Can women make cool movies?

For the first 20 years of my life I thought only men made cool movies.

The indie world I knew of was men making men-centered stories. And the indie world was cool because it felt within reach. Everyone retold the story of Tarantino working at a video store or how Harmony Korine was just a kid when he wrote Kids. These films had mythology to them; they seemed alive and close to us. As a kid I thought that in order to be in the cool movie club, I had to ignore my dislike of violence. I thought I had to cultivate a hyper-misogynist lens and accept only one dimensional portrayals of everyone who wasn't a lead dude, because I didn't see any alternatives.

In my 20's I made a commitment to offset my early education. If I came across a film directed by a woman (trans inclusive) I would watch it. I compiled this short list of alternatives to popular indie classics to help get you started on this most satisfying cinema journey.

If you like Kids...

Maybe you were a teenager when this came out in the 90's, or you're a teen now and it feels cool and retro. Maybe you like watching kids run around a city, feeling free and being obnoxious. Maybe you like realistic dialogue and gritty characters with acne scars.

...check out Skate Kitchen

Skate Kitchen (dir. Crystal Moselle) is named after the real life all girls skate group the film revolves around. Watching the girls skateboard with ease and confidence through the sunlit NYC streets is exhilarating. You'll be hooked into the charming characters and the filmmaker's ever compassionate lens. Ultimately this is a buddy film, and let's be real: we all need that right now. The HBO series Betty is based on this film, both the film and the show are pure gold.

If you like Breathless...

You maybe ignore the American fear of gluten and go for the croissant. You might like simple classic design and be drawn to black and films set in 1960's Paris. But did you know that the explosion of the French new wave was ignited by a female director? Agnes Varda wrote and directed La Pointe Courte five years before Breathless made its debut, setting the tone for the stripped down, experimental style that defined the genre. Seven years later she debuted Cleo from 5 to 7, another completely original masterpiece.

...check out Cleo from 5 to 7

(dir. Agnes Varda). It tells the story of Cleo, a young Parisian almost-pop star, moving in real time through Paris in the hours from 5 to 7. As Cleo walks around the city waiting for the results of a crucial medical test, she transitions from being the object to the subject of the film. Examining the male gaze of female illness would seem a modern story line in 2021, I can only imagine how it felt watching this in 1962. And because it's Varda, every visual moment is a delight.

If you like Reservoir Dogs...

You might like watching men make bad choices.

...check out Mikey and Nicky

(dir. By Elaine May) We are living in a Golden Era of films that filet and display the pitfalls of toxic masculinity. In this regard director Elaine May was ahead of her time. In Mikey and Nicky, Peter Falk and John Cassavetes play mob-adjacent frenemies. The story take place over one feverish night. The chemistry between the two is electric with natural dialogue, love and tension. While parts of the film are hilarious, many will make you cringe. As the night wears on, the darkest depths of these men are slowly excavated. May's gaze is merciless.

One of the most fascinating things about this film is how hard it was to make it in the first place. Elaine May had already built a name for herself in show business and had two feature films under her belt before Mikey and Nicky, but even so she was paid a fraction of her male director peers. The studio distrusted her throughout the filmmaking process. There's wild stories of her hiding reels all over town, because she didn't want the company to butcher her story. She did lose final cut on the release, but you can find a director's cut she made years later through Criterion. Mikey and Nicky may be centered around two terrible men, but the story of Elaine May making her film is one of miraculous survival in the patriarchy.

She might disagree with that last sentence though, she's way cooler than me.