Fox-y Ladies

by Daniel Demois

For some time now it has been a common complaint that there are fewer and fewer interesting roles for women in the film industry. The roles that do exist are often gobbled up by the few established female money makers in Hollywood, leaving little room for growing female talent. It would seem that these cries have finally been heard for this month at The Fox we have a massive percentage of films with female protaganists of all shades. Established actor’s co-mingle with come back stories and fresh young talent to play spies, renegade investigators, high society debutantes and same sex couples.

It’s nice to see that Angelina Jolie doesn’t have to take things so seriously all the time. We are all very impressed with her off screen humanitarian efforts, but sometimes all we really want from our stars is a big Hollywood blockbuster. Never one to shy away from demanding physical roles (Wanted, Tomb Raider) Jolie is back in Salt, playing a CIA agent who is in great danger due to that pesky old problem of mistaken identity. It would seem that some people think she is a spy intending on assassinating the President of Russia. This is a terrifically exciting film that appeals to udiences intent on having a good time.

Marissa Tomei seems intent on playing interesting characters in smaller indie films lately. Her Oscar nominated performance in The Wrestler helped the world to understand that she is capable of more than just a New York accent and debating tire tracks in a courtroom. (“I’m paus-i-tive.”) Her latest performance in Cyrus has Tomei playing Mom to a young adult (Jonah Hill) who doesn’t really like the idea of her dating the new suitor (John C. Reily.) If Hollywood were to have had a stranglehold on this film it would have been a dumb comedy in the vein of Mr. Woodcock (can’t think of a more popular reference…) but instead we get a sensitive, sometimes creepy film that knows the boundaries of taste, and still has some seriously hilarious moments. Without Tomei playing the middle as the loving mother/sexy girlfriend so convincingly, this whole scenario could have fallen apart.

In the The Kids Are All Right from Lisa Chlodenko, Julianne Moore and Annette Bening play parents of two. When the children want to find out who their father was a new dynamic is introduced into their household for better or for worse. Julianne Moore has been baiting Oscars with just about every one of her performances and Bening has also been nominated several times so we know we are in good hands here. When Moore begins to have feelings for the newly introduced father (Mark Ruffalo), things start to get complicated. Only actors of this caliber could pull off such emotionally draining scenes with this level of conviction, and the fact that the whole film still comes off as a light crowd pleaser is to their credit. Of course Mark Ruffalo is pretty good too.

The always courageous and versatile Tilda Swinton returns in I Am Love. With a resume that includes fairy tale ice queens, androgynous literary characters and the angel Gabriel, one can always be sure that a Tilda Swinton performance will be anything but ordinary. In fact when she does play more ‘normal’ characters she does them with such realism that they cause discomfort: The stressed out, sweating performance in Michael Clayton comes to mind. In I Am Love Swinton plays the matriarch of a respected family in Milan. Things take a turn when she begins a relationship with her son’s close friend. Swinton’s performance (which includes a mastery of the Italian language) is another triumph and in director Luca Guadagnino’s hands, is put to good use.

Of course we also feature a more traditional fairy tale type role by Mary Elizabeth Winstead in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. This Toronto based tale has geeky Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) doing battle with all of Ramona Flowers’ (Winstead) evil ex companions in this hilarious action packed film from Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead.) See if you can spy Honest Ed’s in the background of this Toronto comic book come to life!

Besides having terrific female performances these are also terrific films, and film fans should have no trouble finding one that appeals to them, be it action, melodrama or comedy!