He's Just Not That Into You
Rating: Double/Triple Bleh
This was one of the dumbest movies I have ever seen. I get so frustrated with all of these supposed post-feminist, women inspiring, girl-power movies that end up falling flat on the face of women's liberation and feminism. Why is it that in the end everyone ends up generally in a relationship (it isn't just this movie I'm thinking Sex and the City also) like being alone isn't a satisfying enough choice? This movie is a projection of women's insecurities around being alone, and while being in love is like an accessory to your girlfriends, what do the women in this movie talk to their girlfriends about? Love, marriage, men, relationships, not giving up on finding love, all of this stuff that-many things women pretend are not significant, yet give all significance to. All the while this movie appears that the women are somewhat in control of this, their discussions about these things liberate them, but they don't. Instead all of the women are at the mercy of the men in their lives. And the storyline I felt was actually good between Jennifer Aniston and Ben Affleck totally succumbs to the whole heterosexual life pattern although they supposedly were going to be fine not being married and going through the whole production of marriage. This movie was about a half-hour too long, and yes it's one of those movies where they showed all the good parts in the previews.
Everything Relative
Rating: Three Whoots
I think maybe I have written about this movie before but I don't remember-either way it deserves its praise here. This independent lesbian film is truly a classic of queer cinema. As with most lesbian movies it is full of cheesy dialogue and awkward moments, but that is what makes it great. This movie isn't trying to be something it's not, instead it wants to focus on issues faced by a group of friends who were old college friends, detailing the ways in which they used to be on the front-lines of political activism but have now had to convert to making their personal lives the root of their politics. It drags up issues from the past between the friends who were once lovers, reluctance of some to be fully out, dealing with death, the straight woman's attempt to become pregnant, dealing with families, loss, grief, and memory. And of course in true old-school (and for some more modern) lesbian fashion it is complete with sing-alongs and vibrators. I'm not gonna say this is a great work of cinematography and movie-making, but the plot is there, it has the potential to be very relate-able, and it does get political, in that it talks about race (although the majority of the main cast is white though Jewish), the religious right, class, sexuality, abortion, coming-out...all interesting stuff. Anyway, I loved it wish I would have watched it sooner than I had, and it will continue to be on my top list of lesbo films from now on.
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Clip from Everything Relative
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