NOW-NYC Raves & Reviews

Rumors of Our Progress Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

You may have heard the rumors: The glass ceiling has been shattered. Gender discrimination has gone the way of the woolly mammoth. Violence against women is on the decline...When Carolyn B. Maloney, a Democratic Congresswoman and one of the nation's leading advocates for women, hears the rumors, she can't decide whether to laugh or to cry.

In her new book, Rumors of Our Progress Have Been Greatly Exaggerated, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney mixes wit with withering criticism to expose where progress for women is being stalled, and sometimes even reversed. Drawing on her decades of leadership, Maloney offers actionable steps for women to make real progress and support real family values in their homes, communities, workplaces, and nation. Described by Time magazine as a "tenacious, resilient, legislator," Maloney leaves no doubt that the power of women resolved to make a difference is one thing that can never be exaggerated.

Book release date:  May 13th. 

Please join Congresswoman Maloney on Monday, May 19th, 6pm for a book signing at Barnes & Noble Fifth Ave. @ 46th St.

Proceeds from book sales will be donated to women's causes that help to end discrimination and violence against women, protect women's human and civil rights and work towards a better future for ourselves and our daughters.

More info at:  http://www.rumorsofourprogress.com/  

Baby Mama

First, because Tina Fey and Amy Poehler rule! The first episode when Saturday Night Live returned after the writer's strike that Fey hosted was clearly the best in a long, long time. Secondly and more importantly, they are bucking the trend of the guy-centric comedies. I am so tired of Hollywood comedies being by and about the guys. While Baby Mama is written and directed by a guy (I'm waiting for Tina Fey to start directing her work too, but she is busy with 30 Rock so I'll give her a break) it's the first time in a long time that a female comedy duo has toplined a movie. When was the last one? Do we have to go all the way back to The First Wives Club? I'm no film historian but I can't remember a single female buddy comedy since then unless I want to count The Devil Wears Prada (which I don't.)

There is a lot of pressure on Fey and Poehler this weekend, and in turn the pressure is on all of us to support this movie. I can't understate the importance of this film doing well. If it does well maybe then, Hollywood will see that women can open a comedy and we might be given a reprieve from spending the rest of our lives seeing Judd Apatow comedies.

Persepolis

Persepolis has garnered best animated feature awards from the NY Film Critics Circle and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Based on a French-language graphic novel by the same name, the movie has an unfortunate marketing campaign that features a cute little girl in Iran. It has all the warning signs of a politically correct, warm-hearted cartoon, sort of an Eloise set in Tehran. While the main character begins as a spunky child, this is really a woman's coming-of-age story that is rarely seen on movie screens. We watch her grow into an uncertain adolescent, find true love, go through a nervous breakdown, and then get a divorce. Beyond these tribulations, told with humor and realism, the story also deals with the unappealing choices facing the middle and upper class in Iran -- live under religious repression and hypocrisy in your own country or struggle with loneliness and alienation in a foreign land. It covers the same ground as Mohsin Hamid's powerful novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, yet provides a better balance. There's girl's loving parents, her witty, subversive grandmother, the many comical ways in which repression can be undermined, and then there's freedom but at a cost. The movie shows in many charming and subtle ways why this choice is so achingly difficult.

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days is a somewhat misleading title for this detached, documentary-like movie that manages to develop the fast pacing of The Bourne Ultimatum. It tracks just one day in the life of a technical college student in Bucharest who is frantically trying to help her roommate get an abortion. Under the repressive Romanian socialist regime in 1987, this was an illegal and highly dangerous act. Small detail after small detail is layered on to build a story that goes beyond this drama to provide a full picture of the dynamics at work in the larger society. A dorm matron stops the student in the hallway to casually mention that the roommate has failed to show up for a routine, but mandatory, medical examination of her menstrual cycle. The student doesn't stop, because she is a desperate hunt for Kent cigarettes. A few scenes later, we learn that she needs the black-market cigarettes to bribe a hotel clerk to get the all-important room where the abortion will take place. The ditzy roommate, however, has forgotten to bring a plastic tabl! ecloth required by the abortionist. She has also forgotten to tell her friend that she has been pregnant for a quite a while (here is where the movie title comes in). Nothing, however, stops this resilient young woman from navigating through this highly corrupt, wheeling-and-dealing world, even though the bribes get more costly. This protagonist also faces other hurdles. She leaves her roommate right in the middle of the abortion procedure to attend a family birthday party at her boyfriend's home. She is grilled about her college and her family's status. Her answers appear to disappoint. She leaves in anger to go back to the roommate in the hotel, but only after a confrontation with the boyfriend who admits that he "isn't careful" when they have sex. Much like Persepolis (where repression was religious), this socialist brand of r! epressi on is ultimately revealed to be hypocritical. The movie could have easily made the same points in a didactic fashion, but it creates fully realized characters and a suspenseful plot, with unexpected twists and turns. These are human beings who make choices, sometimes surprising ones, in a claustrophobic world of limits and constant negotiation.

Girls Rock!

Shadow Distribution is proud to present GIRLS ROCK! -a rousing documentary about the Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls in Portland, OR where girls ages 8 to 18 receive music lessons and life lessons of empowerment from a dedicated group of feminist indie rockers. While forming bands, learning instruments, writing songs, working through band drama and playing a gig in front of hundreds of fans (all within one week), the girls learn that it's okay to sweat like a pig, scream like a banshee, and just be yourself. What happens to the girls as they are given a temporary reprieve from being sexualized, analyzed and pressured to conform is truly exhilarating. The act of picking up a guitar and making noise becomes a truly revolutionary act. Directed by Arne Johnson and Shane King.