arrived to see it on the screen next week. I rsvp’d and I wait to resume until then. But her film already has my heart. In pieces and whole.
“Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed” — Director Stephen Kijak. A fan of Stephen Kijak’s films and of Rock Hudson all my life, I was utterly thrilled he was the filmmaker telling the “Roy Harold Scherer Jr.” story. There are very few on camera interviews, and there is such a luxury of footage and photographs to support the audio commentaries. It’s a beautiful tribute to not only Hudson’s legacy as an actor and star, but, heartbreakingly, as the first celebrity to let the public know he was dying from AIDS.
“Drive Away Dolls” — Director Ethan Coen. I have waited a long time to see this incredibly funny script by Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke realized and wow was it ever worth that wait! Outrageous, ridiculously hilarious and so unexpectedly touching. Happiest tears were cried!
Sandra Hüller – She is a mother in both “The Anatomy Of A Fall” by director Justine Triet and in “The Zone of Interest” by director Jonathan Glazer. Both films are troubling and gorgeously made, and call on us to be more, to look beyond our illusions of what we see in front of us. And the conduit is this utterly remarkable actress. In each role she is steadfast in her commitment to her character’s inner and outer life. We have not seen the likes of her in ages. How lucky we are to witness her arrival.
“Perfect Days” — Director Wim Wenders. When a filmmaker has meant as much to you as Wim has to me for over half of my life, can I possibly be surprised and love his work more? Well yes said Perfect Days. Yes. This is the quietly twinkling gem of his legacy. Everything I love of Wim’s films is here: the road, the city, the way we listen to music, and space. But what also happens in this movie is the serenity of being present. I often lament how we all have these wonderful sensations which are not full memories, they are moments of perfection which we can’t share or explain to anyone. Where is the language for that? Do these moments of purity just die tragically with us unshared?
Wim gives those sensations a cinematic language for his main character Hirayama, deepened further by Donata Wenders beautiful dreamscapes. I gave into the pace and wept. And this film also delivered to me the joy in knowing that these pure moments are what makes you who you are and me who I am and it is ok if it is just a secret between ourselves and grace. Masterpiece.
“D.O.A.” — Director Kurt St. Thomas. Hard to imagine any film noir fitting into a matriarchal list. But in this reworking of the noir classic, the tender relationship between Frank Bigelow (John Doe) and Grace (Lucinda Jenney) is such a beautifully transforming connection that it pushes the genre into a whole other possibility.