15. 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' (1988)
A childhood classic that wowed audiences around the world with its live-action/animation hybrid technology and techniques, and its adult humour that's barely sneaky. It's not Getting Crap Past the Radar so much as it is making sure the radar isn't turned on to begin with. What can I say about 'Roger Rabbit' that hasn't been said already? It's fun, clever, creative, and doesn't talk down to its audience. A film noir for kids. A gangster movie for kids. A further secret to its success is how mesmerizing it is to see so many different cartoon characters interact onscreen together - or just show up together onscreen. Millions of kids' minds were blown. Mindblowing still is the actors brilliantly, flawlessly interacting with nothing on set, but what would be the wacky cartoons added in later on. Two mediums joining together never looked so good. A pity that copycats in the nineties were never so successful. No one could recreate the phenomenon in filmmaking that is 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit'. They still can't. With its forties-fifties setting (when Looney Tunes made it big and Disney was just getting started), in a film made in the eighties, it is timeless.
And Jessica Rabbit isn't bad, she's just drawn that way.
RIP Bob Hoskins.
14. 'The Iron Lady' (2011)
A vastly underrated biographical film centering on Britain's first female Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. It is amazing how a film could make me sympathize with someone whom by all rights I should despise. But the Iron Lady - conservative, classist, aggressive, uncaring, unfeminist, and tool of the patriarchy and paragon of internalized misogyny - is a human being. She is not made of iron, but aging flesh and blood like everyone else. Throughout everything, the serious British drama focuses on Thatcher as a person more than anything else. It humanizes her, a controversial woman in power. Any woman in a position in power will be dehumanized by the press and other social circles, especially in politics, no matter what she says and does; and 'The Iron Lady' doesn't fall into this trap and go along with the popular narrative of the "nasty woman". It is cleverer than that. It is first and foremost Margaret Thatcher's coming of age (literally) story, chronicling her multiple rises and falls, ending in tragedy. Or if not tragedy, obscurity and infamy. The fall of a tower, now among the rubble she left in her wake; among those she had once neglected herself. At the same time the film doesn't excuse her more, um, ruthless decisions as Prime Minister. She was constantly under the thumb and patronizing gaze and words of men all around her. Nothing came easy for her. The writing, directing and camerawork reflect this in stunning clarity. It is harrowing and breathtaking. Solid work regarding an older woman, and, honestly, containing one of Meryl Streep's best performances in recent years.
So, how do you make a feminist film about a non-feminist character and figure in history? Watch 'The Iron Lady' to find out.
With that said, RIP Margaret Thatcher.
13. 'The Watermelon Woman' (1996)
A film by and starring a sapphic black woman - the first of its kind. It is about her making a name for herself, and making her own history as a filmmaker, in an industry that has marginalized and mistreated her and people like her for decades. It is about her demanding to be visible and to be taken seriously. 'The Watermelon Woman' was so "controversial" upon its release that Republicans actually whined about it. It is a film with virtually no budget, and because of the very nature of its inception ("our stories have never been told" says writer, director, and editor Cheryl Dunye) it had everything stacked against it. A film that's every bit as anti-Hollywood as you can get. Naturally, I adore this painstaking passion in representation. It has since faded into obscurity, and only anyone extensively studying black and/or queer cinema would have heard of it. Damn that is a tragedy. More films like this one need to be made. Giving a giant fuck-you to Hollywood and attention-seeking politicians screaming "Think of the children!" over a lesbian sex scene (a mixed-race lesbian sex scene at that) that is under a minute long, and isn't at all explicit compared to Hollywood's abundance of overcompensating white heterosexual sex scenes. Overall, 'The Watermelon Woman' is a funny and charming piece of Indie, unconventional filmmaking, showing how marginalized groups of humans will not be made to apologise for existing.
Buy the DVD, or watch it by any means that is legal. 'The Watermelon Woman' needs to be see the light of day again.
12. 'Bound' (1996)
Speaking of lesbian films of 1996, here is another one! The Wachowskis' directorial debut, and really, with its low budget, it could be their best film. 'Bound', even without its triumph of featuring explicitly lesbian heroes having a happy ending together in the nineties, is like a dark, live-action cartoon for adults. A neo-noir mafia caper, 'Bound' has suspense, high tension, thrills, and you care about the characters involved. Nearly all of the action is set in the same apartment building, adding to the claustrophobic yet exciting atmosphere. It could easily be made into a play. It is also one of the very few times I've seen Jennifer Tilly in a live-action role, and she is remarkable. She deserved better after this. Gina Gershon deserves more attention as well.
'Bound' - Raw, clever, solid and sleek, even amidst its goofier scenes.
A mafia movie where lesbians bring down the men, and abuse isn't tolerated, that is 'Bound'. Now it has the honour of being written and directed by two trans women. Forget Tarantino and Rodriguez, this is adult entertainment with taste.
11. 'Howl's Moving Castle' (2004)
From all that to a whimsical Hayao Miyazaki animated film. What whiplash! I just think that 'Howl's Moving Castle' is a lovely, imaginative, enriching, and magical experience. A true fantasy film. The gorgeous animation is what you would expect from Miyazaki, but the story and characters are memorable and intriguing in their own individual ways and manners. It's fun stuff, while not overshadowing the war plot. Simpler than the book by Diana Wynne Jones, but in no way inferior to it: both versions are a delight for different reasons (though I would argue that the movie adaptation is more charming and enjoyable). A smart, brave, determined, resourceful, adaptable, and witty female lead to go with everything, also a trademark of Miyazaki's, and I have an instant favourite. The charm can be felt everywhere in this wonder of moving art.
I adore 'Howl's Moving Castle', and it is one of my favourite Studio Ghibli films.
RIP Diana Wynne Jones.
To be continued in Part 3.
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