We’re excited to break out the popcorn and watch these lady-friendly fall movies — coming to a theater near you!
Meet the Fokkens
August 8 (NYC) (Kino Lorber)
Written and directed by Gabrielle Provaas and Rob Schröder
Louise and Martine Fokkens are identical twins, right down to their rosy cheeks and chosen vocation. These 69-year-old women have been working in Amsterdam’s red-light district as prostitutes for more than 50 years, and this Dutch-language doc is a fascinating portrait of their lives. In between scenes featuring them painting, shopping for new sex toys, chatting with neighbors, or, in Martine’s case, turning tricks, Meet the Fokkens gives these vibrant ladies a chance to tell their unique stories—how they began, how their lives and the red-light district have changed, and where they find themselves now.
For a Good Time, Call…
August 31 (Focus Features)
Directed by Jamie Travis
Gather your gang for this sweetly raunchy tale of two women brought together by age-old N.Y.C. problems: real estate and unemployment. College enemies Lauren (co-writer Lauren Miller) and Katie (Ari Graynor) move in together on account of desperate circumstances but quickly become good friends and better business partners. One of the many creative ways Katie makes ends meet is with phone sex, and Lauren decides it’s time for sisters to do it for themselves and reap the full profits from this dirty endeavor. Rad girl bonding, goofy smut talk, and a little romance make this a must-see.
Bachelorette
September 7 (RADiUS-TWC)
Written and directed by Leslye Headland
Although Bachelorette is about bridesmaids, this movie is more like Jaws with vagina dentata than the Kristen Wiig flick. Rebel Wilson plays bride-to-be Becky, a gal who asks three of her oldest “friends” to be in her wedding party. Gena (Lizzy Caplan), Regan (Kirsten Dunst), and Katie (Isla Fisher) descend on the festivities with their claws out, armed with a baby bottle full of cocaine, plenty of pills, foul mouths, and a backbreaking amount of emotional baggage. Caplan, Dunst, and Fisher are frightfully mean in this divisive comedy that will have you covering your face with each chuckle—as long as you can handle some girl-on-girl crime.
Pitch Perfect
October 5 (Universal)
Directed by Jason Moore
In this Glee-inspired comedy, wannabe DJ Beca (Anna Kendrick) stumbles into the weird world of competitive collegiate a capella singing when two prissy girls (Anna Camp and Brittany Snow) recruit her to help revive their choral group along with a handful of other misfits. When Beca isn’t being wooed by a hottie from a rival ensemble (Skylar Astin), she’s breaking it down with fellow weirdos like the eerily quiet Lilly (Hana Mae Lee) and the rambunctious Fat Amy (yes, “Fat Amy,” played with verve by the ubiquitous Rebel Wilson). Despite the unfortunate moniker, Wilson kills it in almost every scene with fantastic comic timing and surprising vocal skills.
Wuthering Heights
October 5 (Oscilloscope)
Co-written and directed by Andrea Arnold
The amazing Andrea Arnold puts her spin on the Emily Brontë classic in this meditative drama. With her talented direction, it feels like we’re practically looking over Heathcliff’s shoulder as he and young Catherine play together as children and fall apart as adults. It’s a rainy, muddy world brought to life by a brooding James Howson and a beautiful Kaya Scodelario (Skins, Clash of the Titans) as the adult leads. Grim but gorgeous, the movie revels in visual storytelling. Some might find it a slog, but others will be more than willing to meet this art house flick halfway.
Nobody Walks
October 12 (Magnolia Pictures)
Co-written and directed by Ry Russo-Young
Ry Russo-Young and Lena Dunham (Girls) wrote this sexy story about a lovely 23-year-old filmmaker whose arrival in Los Angeles causes a ripple effect on everyone around her. As young auteur Martine, Olivia Thirlby throws her hosts’ home into tumult; Peter (John Krasinski) is helping Martine with her film, but his wife, Julie (Rosemarie DeWitt), senses that their creative collaboration is getting intense. Peter’s assistant, David (Rhys Wakefield), also gets sucked into Martine’s force field, which is a big disappointment for Julie’s daughter, Kolt (India Ennenga). Meanwhile, Julie, a therapist, is being tempted by the come-ons of her patient, a sexy/creepy screenwriter played by Weeds’ Justin Kirk. The story spins around Martine but evocatively illustrates three generations of women trying to navigate love, desire, and boundaries.
Middle of Nowhere
October 12 (AFFRM)
Written and directed by Ava DuVernay
This feature by Ava DuVernay, the first African-American woman to bag the U.S. Directing Award for a drama at Sundance, centers around Ruby (Emayatzy Corinealdi) a woman facing the harsh realities of life after her husband, Derek (Omari Hardwick), goes to prison. Ruby is committed to being there for him in every way; she even drops out of medical school so she can make the long bus trips up to visit him as often as possible. She works at night as a nurse to make ends meet, and long-simmering tensions with her mom and sister are coming to a boil. A friendly bus driver named Brian (David Oyelowo) complicates matters even more. Which direction will Ruby go when she’s in the middle of nowhere?
Vamps
November 2 (Anchor Bay)
Written and directed by Amy Heckerling
We’re sharpening our fangs with anticipation over this horror comedy from Clueless writer/director Amy Heckerling. Goody (Alicia Silverstone) and Stacy (recent BUST cover girl Krysten Ritter) are ladies with bite. Love’s a bitch, but it’s even harder for a vampire, even a fairly with-it fanger with a Facebook account. Things get gnarly when Stacy falls for a Van Helsing played by Dan Stevens (Matthew Crawley from Downton Abbey!), and Goody hooks up with an old flame. The cast is crawling with awesome actors like Justin Kirk, Kristen Johnston, Malcolm McDowell, Richard Lewis, Wallace Shawn, and (drum roll) Sigourney Weaver. Talk about rolling with your homies!
Zero Dark Thirty
December 19 (Sony Pictures Classics)
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow
Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow’s next movie is on the serious down-low. The plot is hazy, and even the movie title hasn’t been confirmed. What we do know is that it has something to do with the search for and/or capture of Osama bin Laden. There’s also been considerable hubbub with regard to just how much insider information Bigelow and writer Mark Boal drew upon and how they got access to it, lending the whole project a frisson of intrigue. The fantastic cast includes Jessica Chastain, Joel Edgerton, Kyle Chandler, Chris Pratt, Jennifer Ehle, and Mark Duplass.
By Jenni Miller
These picks appear in the Aug/Sept 2012 issue of BUST Magazine with cover girl Tavi Gevinson. Subscribe now.
All images courtesy of their respective studios.
