Watchlist: Galentine’s Movie Marathon
The first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the phrase “February film series” might be focused on romantic relationships, however this year at FACETS we decided to do things a bit differently. In honor of the unofficial holiday Galentine’s Day, celebrated on February 13th, FACETS is hosting a weekend dedicated to films about women’s friendship. Whether you’re a Galentine’s expert or you’ve never heard of the holiday until now, we guarantee our slate of films for the Galentine’s Weekend film series will keep you and your friends busy and entertained February 11-13, 2022.
As a companion to our in-person series, we’ve put together a watchlist with films from across the globe, each focusing on how our friendships are found or how they change over time. Human connection is complex, lovely, and beguiling in equal measure, especially in our present moment. Celebrate this year’s Galentine’s Day with this watchlist that covers work from the world over while depicting the complications and closeness of modern friendship.
HEAVENLY CREATURES
DIRECTED BY PETER JACKSON (1994, NEW ZEALAND)
Fans of the streaming hit Yellowjackets and its lead Melanie Lynskey will find a lot to appreciate in her film debut Heavenly Creatures, an early effort from celebrated New Zealand filmmaker Peter Jackson. A keystone film in the road that would eventually take him to making The Lord of the Rings, Heavenly Creatures is the screen debut for both Lynskey and her co-star Kate Winslet starring in the tale of one of New Zealand’s most notorious murders.
Upper Class English girl Juliet (Winslet) befriends imaginative Pauline (Lynskey) while attending school in Christchurch, New Zealand, instantly bonding over their mutual interest in the fantastic. Both girls suffered from illness during childhood but their shared affection for fantasy worlds cements their bond as they lose themselves in a world of painting, sculpture, and storytelling.
Filmed with stylistic flair that brings the girl’s imaginations to life even as we see their connection take them away from the gravity of their actions, the film marked Jackson’s transition away from pure horror while introducing two new stars to the screen. If you and your friends are fans of true crime and in the mood for something harrowing, Heavenly Creatures is a perfect choice for this Galentine’s Day.
Rent Heavenly Creatures from FACETS.
BAGDAD CAFE
DIRECTED BY PERCY ADLON (1987, WEST GERMANY)
Storming away from a fight with her husband, German tourist Jasmin (Marianne Sägebrecht) starts a new life at a remote truck stop situated in California’s Mojave Desert. A series of colorful characters reside in the area but the film’s central friendship between Jasmin and truck stop owner Brenda (CCH Pounder) is what makes it an ideal Galentine’s Day pick. United by how they’re both separating from their husbands, the two women form a mutual bond in this earnest and sweet comedy about starting over and finding opportunity in unexpected places.
Percy Adlon’s film is a loose adaptation of the novella The Ballad of the Sad Cafe from queer author Carson McCullers, whose work usually operates in the Southern Gothic mode. Other adaptations of it have been made over the year, ranging from a Merchant Ivory film to a stage version written by Edward Albee (of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? fame) both bearing the novella’s original title. But Adlon’s take on the material has a natural grace in delivering the unexpected and delightful in equal measure. Anchored by Sägebrecht and Pounder’s central performances, see why Bagdad Cafe became a beloved hit within the New German Cinema movement.
Rent Bagdad Cafe at FACETS.
HUSTLERS
DIRECTED BY LORENE SCAFARIA (2019, USA)
A surprise hit on release in 2019, Hustlers is both a buddy film and a rise and fall crime narrative where payback has rarely felt so sweet. A modern classic of female friendship, where women cement their agency in an industry that emphasizes the needs of men, Hustlers averts the male gaze in its tale of strip club bonding. Featuring a career-highlight supporting turn from Jennifer Lopez, Hustlers is both a bubbly and grounded tribute to how your work friends can become your work family.
Centering on Destiny (Constance Wu) a young dancer who becomes a stripper to support her elderly grandmother, the film’s cast of women share experiences both high and low during their time working at the club. Hit by the 2008 recession, Destiny and her mentor Ramona (Lopez) begin fleecing their objectifying clientele during nights on the town, making for a film that’s equally touching and tense as it shows these literal partners-in-crime navigate a side of society that’s often looked down on even in the happiest of times. In equal amounts funny, moving, and harrowing, Hustlers makes for a great film to watch with your besties this Galentine’s Day.
Rent Hustlers at FACETS.
TAKE CARE OF MY CAT
DIRECTED BY JEONG JAE-EUN (2001, SOUTH KOREA)
Five women from different backgrounds living in Incheon forge lasting connections with one another despite taking different roads in life. Connected by their passing of pet cat Tee-tee between them at junctions in their lives, Take Care of My Cat reflects on what it takes to stay connected in a world where we often take for granted that we can always reach out to one another.
The first film from prolific female filmmaker Jeong Jae-eun, it grew an audience after it’s soft box office debut and became a modern classic within Korean cinema. Notable for its depiction of women from different social strata attempting to find their way to adulthood, the film doesn’t shy away from the social issues present in its industrial setting of Incheon. If you’re looking for a grounded take on what it takes to hold a friendship together over years, distance, and background, Take Care of My Cat is a touching, delicate take on what it takes to hold onto one another.
Rent Take Care of My Cat at FACETS.
MOSCOW DOES NOT BELIEVE IN TEARS
DIRECTED BY VLADIMIR MENSHOV (1980, U.S.S.R.)
A cinematic bildungsroman about three women from small Russian towns moving to Moscow in hopes of finding better lives, Vladimir Menshov’s epic shows fast friends becoming lifetime companions across a space of twenty years.
Winner of the 1981 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film and a perennial crowd favorite within Soviet cinema, Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears is evocative of Douglas Sirk’s mode of drama but with a steely lived-in edge brought out by its location shooting. Touching on the relationships you find moving to a new place for the face time and how they change over time, it’s a great Galentine’s Day pick for both its depictions of female friendship and mother/daughter connection.
Rent Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears at FACETS.
GIRLFRIENDS
DIRECTED BY CLAUDIA WEILL (1978, USA)
A groundbreaking depiction of women’s friendship coming off of the feminist movement’s redefining of agency, ambition, and life choices, Claudia Weill’s independent film Girlfriends speaks both to a lost time and place as well as to the present. Though its New York City locales and fashions are of the past, the connection between Susan (Melanie Mayron) and Anne (Anita Skinner) fraying under differing desires in life remains as timely as ever.
When Susan begins to question her photography career, sparked by Anne’s moving out following her marriage to the uptight Martin (Bob Balaban), she wonders if the lapsed connection with her friend and roommate is responsible for derailing things in her life. Connecting with Anne remains difficult even as Susan finds new relationships and wonders about what defines a lifestyle that’s truly independent, all while trying to find the intersection between creativity and career.
A warm, emotional film, with quiet gestures that play to Weill’s documentary background, Girlfriends brings up the universal issue of who you are when you’re separated from those closest to you and what happens when two lifelong friends find different paths in life.
Rent Girlfriends at FACETS.
HAPPY HOUR
DIRECTED BY RYUSUKE HAMAGUCHI (2015, JAPAN)
2021 was a big year for Ryusuke Hamaguchi with the one-two punch of Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (available for rent through our Virtual Cinema until February 3, 2022) and Drive My Car released to critical acclaim. His international breakthrough film Happy Hour is a fitting Galentine’s Day watch, the story of four Japanese women in their 30’s who start to rethink their life choices after one of them announces she’s getting divorced.
Happy Hour is shot with Hamaguchi’s visual trademarks, such as sequences happening in nearly real-time and a tendency towards visually intimate direct close-ups. Hamaguchi has a reputation for crafting films that particularly exhibit a deep empathy for his female characters and this film is no exception. His work has been compared to Hong Sang-Soo and Eric Rohmer alike, though Hamaguchi himself identifies John Cassevetes as an influence on his filmmaking.
An epic 317 minutes long, Happy Hour uses its runtime to demonstrate something larger about the nature of human connection, showing the quiet gestures that bring us closer together while exhibiting the emotional interiority that’s carried over into his latest work.
Rent Happy Hour at KimStim Films, Kanopy, or Amazon Prime.
WAITING TO EXHALE
DIRECTED BY FOREST WHITAKER (1995, USA)
Actor Forest Whitaker’s directorial debut, Waiting to Exhale features a stellar cast of ladies who unite frequently to support one another in life and in love. Angela Bassett, Loretta Devine, Lela Rochon, and the late Whitney Houston headline a who’s-who cast of recognizable faces, playing four friends who are all having trouble finding a decent man while balancing the demands of their careers.
Though Waiting to Exhale was softly received by critics upon its original release, the film registered as a popular phenomenon and has since been reclaimed as an affectionate classic. Appreciated for its status as a sort of escapist fantasy along the lines of something like Sex and the City, the film gives viewers a taste of that kind of drama that you can laugh at while saying “I wish I had her problems!”
Rent Waiting to Exhale at FACETS.
SOUL MATE
DIRECTED BY DEREK TSANG (2016, CHINA)
Originally released in China in 2016 but without distribution in the US until 2019, Soul Mate shows how we look back on past friendships and consider whether those bonds can be reforged. When 30-something Ansheng sees her life story recreated in a novel written by her past friend Qiyue, she has to confront repressed memories and lapsed relationships alike.
Though its premise sounds soapy, Tsang’s film is a carefully considered account of what brings us together and splits us apart as we enter adulthood. For anyone reflecting on distant friends during the pandemic, Soul Mate is an endearing and dramatic choice for 2022’s Galentine’s Day.
Rent Soul Mate from Kanopy.
BUTTER ON THE LATCH
DIRECTED BY JOSEPHINE DECKER (2013, USA)
An experimental feature from performance artist Josephine Decker, Butter on the Latch is about two friends attending a music festival and trying to reforge their slipping connection with one another.
The first of four experimental narratives from Decker, who would go on to direct the coming-of-age drama Madeline’s Madeline (2018) and the semi-autobiographical Shirley Jackson biopic Shirley (2020) which carry forth the style generated here. Shot with a crew of only three, the film integrates equipment limitations into its style, the blurry shots conveying the unsteady nature of the relationship between its main characters. A more melancholy option, it is nevertheless refreshing to see a friendship challenged by a single moment of distance and how that can change a dynamic held together for years.
Watch Butter on the Latch on Kanopy or on the Criterion Channel.
FUNERAL PARADE OF ROSES
DIRECTED BY TOSHIO MATSUMOTO (1969, JAPAN)
Coming from experimental filmmaker and video artist Toshio Matsumoto, Funeral Parade of Roses is a groudbreaking, empathetic portrayal of transgender women that’s lost none of its power since release. Diving into the 1960’s Tokyo nightlife and Japan’s underground gay culture, the film shows Eddie (transgender actress Peter) setting off a love triangle with a fellow hostess (Osamu Osagawara) at a gay bar over the affection of club owner and drug dealer Gonda (Yoshio Tsuchiya).
Combining different styles of filmmaking, both avant-garde and documentarian, Roses is told non-chronologically and is still renowned as a unique cinematic experience. The moments of Eddie just living a life, often talking directly to the camera with friends interview-style, show a sympathy for a community often used as a punchline in films across the world even up until recently. Unavailable for years, If you’re looking for something striking and dramatic that speaks to early trans experiences, then Funeral Parade of Roses is an unforgettable pick.
Rent Funeral Parade of Roses at FACETS.
Richard Hooper is an Editorial Assistant Intern at FACETS and has been working his way through Shōhei Imamura’s filmography during the winter months. He has an MA in the Humanities from the University of Chicago after writing his thesis on intermediality in animated film. He’s worked with film practically and critically, and a piece of his heart will always belong with 35mm projection.