20s Movie Review - Herself

Director: Phyllida Lloyd
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 97 minutes
Year: 2020
Starring: Clare Dunne, Molly McCann, Ruby Rose O’Hara, Conleth Hill, Ian Lloyd Anderson, Harriet Walker, Cathy Belton

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2023 CHALLENGE MOVIE CHALLENGE
WEEK 16: A MOVIE DIRECTED BY A WOMAN
 
Description: A young mother (Clare Dunne) escapes her abusive husband (Ian Lloyd Anderson) and fights back against a broken housing system. She gets out to build her own home and in the process rebuilds her life and re-discovers herself.

Review: We meet Sandra, who escapes her abusive husband Gary, with her two daughters Molly and Emma. While living in a hotel, Sandra is on an endless waiting list for social housing. When Peggy, the woman whose house Sandra cleans, discovers that Sandra is trying to find a way to build her own house. While Peggy has an unused plot of land, she offers Sandra this piece of land and will help her financially. Now Sandra just has to find the right workers.  

Meanwhile, Sandra still has to deal with her ex Gary, who is also the father of her daughters. While he has the right to see them and Sandra has to keep up with her end of the deal by taking them to Gary, one of her daughters refuses to visit her father. She locks herself in the closet and even wets herself. Sandra keeps her with her, but she is in trouble because this way her daughter missed too many visits to her father, which was an agreement. When Sandra is questioned about the abuse, the judge asks her why she didn’t leave Gary earlier. The response that Sandra had really left an impression on me: “Why do you always ask why I didn’t leave him and don’t ask him why he didn’t stop?” This hit me.

“Herself” is a beautiful, warm, empathetic film that will give you a good cry, about female resilience that captures very well the current time and the challenges surrounding affordable housing.  

Rating: 4/ 5

Netflix Friday - Vol. 112

Some Netflix film tips for the weekend! And there is something for everyone, since I picked a movie for all the different genres.
 

Action: Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)
The Bride (Uma Thurman) continues her quest of vengeance against her former boss and lover Bill (David Carradine), the reclusive bouncer Bud (Michael Madsen) and the treacherous, one-eyed Elle (Daryl Hannah).
 

Drama: Herself (2020)
A young mother (Clare Dunne) escapes her abusive husband and fights back against a broken housing system. She gets out to build her own home and in the process rebuilds her life and re-discovers herself.
 

Comedy: The Man From Toronto (2022)
The world’s deadliest assassin (Woody Harrelson) and New York’s biggest screw-up (Kevin Hart) are mistaken for each other at an Airbnb rental.
 

Animation: My Neighbor the Yamadas (1999)
The life and misadventures of a family in contemporary Japan.
 

Romance: De Rouille et D’os (2012)
Put in charge of his young son, Alain (Matthias Schoenaerts) leaves Belgium for Antibes to live with his sister and her husband as a family. Alain’s bond with Stephanie (Marion Cotillard), a killer whale trainer, grows deeper after Stephanie suffers a horrible accident.
 

Horror: The Block Island Sound (2020)
Something lurks off the coast of Block Island, silently influencing the behavior of fisherman, Tom Lynch. After suffering a series of violent outbursts, he unknowingly puts his family in grave danger.
 

Science Fiction: Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021)
Eddie Brock (Tom hardy) attempts to reignite his career by interviewing serial killer Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson) who becomes the host of the symbiote Carnage and escapes prison after a failed execution.
 

Crime: The Post (2017)
A cover-up spanning four U.S. Presidents pushes the country’s first female newspaper publisher (Meryl Streep) and her editor (Tom Hanks) to join an unprecedented battle between press and government.
 

Thriller: Thoroughbreads (2017)
Two upper-class teenage girls (Olivia Cooke, Anya Taylor-Joy) in suburban Connecticut rekindle their unlikely friendship after years growing apart. Together, they hatch a plan to solve both their problems, no matter what the cost.
 

Documentary: Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey (2022)
Examines the rise of Warren Jeffs in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and his shocking criminal case.
 

Family: Imagine That (2009)
A financial executive (Eddie Murphy) who can’t stop his career downspiral is invited into his daughter’s imaginary world, where solutions to his problems await.