A review of ”In the Company of Women” documentary

Like a mother’s lullaby, the IFC documentary “In the Company of Women” (tonight at 8) puts its audience to sleep.

Susan Sarandon, Lili Taylor, Jodie Foster and other female stars and filmmakers gab about the marriage between gritty female roles and independent film.
But ladies, where’s the passion? The intensity? The spunk and spirit that these women and independent film share is missing. It is hard to sit and watch dispassionate conversations about a topic that inspires so much passion.

The documentary opens by arguing that the ’70s were a great decade for up-and-coming mainstream male filmmakers (Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese), but that women were the mothers of independent film.

Then the footage jumps to 1980s to discuss the importance of “Desperately Seeking Susan“, without fully explaining these “groundbreaking” female films of the ’70s.

A considerable chunk of time is spent praising “Desperately” and its director, Susan Seidelman, for showing women it is OK to be sexual. But shouldn’t the credit go to Madonna, the film’s standout? If any other actress had played the vagabond wild woman whom Rosanna Arquette‘s straight-laced character idolized, would the film have been as successful? The popularity of the film is rooted more in Madonna‘s stardom than Seidelman’s pro-women attitude.

The documentary gives far too much time to actresses whose contributions have yet to warrant the spotlight. Though Taylor (“Dogfight”, “I Shot Andy Warhol”) is a veteran of the genre and Parker Posey is the poster girl of the offbeat, Maggie Gyllenhaal (“Secretary”) is just cutting her teeth.

Directors Allison Anders (Gas Food Lodging”), Rebecca Miller (“Personal Velocity”), Nancy Savoca (“Dogfight”, “True Love”) and Nicole Holofcener (“Walking and Talking,” “Lovely and Amazing”) throw in their opinions left and right, but the documentary waits too long to establish why their opinions should be valued.

So in the end, it’s uncertain where the focus should be: the women who bring the roles to life or the independent industry that provides an arena for them to express themselves.

It’s a shame that such an interesting topic is reduced to an hour of famous – and droning – talking heads.

The documentary kicks off IFC’s two-day festival of films from the women profiled here.

In the Company of Women, tonight at 8 on IFC.
Article by Tenley Woodman
Source: Boston Herald