2. GIRLHOOD
When was the last time you just saw young black European girls just living their lives on screen? I can’t think of a film with young black female protagonists, where their race wasn’t a necessity. By that I mean films like Belle (2013) and Dear White People (2014), where the leading ladies race was essential to the story line. Girlhood is a sensitive portrayal of life of Marieme, a girl living in the outskirts of Paris. Don’t let the title fool you into thinking that this is the parallel to Boyhood(2014), this film is a completely different story, a beautifully shot piece that focuses on the power of friendship and self-worth. This is such an important film, as we all know how important representations are for marginalised groups, and I personally find it refreshing to see people who look like me and my friends on film.
3. THE FALLING
A bewitching British film about a group of girls who fall in strange hysteric feinting fits, The Falling is one of the most transfixing films I’ve seen this year. Adults and teachers question if the girls are faking it, as the girl who started it all, Lydia, (wonderfully played by Game Of Thrones star Maisie Williams) seems to be putting it on after a traumatic event. Set in a stuffy 1960’s girl school, it echoes the other films that present the dark nature of teenage girls emotions, such as Heavenly Creatures (1994), Picnic At Hanging Rock (1975), and the Sofia Coppola’s quintessential Virgin Suicides (1999). The Falling is, as Mark Kermode put it, a film that “gives to you what you bring to it”, its mesmerizing and there’s so much in there to bring your own ideas into and pick apart.
BEST FLICKS OF THE YEAR — REBA MARTIN