Ella Walken

Film has been my sanctuary for many years, and continued to be in 2020, arguably more so than ever. When the world was a scary place to be, I turned to the big screen (or more accurately, my laptop screen). This year, I learned a lot about myself and exactly where my passion lies, which is in studying film history.

Every holiday season brings a new batch of delightful Christmas movies to watch with the family. The Christmas film genre delivers holiday cheer to big and small screens alike without fail every year. Whether these twinkling movies are delivered via a theatrical release, streaming service premiere, or air on television, nearly all of them have one thing in common: straight people. Clea DuVall is here to shake the heterosexual table with her sophomore feature film Happiest Season.

FX’s latest venture into the middle of the 20th century, Mrs. America, follows the battle to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment and the opposing fight to halt it led by conservative leaders such as Phyllis Schlafly. While episodes four, five, and six focus on the threatening rise of ultra conservative, right wing American politics. As conservatism in the United States gained popularity, the pressure to ratify the ERA increased. The successful ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment would ha...

FX’s newest period miniseries Mrs. America follows the fight to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment and the conservative opposition to it. The first three episodes explore the lives of Phyllis Schlafly, Gloria Steinem, and Shirley Chisholm at the beginning of the ratification process. In these first three episodes, conservative Phyllis Schlafly builds her army of housewives who oppose the ERA. Steinem, Chisholm, and other fellow feminists attend the 1972 Democratic National Convention.

With threat of nuclear attack, the controversial Vietnam war, and the fight for social justice for many oppressed groups, the 1970s were a lively time in American politics. The Democrat and Republican parties both changed substantially in the aforementioned decade, with social causes such as second-wave feminism and the divide they brought leading the development of parties.

While taking a look at my recent Letterboxd history a few weeks ago, I had a personal realization: romantic period dramas with a female protagonist are my absolute favorite stories. As embarrassing as it feels to admit to my passionate love of a type of film that is often considered to be cheesy or purely made for entertainment value, I find great comfort in a strong leading lady juggling the complexities of love and womanhood while wearing beautiful dresses.

From the beginning, Lorene Scarfaria’s 2019 crime dramedy Hustlers seemed to have just about everything going against it. On paper, a strange mish-mash of a cast (including Cardi B and Riverdale sweetheart Lili Reinhart) doesn’t make sense for an ensemble stripper film. On top of the cast, the film is led by a smaller director largely known for indie-comedies, so it’s no surprise that the cast and crew raised many brows of film lovers.
Hustlers, inspired by a 2015 article published in New Yor...

The opening shot of Sebastián Lelio’s eighth feature film, Gloria Bell, finds its eponymous character alone in a pulsing, neon-lit club, surrounded by movement and flashing lights. The camera zooms slowly to meet its main character as she takes a sip of her martini while staring longingly into the crowd. It is often said that a film’s first shot is the most important as it tells the viewer what they are investing their time in. Gloria Bell is a textbook example of this.

Richard Linklater’s most recent exploration into family dynamics, Where’d You Go, Bernadette, drowns in loose ends and oversimplification. Maria Semple’s 2012 novel of the same name was too rich for even some of the biggest names in Hollywood to successfully adapt.
From the first scene, the film deliberately forgoes the compelling mystery that drives its source material. Ironically, the title title card tells us exactly where Bernadette went.
Book to screen adaptations don’t necessarily need ...