TALLULAH and CARRIE PILBY

Yesterday and today watched two movies from 2016 made by women filmmakers that should have received more attention.

TALLULAH, written and directed by Sian Heder is worth watching just for the three female leads, let alone the unique twist on a story that echoes classic comedy-of-errors plots but from a female perspective and with seemingly more at stake. Ellen Page and Allison Janney give their usual brilliantly crafted performances that knocked me out, but the revelation was Tammy Blanchard in what at first seemed like a thankless role but turned out to be the scene stealer. The fourth female smaller role of a detective played by Uzo Aduba also outshone the male actors in the flick, who did passable jobs but weren't half as mesmerizing as the women.

CARRIE PILBY was also directed by a woman, Susan Johnson (and written by Kara Holden from a book by Caren Lissner). The heart of the film is the lead performance by Bell Powley as the title character. I didn't know her work but she owns this movie, her Bette Davis eyes alone make it worth watching, but her craft elevates what could have been a contrivance to a lovely little romantic comedy full of wit and richly satisfying, at least for me. Again the male performers were less compelling than Powley (and another revelation, Vanessa Bayer in a supporting role), but Nathan Lane has never been more successfully subdued in a movie so I give the director credit for that too.